Winona and the Wichita massacre

TownHall.com ^ | 11/08/02 | Michelle Malkin

[kattracks]

Here is a story of two trials and how they were covered in the news. Or not covered. You tell me what it says about the media's twisted values.

The first trial was held in Beverly Hills. The accused was Hollywood starlet Winona Ryder, charged with shoplifting at a Saks Fifth Avenue store. A Nexis search turned up more than 500 stories on the trial published over the past week alone. Television, news and radio reporters from around the world breathlessly described Ryder's daily court attire -- her hairbands, her coatdresses, her shoes, her bra straps, her lipstick.

We learned the all-important details of how she appeared "pale" one day, "chipper" the next. Crack news reporters informed us that she is "doe-eyed" and "petite." Talking heads endlessly scrutinized the trial evidence, tapes and testimony. Psychologists explained the motivations of kleptomaniacs. Entertainment insiders parsed Ryder's film career for clues.

On Wednesday, the cable shows provided "breaking news" coverage of the guilty verdicts and wall-to-wall analysis of What This Means For Winona. The New York Times and Washington Post followed up with bylined news articles.

This, you see, was news that mattered. News fit to print.

Meanwhile, in unglamorous Wichita, Kan., the eight-week trial of Jonathan and Reginald Carr came to a close. The brothers were found guilty of four counts of capital murder, along with numerous charges of rape, aggravated robbery, burglary and theft, committed during an unspeakably brutal killing spree in December 2000.

The perpetrators were black. The victims -- including friends Jason Befort, Heather Muller, Bradley Heyka and Aaron Sander -- were white. The Carrs were convicted of murdering these four young people, execution-style, on a frozen soccer field after a night of terror in Befort, Heyka and Sander's townhouse. After breaking into the residence, the Carrs forced Muller and Jason Befort's unnamed fiance to perform sexual acts on each other; the men were then forced to participate. Next, the Carrs raped the women, drove all five victims to an ATM machine, forced them to withdraw money from their accounts, and headed to the soccer field.

The five victims were forced to kneel in the snow and beg for their lives before sustaining gunshots to the head. The Carrs then ran over their victims with their truck. Befort's fiance miraculously survived. She walked more than a mile, bleeding and naked, in the snow, before finding help.

When such senseless, evil savagery takes place against politically correct victims, the mainstream media is quick to make national news of such crimes. "If this had been two white males accused of killing four black individuals, the media would be on a feeding frenzy and every satellite news organization would be in Wichita doing live reports," wrote Trent Hungate of Wichita in a letter to the Wichita Eagle after the killings two years ago. Indeed. The horrific James Byrd dragging case in Texas and the Matthew Shepard murder in Wyoming, for example, garnered front-page headlines and continuous coverage.

But with the exception of local Kansas newspapers, the Associated Press, The Washington Times, Fox News, Court TV and conservative Internet sites, the Carr trial made almost no news.

If you read The New York Times or The Washington Post or watched the evening news this week, the Wichita Massacre never happened. Not to worry, though. The latest investigative report on where Winona Ryder got that Hermes handbag is coming up next. Stay tuned.

Contact Michelle Malkin | Read her biography

©2002 Creators Syndicate, Inc.

[RightOnline]

Too true.............and too sad.

[Non-Sequitur]

Please don't take this wrong but I don't give a damn about any possible political implications here. Four people are dead and the men who killed them have been convicted of the brutal crime and are awaiting sentencing. That's all that matters. This crime would be no less brutal if the victims had been black and it would be no less heinous if the perpetrators had been white. And for people to complain that this wasn't turned into some sort of media circus strikes me as being absolutely asinine.

We live in a country where brutal crime isn't surprising any more. Whether it is 4 people executed by two black men in Wichita or six women butchered by a white man in La Cygne, or a 6 year old twin boys (black) locked up in a closet by their mother and starved to death, it's all crime and it's all horrendous. Oh I know that all you will complain about how it would all be different if the victims were black and the murderers were white. It would have been all over the papers then, you say. And God help us if the victims had been gay. The major networks would have had a field day. Peter Jennings would have been here so long that he would have qualified for voting rights by now. But to that I ask, would that have made those actions right? Is a media circus over a tragedy ever justified? The same people who complain about the lack of publicity here are the very same ones who complained about the excessive publicity in the Shepherd murder.

As far as I'm concerned the rest of the country can stay the hell out of it. This is a Kansas issue. We caught them, we tried them, and as sure as God made green apples we will execute them. And the rest of you out there can go worry about crime in your own states. Surely you have some of your own?

[blam]

"The deomcRATS are getting their due, the media is next. It can be done through the internet with all of its blogs."

You understand completely 'what's going on.'

It's slow but it is happening.

[Skywalk]

You are right, in the most basic sense.

I will maintain that on a POLITICAL discussion forum, these types of things will remain hot topics.

Also, I was inarticulate, perhaps, in attempting to explain that changing the way the media reports can have an impact on society. There will always be evil, but perhaps if the media were more honest in its coverage of crime IN GENERAL, we could root out some of it or there could be a cultural shift of some kind that would prevent SOME of these savage acts.

Publicizing their execution would be nice.

[ValerieUSA]

Hate crime legislation is stupid. Rape, robbery and murder are all illegal - they need to be fully prosecuted. If citizens want extra long (or capital) sentences for especially brutal crimes, then there could be a brutality factor added to sentencing guidelines, but calling a crime a "hate crime" is just plain stupid and irrelevant. Don't fall into the liberal "style over substance" trap.

