Fair coverage: Duke rape case vs real crime

POSTED BY: DhaeruvusRavenshadow
UPDATED: Wednesday, October 22, 2025 13:53
VIEWED: 4374
PAGE 1 of 2

1 2 NEXT PAGE

DHAERUVUSRAVENSHADOW

Sunday, May 20, 2007 5:19 PM

I'm sure most of you have never heard of this case as it has not been covered by the major news outlets, liberal or otherwise. I'm posting this to spread the awareness of this tragedy and to see what everyone thinks.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/crime/newsom.asp

MURKYMERC

Sunday, May 20, 2007 6:42 PM

What do I think?

I think that in reporting crime, the media makes decisions on what will sell papers. Dog bites man...no, man bites dog...yes. Black on black crime...no, white on crime....no, white on black crime...yes, black on white crime...depends on whether it defies the public perceptions. (Consequently, not that it changes anything for me, but articles in this morning’s paper are already saying that the sexual mutilation didn’t happen)

What do I think?

I think this is a case of taking a single case study and projecting as an absolute. Before jumping to conclusion I would like to see the percentage of black on white vs. white on black crimes that make the front page. I fully expect that you will see that white on black gets more coverage, but this e-mail intends to give the belief that black on white crime is never covered.

What do I think?

I think that this will be used as fodder for ultra conservatives and white supremacist for their own personal agenda. I also fully expect this thread to take a very nasty turn fairly soon.

What do I think?

I think that I am less concerned with media coverage, and more concerned with the perpetrators will be punished accordingly, which in my mind would probably be nothing short of the death penalty.

I may be completely wrong on all points, but that is what I think.

DHAERUVUSRAVENSHADOW

Sunday, May 20, 2007 6:53 PM

A well thought out response. I agree with you on the majority of it. This incident happened not far from my neck of the woods (relatively speaking) and gets quite a lot of coverage on conservative talk radio. I would imagine that the disparity regarding whether or not the mutilations occured revolve around the fact that the the court dates were set last week and, I'm sure the perps lawers are trying to cast as much doubt as possible. I have no doubt that this will turn ugly soon, but most threads in RWED do, especially when a few people start threadjacking. And I'm sure, they will blame the mythical "Jew-run Liberal Media". As if there was such a thing in rural Kentucky/Tennessee. And for the record, I'm a Pagan Libertarian, and I think justice should be served with a blowtorch and pliers in some cases.

KHYRON

Sunday, May 20, 2007 7:16 PM

Post deleted...

... by the Jew-run liberal media.

Questions are a burden to others. Answers are prison for oneself.

SOUPCATCHER

Sunday, May 20, 2007 7:20 PM

I think the snopes writer-upper did a good job of identifying factors influencing whether or not a story gets wide media attention (second to last paragraph). In this particular case there isn't much mystery. A crime was committed. The physical evidence strongly points toward guilty parties. The only point of ambiguity seems to be how much or how little torture.

Media organizations are trying to make money with their news divisions. What keeps viewers coming back to a story, and consequently keeps advertisers happy, is if the story plays out like a mystery novel. The audience gets to watch various clues being uncovered and fill in the blanks. If there are not enough blanks to fill in, if there is limited room for equally valid yet opposite conclusions, the story loses interest from an entertainment viewpoint.

As was pointed out already, there is one audience for whom this story is compelling. And so it's unsurprising that the media most connected with that audience has been running with the story.

FINN MAC CUMHAL

Monday, May 21, 2007 2:32 AM

I vaguely remember this, so I imagine that it did surface in the newspapers where I live, but it’s life was probably brief and I knew that it would never make it to the networks, but it also never made it to the cable news outlets or any of the major papers. There are probably many reasons why this did not receive national coverage, chief among them is the lack of mystery involved in the case. However, to say that crimes this brutal occur frequently is the US is probably not true; in fact, this case probably was unusual specifically because of the brutality. And the argument that the national news agents would “conspire” to avoid this is a strawman that has never been asserted by those arguing a liberal bias.

