It’s almost inconceivable that a major newspaper would sit on a major story for two weeks.
When you consider that the news involved two of its own reporters being brutally attacked by a gang of kids on a Saturday night it becomes even more unbelievable. Was the newspaper just attempting to be politically correct regarding the racial aspect of the story?
“Wave after wave of young men surged forward to take turns punching and kicking their victim,” was the lede of the story written by Michelle Washington, editorial writer at the Virginian-Pilot newspaper in Norfolk, VA. The Pilot is Virginia’s largest metro daily newspaper.
“Two weeks have passed since reporters Dave Forster and Marjon Rostami - friends to me and many others at the newspaper - were attacked on a Saturday night as they drove home from a show at the Attucks Theatre,” wrote Washington. “They had stopped at a red light, in a crowd of at least 100 young people walking on the sidewalk.”
Was it for political correctness reasons the Pilot sat on the story and raised the issue of race only in the final paragraphs of the story? It certainly seems that way.
“(Dave) Forster and (Marjon)Rostami, both white, suffered a beating at the hands of a crowd of black teenagers,” asked Washington. “Was either case racially motivated? Were Forster and Rostami beaten in some kind of warped, vigilante retribution for a killing 750 miles away, a person none of them knew? Was it just bombast? Is a beating funny, ever?”
Almost reluctantly Washington tried to explain why her paper sat on the story.
“Here’s why their story is in the paper today. We cannot allow such callousness to continue unremarked, from the irrational, senseless teenagers who attacked two people just trying to go home, from the police officer whose conduct may have been typical but certainly seems cold, from the tweeting nitwits who think beating a man in Norfolk will change the death of Trayvon Martin.”
This story may have set a new low for honesty and integrity in journalism today.
It also highlights how many newspapers cover news when it involves themselves.
These kind of incidents are happening all over the country but the media seems to not want to show it. Chicago had a large number of these last summer and most were not given coverage. Because of the internet, the public hears about many of these things and we notice the media outlets are not talking about it. I know from family members that work on the Plaza that there have been many more incidents there that were unreported. We just don’t trust anyone in the media much anymore. For good reason.
The Star has a long history of not reporting crime in areas you might otherwise think are safe. You would think them safe because no one tells you about the crime that happens there. I once called the Star and complained to them because they did not cover the rash of armed robberies at our local grocery store in the parking lot at night. They told me they only mentioned especially interesting or different events out of the ordinary. Some newspaper.
Political correctness is killing us and it’s going to kill Kansas City Mo. Unless they face the facts as they are more folks will just pack up for Kansas.
Thank you for the AWESOME Simone quote! Super well said.
The great French socialist Simone Weil said it best. When she came back from Spain during that country’s terrible civil war in 1936-1939 she said that both sides were committing terrible atrocities. She was sharply attacked by a lot of people on the left-this was the era of the Popular Front with its slogan “No enemies to the left.” She replied with great dignity: “If you don’t care about every martyred child you don’t care about any of them.” If you don’t care about all victims of violence, you don’t care about any of them. “Selective compassion” is phony compassion. Take care. Sincerely, Respectfully and In Christ, Ernest Evans