[neutrino]

The victims -- including friends Jason Befort, Heather Muller, Bradley Heyka and Aaron Sander -- were white

And being White, they are second class citizens. Their murder simply isn't newsworthy. (/bitter sarcasm)

[OldBlondBabe]

"I want to Congratulate Michelle, she is a WONDERFULL thinker."

I wish she was my neighbor; we could rant together over coffee.

[Non-Sequitur]

Publicizing their execution would be nice.

Yeah, and then we would have Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton holding candle-light vigils for them. No thanks. We don't need any more hate-mongering bozos out here. We already have Fred Phelps.

[PGalt]

Bump

[dennisw]

Thanks for the ping

[KS Flyover]

Psychologist details Carr's troubled childhood [Wichita Massacre]

[johnny7]

She is smart... no PC BS.

I always make it a point to check out her articles.

The Ryder hype is beyond me. The media is stupid and tries to entertain rather than inform.

Don't look for much coverage on the Carrs or Muhammad and Malvo.

They will be swept to back-burner for more celebrity coverage.

[Under the Radar]

Wow.

Very well put. You have given me a lot to think about today, sir. Thank you.

[chatham]

The only way these two Animals would get NATIONAL HEADLINES from our Liberal stinking press is if a group of white men took them out and hung them.
That would gin up headlines.
This story should be run right next to every Reparations story.

[ArrogantBustard]

Surely you have some of your own?

Yes, we do. At the moment we've a pair of muslim serial killers awaiting trial in two counties in northern Virginia.

[Lassiter]

My letter to FOX News:

Dear sir or ma'am,

I am a loyal Fox News viewer of over four years. I have watched Fox News more than any other channel on my television dial and I have rarely been disappointed. However I am greatly dissapointed in your coverage (or the lack of) of the Jonathan and Reginald Carr murder trial (a.k.a., the "Wichita Massacre").

In case you are not aware, this is the trial of two brothers who committed savage acts of rape, forced rape, burglary, cold-blooded murder and other assorted acts of heinous brutality. These individuals have been convicted of ninety-seven felonies (easily qualifying them for Kansas' death penalty), the commission of which occurred over only a few hours.

My reason for pointing this out to you is not mere gratuity; it is to express to you the seriousness and the horribleness of this act. In terms of sheer cold-bloodedness, these crimes easily surpass the Beltway Sniper. These are the cold, callous and indifferent acts of two beings that scarcely belong in the species Homo sapiens.

Not being a journalist by trade, I do not know what exactly defines "newsworthiness". However, being an individual of reasonable intelligence, I cannot rationalize why the Carr brothers merit no coverage, but the petulant pilfering of the petty thief Winona Rider deserves in-depth analysis on your prime-time shows. The Carr brothers have horrified and shocked an entire city and face death as a result; Ryder committed two misdemeanors and will likely get probation. What is it about the Carr brothers that you find so distasteful or uninteresting that causes you to shy away as you have thus far done?

The Carr brothers' trial is now in the sentencing phase, so it seems that this letter is somewhat in vain. However, I would seriously suggest that you reconsider that which you choose to report. I thoroughly enjoy your channel and plan to continue tuning in, however I feel that we the viewers would be far better served in hearing less about celebrity misdemeanors and more about crime that has a direct effect upon us all.

Most cordially,

[Lassiter]
Kansas City, MO

=====
"To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice." Proverbs 21:3, KJV.

[jackbill]

You have written to the wrong network. Fox did provide coverage, especially near the end of the trial. Jeff Goldblatt (sp?) was on scene in Wichita and made reports approximately hourly during the day.

Also, on the day the trial started, Brit Hume did a story on it on his Special Report.

By the way, much as I admire Michelle Malkin, she missed the fifth murder victim - the cellist.

[Lassiter]

The reason I wrote mostly has to do with the fact that this case wasn't given the kind of coverage that the Winona case was given. I also wrote to FOX because I watch them more than anyone else, and the other channels probably don't give a flip about what I think (maybe FOX doesn't either, but I get the feeling they're a tad more interested than CNN et al.).

[moneyrunner]

You misidentify the issue. Yes, all areas of the country have murders. Yes, a relatively small number of these crimes receive national attention. Those who decry the disparate coverage YOUR crimes (you seem to have taken a proprietary interest in the Carrs and their murder/rape/robbery spree) have received are commenting on the bigoted media template: blacks kill blacks, no story; whites kill whites, no story, gay gets killed, national catastrophe, blacks kill whites, blackout, whites kill blacks, Stop The Presses.

Now, you may not care about the political implications of this. But that is a dangerous and unsophisticated position for you to take. For better or worse, the mass media still provides the average American his view of reality. And if that “reality” is a lie, the typical American forms opinions and makes decisions based on erroneous information.

One of the pieces of “reality’ that the mass media is not anxious to expose is the level of hatred in the black community for other races. This hatred has been nurtured for decades by Liberals, mostly for political reasons. It is part of the driving force behind the solid black vote for Democrats.

Many people here believe that that hatred was a factor in the Carr brothers systematic torture, rape and eventual murder of their victims.

If the country is to come to grips with this issue, we need to hear about, and debate, the implications of crimes like this. Because, like it or not, these crimes, and others like them, have vast political implications.

[moneyrunner]

I would like to add the political implications of the Beltway Snipers to my discussion. Those who consider these crimes as just crimes, without an overarching theme fail to grasp the larger issue.