Liberal bias in the media very likely was a major reason why this never got any national news coverage. Given the brutality of these crimes there is no possible way to present the minorities in this case as anything other then vicious monsters whose victims are completely innocent white people. And such a thing is an anathema in the views of many powerful people in the media and the so-called civil rights organizations. In a society where the livelihood of a person can be completely disrupted by the mere accusation of racism or bigotry against a minority class, it is not hard to imagine that no on would want to touch this case. There is no reason to assert any such conspiracy, and no such conspiracy exists or is argued, but the bias is there, nonetheless.

Nihil est incertius vulgo, nihil obscurius voluntate hominum, nihil fallacius ratione tota comitiorum.

Nothing is more unpredictable than the mob, nothing more obscure than public opinion, nothing more deceptive than the whole political system.

-- Cicero

MISSTRESSAHARA

Monday, May 21, 2007 7:11 AM

It's sick regardless why it wasn't covered. Stories like this and the story of that woman who was beaten to death by her family as people recorded it make me heart sick and wonder what the hell is wrong with our society. I don't give a damn if they're black or white, that they can do these horrible things to FELLOW HUMAN BEINGS and casually sit there while the body of one victim rots in their home just shows these 5 people, and the people who beat that woman and videotaped it, aren't human or humane, they're devils and demon's and GOD or whatever force that's out there help them when they die, because I won't shed a tear for them.

My deepest condolances to the victim's family's. NO family should have to face this kind of horror and bury what could have been promising lives.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
~*Peter* Peter*; power *re-peater*~
`@/
/Y
/_)

*Petrelli for President. Together we can soar.*
**********~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
**********~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
**********~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
**********~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
**********~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

HEROE'S IS MY CRACK!
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

FREMDFIRMA

Monday, May 21, 2007 8:02 AM

Bah, subversion of the press for personal agenda is a game as old as the press itself.

From the slimy beginnings of W.R. Hearst, to the near total subjugation of MOCKINGBIRD, to R. Murdoch and the present day, the mainstream media does not present, and has never presented, anything even remotely resembling a balanced view or unspun general news.

The closest you'd have ever come to that was AP Wire at the actual press-credentials level when it was simple base information which was then later edited or spun by local media via skew or careful and creative editing.
(MEMRI has always been notorious for 'creative editing' of foreign language news)

So really, nothing has changed except for the fact that the internet allows folk to doublecheck on the shit-shovellers and realise the depth of the lies and distortions.

Nothing of the business has changed, it is our perception of that business that has - we've seen the man behind the curtain, and we know he's fulla shit, is what it is.

People mostly believe what they WANT to believe, and factual information never changes that one way or the other, the 'news' is *entertainment*, not an information service.

Never expect it.
Never forget it.

-Frem

It cannot be said enough, those who do not learn from history, are doomed to endlessly repeat it

FREMDFIRMA

Monday, May 21, 2007 8:14 AM

Quote:
Liberal bias in the media

Excuse me while I laugh till near-asphixiation.
AT you.

Yet another throughly and completely debunked right-wing fairytale.

http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=2560
http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=2447

Some myths just won't die in spite of mountains of evidence against them.

Let's get it straight...
Christians are NOT a persecuted minority.
The media does NOT have a liberal bias.
The government is NOT here to help you.

Quit whinin and get over it, and if you'd like not to be utterly mocked, don't utter a complete fiction as if it were fact, just because you'd like to believe it's true as an excuse.

-Frem

It cannot be said enough, those who do not learn from history, are doomed to endlessly repeat it

RIVER6213

Monday, May 21, 2007 3:12 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Fremdfirma:
Quote:
Liberal bias in the media

Excuse me while I laugh till near-asphixiation.
AT you.

Yet another throughly and completely debunked right-wing fairytale.

http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=2560
http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=2447

Some myths just won't die in spite of mountains of evidence against them.

Let's get it straight...
Christians are NOT a persecuted minority.
The media does NOT have a liberal bias.
The government is NOT here to help you.

Quit whinin and get over it, and if you'd like not to be utterly mocked, don't utter a complete fiction as if it were fact, just because you'd like to believe it's true as an excuse.

-Frem

It cannot be said enough, those who do not learn from history, are doomed to endlessly repeat it

Well said.

-River

1 2 NEXT PAGE