Aussie College Baseball Playa Killed By Bored Teens In Ok Narrative

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

I want to know A) where it was originally "confirmed" that it was iced tea, and B) where it was "confirmed" that it wasn't.

There are outlets, not just media but police, etc., that I have no reason to doubt. Just as there are some I have every reason to doubt. I'd never quote something E.J. Dionne wrote as fact, for example, unless I independently verify it.

If this Charles Blow character is as you say he is, any editor worth his/her paycheck would double-check everything before picking it up in a news story. If the iced tea thing is false, I'd much more easily buy that an editor got lazy than it being evidence of a massive, media-wide left-wing conspiracy.

And, if that one detail didn't get verified, the fact that it's irrelevant doesn't excuse the hypothetical editor. But, it's still irrelevant to the story, and not a strong leg to stand on in a media-bias argument.

 

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

There is a picture of the can in evidence. Easily found with basic internet search.

If it was Arizona Grape it might have been reported but Watermelon created an obvious
problem for the media.

 

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

Get off the politics, Butters.

Must be tough down there in your bunker.

 

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

All you had to do to get it right was look at the crime scene photos. One reporter who did, actually got it right:

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2012/05/photos-reveal-trayvon-martin-shooting-scene-/1#.UhzSw7zgJQI

And, this was a year before the trial, where the same photos were introduced as evidence.

But, here's the point: there is precious little reporting done in America on most stories. The cable shows don't report. Columnists don't report. The Podunk Press doesn't assign their own reporter.

Aside from the news services, and whatever local paper might be involved in coverage, you have maybe the New York Times, Washington Post, and a couple of others.

So, if you can pitch a narrative, and get it picked up by the AP -- and the AP reported that Zimmerman was white early on -- or one of the other big boys, then that narrative can hold.

The rest of the media will repeat it, and it becomes the "truth".

And, if "nut jobs" look at publicly available documents, and question the conventional wisdom, they are shouted down as irrelevant, because the big boys are already handling this, and have done all the necessary reporting.

Well, if the big boys want to control the story, they should do their own reporting, and not rely on narratives provided to them by activists.

 

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

Yes.

It doesn't show either of those allegations happening.

 

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

The lede in NYT first story on case:


By LIZETTE ALVAREZ
Published: March 16, 2012

MIAMI — Nearly three weeks after an unarmed teenager was killed in a small city north of Orlando, stirring an outcry, a few indisputable facts remain: the teenager, who was black, was carrying nothing but a bag of Skittles, some money and a can of iced tea when he was shot. The neighborhood crime watch volunteer who got out of his car and shot him is white and Hispanic. He has not been arrested and is claiming self-defense.

 

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

OK, I looked at the photo and I'll freely admit that fact was wrong. You'll never get me to think it's relevant, though, any more than Zimmerman's alcohol counseling was relevant.

You're going to have to explain to me how the following passage alters "the narrative" in any substantial way:

"Among the images are those of Zimmerman's bloodied head, a can of AriZona Watermelon Fruit Juice Cocktail, the gun that killed Martin, bullet casings and security camera images of Martin at the counter of a convenience store."

We can go around and around on this, but until you can go back in time and sit in a newsroom with me while I show you how crime gets covered, we'll never agree on this.

 

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

This is not in defense of anyone but the Arizona brand is so synonymous with "Arizona Ice Tea" that I can see why "ice tea" continued to be part of the narrative from the start.

Doesn't excuse the lack of verification but if someone reported Trayvon had Skittles and a can of Arizona Ice Tea I can see how it would be shortened down to ice tea and used as that reference from then on.

 

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

See Iraq coverage, 2002-2004.

 

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

Or most sports coverage, daily.

 

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3s4cp9hErSo

 

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

"Published on Jul 20, 2013

Trayvon Martin breaking New evidence? - Was trayvon martin involved with a drug sale. Watch the clear and entire video. Seconds after trayvon Martin leaves the 7 Elleven store three masked men buy blunts, It appears possible that Trayvon Martin was waiting for them outside. Trayvon Martin was said to have two brand new Twenties on his person at the time of death."