Aussie College Baseball Playa Killed By Bored Teens In Ok Narrative

Re: Austrialian College Baseball Player Killed By Bored Teens In Oka

They've put their spin on it, but they have the basic facts, and order of events right.

The family's "advisers" got Sharpton involved. Blow was "pitched" the story, and he bit, ad wrote a column. Then Blow went on every show he could to promote the story.

Here's a real time look at the media's interest in the story:

 

Re: Austrialian College Baseball Player Killed By Bored Teens In Oka

Here's a transcript from the Ed Show, where Blow was on to promote the story, notice how Ed frames the question of black vs. white:

The clear implication is that Zimmerman is white. Without the black vs. white narrative, the media would not have been interested in this story, and it goes nowhere.

Jorge Mesa (mesa is Zimmerman's mother's maiden name) would not have inspired such passion. A white shooter was required for that.

 

Re: Austrialian College Baseball Player Killed By Bored Teens In Oka

I don't disagree with you on the racial component inflaming the story. And, with a more measured cast of characters, I don't think the racial component was unfair: With stop-and-frisk in the news, as well, people were itching to talk about the fear of black people, and in particular black boys. And I think that that goes for both sides of the political aisle.

But you keep saying "the media" did this, "the media" did that. And you're giving me Al Sharpton, Charles Blow, Ed freaking Schultz, and Breitbart.

I don't watch much television news, other than in an election cycle, or occasionally "Morning Joe," especially when baseball is not in season. And I'm on record here early and often about how bad I think the Times's op-ed pages are.

This was all so self-perpetuating. Much like Gosnell or Steubenville, enough activists raised hell about the story that the old-school media, like the NYT, the New Yorker, the WSJ, Time, and so forth, were forced to cover the controversy.

 

Re: Austrialian College Baseball Player Killed By Bored Teens In Oka

 

Re: Austrialian College Baseball Player Killed By Bored Teens In Oka

At this point, I can't keep talking about what "the media" did, how "the media" covered it, and so forth. It's pointless. You've dragged up some specific examples, as have I, and I think that's advanced the discussion a great deal. But at some point, I'm going to take some time to really do a scorched-earth look at how major publications covered the story. Hell, I might try to whip up a freelance piece about it, if someone hasn't already.

 

Re: Austrialian College Baseball Player Killed By Bored Teens In Oka

Story went full throttle after Obama commented and brought full national
media in.

 

Re: Austrialian College Baseball Player Killed By Bored Teens In Oka

I think that might be accurate.

 

Re: Austrialian College Baseball Player Killed By Bored Teens In Oka

 

Re: Austrialian College Baseball Player Killed By Bored Teens In Oka

Dick, we have to acknowledge what led to the widespread, national media coverage, and it began with family "advisers" who reached out to Sharpton. They then got Blow involved, and he wrote his column. Blow, as a vaunted columnist for the New York Times, then booked himself on shows like the ones hosted by Ed Schultz, Don Lemmon, and Lawrence O'Donnell.

That's what broke it into the mainstream.

And, if it wasn't decided early on, by folks like Sharpton that it could be portrayed as black vs. white, they would have never promoted it, and it would not have gotten traction.

Look, we know how stories that appeal to "right-wing mouth breathers" get traction, right? Breitbart writes about it, Drudge picks it up, and then Rush Limbaugh talks about it.

Hillary Clinton broke it down for us 20 years ago. (Back then, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review was a common launching pad.)

And, let's look at what happened after Newtown, where "media advisers" latched onto families, and got them booked on cable shows, and arranged Capital Hill meetings for them.

There is an entire industry for this kind of thing.

Charles Blow didn't discover the Trayvon Martin case because he was reading the Orlando Sentinel one day. He had the story pitched to him, the same way any PR person pitches a story to the media.

And, if the narrative doesn't fit, the industry doesn't pitch the story.

No activists are pitching the Islan Nettles story because it was a black on black crime. It doesn't matter that she was killed for the crime of being transgendered. (And, was killed for her minority status in a way that is much more clear than what happened in the Trayvon Martin Case.)

Charles Blow and Jonathan Capehart are unlikely to seek justice for Islan, because their community/constituency won't get behind that cause. (Justice being a reduction in hate crimes against the LGBT community, especially at the hands of young, African-American men, as her killer(s) has/have been arrested.)

But, then it's not really about finding justice then, is it? It's about playing into the fears of blacks, which is trolling every bit as much as what Drudge, or Rush are accused of.

 

Re: Austrialian College Baseball Player Killed By Bored Teens In Oka

OK, but I think it's important to make the distinction that you are talking about the opinion media, as opposed to hard news coverage and analysis. I think bias creeps into those stories, of course, but I think there is an enormous difference in what we are talking about here. It's just not fair to lump the news coverage New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the New Yorker, the Washington Post, and the New Republic, among others, with the Al Sharpton show, the "Ed Show," Breitbart, Peggy Noonan, Charles Blow, the Daily Kos, Talking Points Memo, and so forth and so on. Just not the same animal.

(I don't know who Jonathan Capehart is.)

 

Re: Austrialian College Baseball Player Killed By Bored Teens In Oka

You should.

 

Re: Austrialian College Baseball Player Killed By Bored Teens In Oka

So, just to recap before I return to being class clown:

Incident happens.
Incident gets reported on for weeks.
Blow-hards with political agendas seize it and pitch it to other blow-hards with political agendas AND a platform to publicize their OPINION.
Everyone gets whipped into a frenzy.
That leads to increased media coverage in an attempt to clear up facts and put story in context.
In the end, story gets lost amid all the political shit-flinging.
Shit-flinging continues long after each and every similar story is forgotten.

That sounds about right.

And, I still fail to see why "activists" not pitching certain stories is "the media's" fault.