Aussie College Baseball Playa Killed By Bored Teens In Ok Narrative

So March 16th was a red-letter day when the narrative became embedded in all coverage. OK.

Why then, in a story from March 20 from CNN does not follow the narrative?

http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/20/justice/florida-teen-shooting/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

This is the description in it, and it seems fairly accurate based on the police report and what we eventually came to know. The story leads with the witness who did not stand up well in court. It has that Zimmerman was hurt. It has that he has black family members. It does not mention ice tea.
I would be comfortable saying that most of the country does not get its news from the NYT.
I also don't listen to anything that Al Sharpton says.
And no, if you haven't worked in a newsroom, you don't understand how the average reporter does his job. Especially if you think it's all done on favors and influence and dishonesty. I am sure there are those who do all that and worse, but it's not the norm. Not in Podunk and not in the large urban daily I can use as an example.
But the simple truth is this story resonated because it seemed so odd. It wasn't random crime. It wasn't a home invasion. It wasn't gang-related. It was a neighborhood watch guy and a teenager. Why wouldn't the parents want answers? Another part of the truth is that some people didn't care what GZ may or may not have done because the teen in question was black.

 

Here's a The Narrative™ to be written ...

http://globalgrind.com/2013/08/30/rochester-police-beat-pregnant-woman-police-chief-oks-behavior-video/

 

It's muddying the waters when you use Fox News, MSNBC, Drudge, Salon and others as examples of journalism.

They pander to a base. So do many newspapers who are owned by companies, or people, who push stories to their side.

You want to talk journalism, choose a couple dailies from around the country and a couple local newscasts. Debate them. You could also pick apart the BBC website, but the discussion is moot when you bring in "news" organizations who are doing nothing more than entertaining a base.

 

Are you sure you have the right picture this time?

 

Holy shit. If he flipped the bird, he deserved to die.

 

Teenage kid flips bird in a picture oh the horror.

 

Good to see tony back around, though. I thought he was on a search for the other Trayvon.

 

Maybe the other Trayvon was the one who tampered with Brauns urine sample.

 

And the 2012 election!

 

This is just utter bullshit. If being in the biz gave one automatic knowledge, then all these great minds created by being in the biz wouldn't have driven the biz into the toilet over the last 15 years.

 

Really? This is what you have? This shows how the media didn't follow the narrative as written by Ben Crump

The first half of the article is merely dictation from Crump. And, CNN allows him to make his case based on the word of a witness, that is unknown to CNN, and who CNN doesn't talk to. Yet, CNN allows Crump to present her story as credible.

As we later learned, the witness was Rachel Jeantel. Rachel Jeantel was a terrible witness, and was unable to convince anyone of what Crump promised she could.

Surely Crump knew she would make a terrible witness, and if CNN had talked to her directly, they would have known this too.

CNN allowed themselves to be used by Ben Crump.

The article is also from March 20th. This is after Blow and the Times -- and CNN -- first invested heavily in this story, and in the narrative.

CNN allowed Ben Crump and Al Sharpton to be their assignment editor.

And, you may not listen to a word Al Sharpton says, but because the New York Times and CNN do, you get his words, you just get them out of Charles Blow's mouth, but don't realize it.

This article doesn't disrupt the narrative at all. It briefly lets Zimmerman's father say his son is not a racist. Good job CNN, you really challenged Crump's narrative with that.

CNN doesn't even tell us that Zimmerman is Hispanic. It leaves it as an open question. The police report says he's white. His family says he's "a Spanish-speaking minority."

It's the same thing Blow did.

And, your opinion as to why you think the story "resonated" is pointless. The Martin family's own lawyer and PR person have told us the story was not resonating with the media. Don't believe me. Believe them.

It was only when the race centered narrative was written that they got anyone to bite.

And, March 16th is the big day. It's the same day CNN's coverage begins in earnest. Here's how they cover the story once the narrative has been written, and the media plan formulated:

Did you notice how Zimmerman was described? Do you see who they talk to?