Just last week, the Austin American-Statesman refused to provide the description of a black man suspected of participating in a mass shooting in Texas because it “could be harmful in perpetuating stereotypes.”
Now, the Poynter Institute for Media Studies is calling for selective covering of crime in American communities — this coming amid a major crime surge in Democrat-run cities across the country, happening in the vacuum of the party’s “Defund the Police” campaign that not only demonized law enforcement, but has police officers back on their heels.
Billed as a “global leader in journalism,” Poynter is a non-profit journalism school and research organization located in St. Petersburg, Fla. The school owns the Tampa Bay Times newspaper, the International Fact-Checking Network, and operates PolitiFact.
And Poynter apparently believes that when it comes to journalism, reporting should be determined by the “public good,” rather than the actual story.
The secondary headline of an article from Doris Truong, the director of training and diversity at Poynter, came right out to proclaim: “The public good — rather than the public’s interest — should be a prevailing factor.”
Noting that the crime blotter has been a staple for news organizations since the 1830s, Truong suggested “rewriting information provided by police requires little investment from the reporter.”
“Local news reporters have amplified narratives that connect Black and brown communities to crime. As a result, we have fostered systemic racism through our crime coverage.”https://t.co/WWaZAAl8qM
— Poynter (@Poynter) June 21, 2021
She went on to point out that the Associated Press just announced that it is no longer naming suspects in minor crime stories, and will also “stop publishing stories driven mainly by a particularly embarrassing mugshot.”
The editorial further noted that it’s “increasingly common for news organizations to abandon mugshot galleries,” with Truong referencing “the racial reckoning following George Floyd’s murder.”
“Arrests for misdemeanors disproportionately affect people of color,” she announced. “Systemic racism compounds the injustice as reviews have shown that prosecutors are more likely to exclude black jurors from trials.”
The Poynter director stressed that journalists “can be smarter about who we cover and the follow-up stories we provide.”
She also quoted Kelly McBride, who chairs the Craig Newmark Center for Ethics and Leadership at Poynter: “Local news reporters have amplified narratives that connect black and brown communities to crime. As a result, we have fostered systemic racism through our crime coverage.”
“Journalism is a public service,” Truong concluded. “We need to regularly revisit our practices to ensure that they do not cause more harm than good.”
A moral standard that doesn’t seem to apply to the unquestionable liberal bias of the media that favors one party over another — at the expense of half the country, if not more.
As for the Austin American-Statesman, PolitiFact actually rated the accurate claim that the newspaper would not report on the suspect’s description as “false,” claiming the newspaper refrained from using the police department’s suspect description not because the person was black, but because “it was not specific enough to apply to one individual.”
Either way, the end result is that the story is suppressed on social media.
Chris Menahan, publisher of the independent news site InformationLiberation.com, summed it all up thusly: “Poynter president Neil Brown hates the fact people can still see what’s really happening in our streets despite their massive censorship regime and their blacklists.”
Here’s a quick sampling of responses from Twitter that proves “you can fool all the people some of the time and some of the people all the time, but you can’t fool all the people all the time.”
“If we stop reporting about crime, crime will stop happening!” https://t.co/fK4Xik1hA0
— Derek Hunter (@derekahunter) June 23, 2021
“Going forward, in atonement for our transgression, we will be covering crime in a way that no longer connects it to Black and brown communities: by replacing it with entertainment coverage.” https://t.co/jxurG0fwCF
— Unwoke Duffy ☦ (@TheIllegit) June 23, 2021
Reporting honestly on who commits crime is “systemic racism.” Just laugh. cc @CrimeWatchMpls https://t.co/gZAK2JeoLA
— JohnGilmore (@Shabbosgoy) June 21, 2021
As a black man this is BEYOND insulting. Sweeping under the rug the fact that black on black crime is rampant across the US and has been for years does nothing for my community. A black person killing another black person is “systemic racism”? Your pandering is aiding & abetting. https://t.co/OSUYzTJkV1
— Dan Adams (@DanAdamsPGH) June 22, 2021
National media already censors all coverage of black crime. But that is not enough for the Shitlibs, because you can still find the reports on local news, and up until recently they would include descriptions and even photos of the black criminals.
Shitlibs seek to change that. https://t.co/CiUOu7CXNs— Wyatt B. Summer (@MrMonero1) June 23, 2021
if you have to deny reality and effectively aid & abet criminals at large in order to achieve “equity,” then exactly how desirable for society is “equity?”
— jock 🏹🌲 (@deercaIIingtips) June 24, 2021
What a crock. The “media” can’t wait to pin a crime on a “white supremacist”. The recent Asian Hate Crime spree was mostly carried out by black suspects but that truth was ignored by the media. #yourbiasisshowing
— CleaverGreene (@CleaverGreene3) June 22, 2021
DONATE TO BIZPAC REVIEW
Please help us! If you are fed up with letting radical big tech execs, phony fact-checkers, tyrannical liberals and a lying mainstream media have unprecedented power over your news please consider making a donation to BPR to help us fight them. Now is the time. Truth has never been more critical!
- Jonathan Turley says White House in ‘free fall’, DOJ in a ‘tough position’ after FBI searches Biden beach home - February 1, 2023
- Rare ‘nonpartisan gesture of humanity’ earns applause on House floor, before leftists distort Dem lawmaker’s joke - February 1, 2023
- Steve Bannon urges small RNC donors to ‘cut off the oxygen’ following Ronna McDaniel reelection - February 1, 2023
Comment
We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.