March 22, 2012 - Galveston, Texas
Yesterday I reported in The Police News Online the burglary of a couple's home in Galveston during which $3500 was stolen. The couple just happened to both be Sheriff's deputies and the $3500 was money they raised for the wife's sister, a cancer victim.
The story didn't say why the couple had the money in their home, but it didn't seem important. The focus of the story was that the money was for the suffering sister. But guess what many readers focused on.
Online comments, both on The Police News and in the forum of Galveston's local newspaper, were critical of the couple for having the money in their home, for not putting it in the bank, and for not hiding it in a secret place in their home? "Stupid cops," exclaimed one writer, "of all people, they should know better."
This went on and on. The local newspaper elected to publish them. The Police News didn't. We considered it just one more opportunity for people to 'pile on' some cops when they see an opportunity.
Some of the decent comments asked how they could help the sister, where they could send a contribution to help replace the stolen money.
Just to explain why the money was in the couple's home, here it is. The benefit at which the money was raised was on a weekend and banks were closed. So the money was taken home to wait until Monday to deposit it. So there! You jerks! Should they have buried it in the backyard, or what?
Some people are no damned good.
Read the original story: http://thepolicenews.net/default.aspx?act=Newsletter.aspx&category=News+1-2&newsletterid=32183&menugroup=Home
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Listen for 'hedge words' in media reporting
March 21, 2012
Read this headline and see if you get it the same way I do.
"Thieves allegedly steal cancer patient's money from Galveston deputies"
That comes from one of the 3 major TV stations in Houston reporting on the home of a Galveston couple, both deputy sheriff's, which was burglarized. Inside the home was $3500 which they had raised in a benefit for the woman's sister, a cancer victim.
Now, this TV station says the 'Thieves allegedly steal" the money. To me, it means that TV station has doubts about the money being stolen. Or, they don't believe their source of the story, which was the daily newspaper in Galveston.
I am amazed everyday at the writings of some of these so-called 'news professionals' who throw in an 'allegedly' every other line and refer to everyone, regardless of circumstances, as a suspect.
If a robber is shot and killed by police running out of a convenience store with a bag of money in one had and a blazing gun in the other, wearing a mask, and the store clerk chasing him, the so-called 'major media' will call that dead gunman a 'suspect', rather than a 'dead gunman' or 'robber'.
What is it with these media types? Are they so paranoid? They profess to be all this and all that, yet they hedge in their reporting.
They like to claim, "Only this channel or that channel" has the story. Then they dice it with 'allegedly' and 'suspect' and other hedge words.
Listen closely. See how many times you can count the 'allegedly's' and 'suspects' in one story when it is clearly a hedge word.
Breck Porter
www.ThePoliceNews.net
Read this headline and see if you get it the same way I do.
"Thieves allegedly steal cancer patient's money from Galveston deputies"
That comes from one of the 3 major TV stations in Houston reporting on the home of a Galveston couple, both deputy sheriff's, which was burglarized. Inside the home was $3500 which they had raised in a benefit for the woman's sister, a cancer victim.
Now, this TV station says the 'Thieves allegedly steal" the money. To me, it means that TV station has doubts about the money being stolen. Or, they don't believe their source of the story, which was the daily newspaper in Galveston.
I am amazed everyday at the writings of some of these so-called 'news professionals' who throw in an 'allegedly' every other line and refer to everyone, regardless of circumstances, as a suspect.
If a robber is shot and killed by police running out of a convenience store with a bag of money in one had and a blazing gun in the other, wearing a mask, and the store clerk chasing him, the so-called 'major media' will call that dead gunman a 'suspect', rather than a 'dead gunman' or 'robber'.
What is it with these media types? Are they so paranoid? They profess to be all this and all that, yet they hedge in their reporting.
They like to claim, "Only this channel or that channel" has the story. Then they dice it with 'allegedly' and 'suspect' and other hedge words.
Listen closely. See how many times you can count the 'allegedly's' and 'suspects' in one story when it is clearly a hedge word.
Breck Porter
www.ThePoliceNews.net
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