KMOV is worried you won't be racist enough

A story from KMOV has me wondering about journalistic integrity in my fair city. I expect this kind of sensational yellow journalism from national news media since they have to fill 24 hours a day with seven minutes of news. They are much more likely to spew forth anger enticement to the unwashed mouth breathers who actually think there is a huge difference between CNN and Fox News.

But when it comes from my own city, it really irks me.

One may wonder why one line printed in a news story would piss me off more than all the racists, homophobes, xenophobes and outright idiots bashing their faces on keyboards across the metropolitan area. I think it's because I expect people on the internet to be belligerent idiots. The internet is filled with people waiting to crap all over any half newsworthy story, and you have to expect some of them to live around your neighborhood.

Now, you may be looking over that story and wondering what it is exactly that I am pissed off at. Let me show you a screen shot of the same story from this morning.

And just so you don't have to keep flipping back and forth between tabs, here is the sentence which has been removed.

That's some fantastic reporting there, KMOV. In a story about a white man who tailed two black men to a  gas station for some unknown reason. The black guys stop, the man following them grabs for them and they strike back.

That's it, that's all the information we have on this story. From the police blotter to your brain. No statement of charges, nothing about rhyme or reason, just a confrontation because some dude followed two other dudes and got all grabby.

But that added line implies KMOV thinks there is more to all of this, AND WHY SHOULDN'T THERE BE? You totally shouldn't believe this story because even though the police never said anything about motive, there could be "more to this than meets the eye." Obviously we need to concern ourselves with every likely possibility here. KMOV wants to hear your theories on what could really be going on with all of this. Probably with flashy graphics on the news at six.


The worst thing is this would be a non story if you took race right out of it. Why did it even need to be involved? Because of the Trayvon Martin case? Because in Florida, a latino confronted and killed a black teenager?

Read that first sentence in the article one more time. Even the beginning starts with sensationalist speculations comparing it to the profiling of Martin by Zimmerman. Is it profiling? We'll never know because the Illinois police are keeping information back!


I'd like to know what this "journalist" was thinking when he slapped that one down on the old timey typewriter. I mean, there will be some future posts where we highlight commenters and their fear of the apparent upcoming race wars, but never did I think the local news would be stupid enough to suggest it is coming as well.

How did I reach that last conclusion? BECAUSE THERE COULD BE MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE, DUDES! We don't know what this could mean. But lord knows that whatever it is, I'm already scared of it.

I'm a journalist. I'm not the best, my stories aren't read often and I'm in school for network engineering. But I'm a journalist nevertheless. This is editorializing, and it is wrong. If there is more than meets the eyes, the police will tell you, Mr. Skipped-First-Week-Of-Journalism-School. You go, you get the facts, you put it in the inverted pyramid structure, throw in some transitions and call it a day.

You do not make a feeble attempt to rouse suspicion when there is none. You wait for the real story.

And then I wait for the comments...

You can read a much better rant about this at Punching Kitty, which I urge you all to read on a regular basis.