Continued from Compare White and Black news coverage Part 1...
Beyond the fact that the Jena 6 just got a lot of coverage over the inequality and unfairness of the punishment, there is no difference on the face of it. Now what if it’s proven the police that the White teenager did something to provoke this, like beating on a younger Black kid or selling drugs to someone? Will the media still follow this case? Will they still feature the video tape? What if this was an arranged fight that was meant to go on YouTube? Will the media still be implying the boy’s innocence?
Let’s go to an even bigger issue. In West Virginia there were 6 Whites that tortured, sexually abused and violated in the worst ways, a Black woman. Ms. Megan Williams had boiling water poured on her, stabbed, and raped. This lasted for DAYS. Sadly for the news media there is no video of this vile torture, but there is of Ms. Williams in the hospital. Where is the sympathy for this woman and her SEVERE injuries?
This boy has gotten 2 days of coverage so far. In day 2 he has gotten more than twice the coverage of Ms. Williams of West Virginia. In fact the coverage, in day 2 has been maybe 5x that of the West Virginia case in total to date.
Where is the local police interview? Where are the city council members denouncing this repeated and aggravated attack? Why has the federal government not filed hate crime charges?
The bias sickens me. If a boy being beaten with minor wounds is worthy of news (and I don’t doubt that) then why is the rape, kidnapping and torture of a woman not?
I want to know from CNN, Fox News and all the other major news media why they don’t care about Ms. Megan Williams of West Virginia. I want to know why it takes MONTHS before the injustice of the Jena 6 is acknowledged though bloggers were aware and constantly speaking on it. I want to know why this one situation deserves more attention and investigation while these others do not. I demand to know why Jonathan Riches can evade prosecution and gain local legal authority protection for DECADES, and when he is finally brought to justice there is no coverage for his double murders.
Can anyone explain why I can have found and investigated information about these issues, and discussed them, but the major news media with dozens, if not hundreds, of employees and reporters cannot. Why is it that bloggers can see bias and inequality but major news media can’t?
What agenda is being promoted by the major news media? There must be one as I cannot see another reason why one case is followed and others are ignored. Corporate policy is dictating that one is a higher priority than the other. Does that bias benefit or detract from America?
This isn’t some loony extremist vision. This is what major news media is doing. This is the coverage they are presenting to America and the world. What messages are they providing and why? That is an issue that I feel must be addressed.
This is what I think, what do you think?
3 comments:
As a black woman I have to ask; the reason why the Jena case was covered on damn near every station but I had to here about Megan Williams on the radio on my way to school at 7:30 in the morning. If the young men in the Jena 6 case in life in prison than the perpetrators in the Megan Williams case should get the death penalty. I don’t want to read the out come of the Williams case on the internet either; I want it broadcast all over T.V.
Thank you for replying to my post.
I agree that this case has not received the attention it deserves from the major news media. Hopefully, with the help of readers like yourself, we can draw attention to the news media bias and get it corrected. The more attention and pressure that is placed on the media to be accurate and balanced in their approach, the less we should see of events like this. Or one would hope.
Spread the word of my blog, and the comments I have made. The more people get to read this the more we have placing pressure to get accurate reporting. I’d suggest everyone who is interested in learning more on this case, copy my post and send it to whichever news agency you choose and ask for a reply why so little has been done.
Until something is said by the major news media, whether because of my posts, those of other bloggers, or ‘leaders’ like Rev. Jackson and Sharpton, pressure must be maintained.
Together we can attain this. I hope my post can help in preventing a reaction from the media similar to their coverage of Jonathan Riches, or the multiple months it took to speak about the Jena 6.
I'm 40 years old, I grew up going to completely integrated schools in the deep south. Therefore, I am familiar with situations of racial tensions that are very common in the public schools of the south.
First, I believe the consideration of one's race has no place at all in seeking justice, with the exception of hate crimes specifically perpetrated because of race.
In this situation, if race is not considered, then you have one person who was attacked from behind by a group of 6 people. This means without a doubt that the attackers had premeditated their attack which is demonstrated by their surprise attack with greatly overwhelming numbers. It is my understanding that the victim was quickly rendered unconscious and the attack continued whereby the attackers kicked the unconscious victim repeatedly.
There is no question this was a very malicious premeditated attack with intent and capability to do great bodily harm, to include death. I personally know of a person who was knocked unconscious and then kicked until he died, so "a shoe" is a deadly weapon when used in this circumstance.
So, with race out of the picture there is an attempted murder to seek justice for.
Has there been justice for this attempted murder?
Oh, but you say race must be considered. Ok, then this was clearly a hate crime where these 6 blacks attacked and tried to kill this one white, so the much heavier penalties associated with hate crimes must be levied.
To suggest the incident with fake nuces being hung out of a tree somehow justify this attack is the very same thing as saying that because Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. exercised his right to free speech it was justifiable to murder him! That’s crazy right? Well that’s this case in reverse.
We all know how it works, there will be no justice here or anywhere Al or Jessie chose to spin the truth. They have done more in their life time to increase racial hatred than any other people I can think of. You can not seek equality and justice by perpetrating the exact opposite.
Ever since those race riots in California after that drug-head had his run-in with the police, things have been skewed dangerously allowing inequality and injustice to go unchallenged. OJ's free, Mayer of DC was a drug-head, the Duke Lacrosse team was wrongly prosecuted, and now this victim is laid on the alter of vanity that stands at the feet of these so called "civil rights leaders" who only seek the spotlight for their own glory. My question is this: How is it that so many black people care so little for truth? With the turnout at the Jena march it suggests there is a huge disparity in understanding that exists between the black population and the rest of America.
America needs to wake up and say enough, the 60's are over, let's get on with life, racial favor for any reason is over. A person stands on their own merit, and answers for their own actions.
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