Sunday, March 06, 2005
Rush to judgment
The News and Record could have been a little more sensitive in its headlining today and given the family of the 16-year-old who was driving the car in which two teenagers were killed a break. How about a headline that read: Family continues to grieve after tragic accident.
Of course, that wouldn't attract attention of readers, would it. It was continued with the word Alcohol on page A4. The strangest part of this story was that it implied that we were all waiting to find out the results of the tests, but the original story doesn't mention the suspicion of alcohol or drug involvement at all.
It is so "left field" it sort of feels like one of those 'Try not to think of a pink elephant' stories.
Readers of this blog might have figured out that I am the father of a couple of teenagers. One of them is 18 and is a driver. He is perfectly capable of the same kind of dumb move with a car as that poor young man who was driving. The only difference between him and my son is the roll of the dice. Luck. But for the Grace of God, I might be sitting in that hospital looking for an explanation to give to the families of the two children whose lives had been lost, and struggling for a way to help my son live with this burden for the rest of his life.
By using the labels that the N&R did in their headlines, even though these substances were not present in his bloodstream, the paper cast an additional public pall over what can only be a horribly painful experience for these parents and for that suffering young man.
I am not a journalist. I am a consumer of the news. From my point of view, the N&R crossed the line.
Of course, that wouldn't attract attention of readers, would it. It was continued with the word Alcohol on page A4. The strangest part of this story was that it implied that we were all waiting to find out the results of the tests, but the original story doesn't mention the suspicion of alcohol or drug involvement at all.
It is so "left field" it sort of feels like one of those 'Try not to think of a pink elephant' stories.
Readers of this blog might have figured out that I am the father of a couple of teenagers. One of them is 18 and is a driver. He is perfectly capable of the same kind of dumb move with a car as that poor young man who was driving. The only difference between him and my son is the roll of the dice. Luck. But for the Grace of God, I might be sitting in that hospital looking for an explanation to give to the families of the two children whose lives had been lost, and struggling for a way to help my son live with this burden for the rest of his life.
By using the labels that the N&R did in their headlines, even though these substances were not present in his bloodstream, the paper cast an additional public pall over what can only be a horribly painful experience for these parents and for that suffering young man.
I am not a journalist. I am a consumer of the news. From my point of view, the N&R crossed the line.
# posted by Michael Christopher : 11:14 PM
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