Yellow Journalism?
(Fox News) - The assistant editor of the Jena, Louisiana Times says of the media covering the controversy over the charges brought against six black students who attacked a white classmate — "I have never before witnessed such a disgrace in professional journalism."
Craig Franklin writes in the Christian Science Monitor that media replaced facts with myths — among them — the existence of a "whites only" tree at the high school. He writes — "students of all races sat underneath this tree."
Franklin also contends the school expulsion committee concluded the nooses allegedly intended to intimidate black students were actually a prank by white students aimed at other whites. And he says the beating of the white student by the six blacks was not a schoolyard fight as it was portrayed — but a carefully planned ambush and brutal beating.
Craig Franklin writes in the Christian Science Monitor that media replaced facts with myths — among them — the existence of a "whites only" tree at the high school. He writes — "students of all races sat underneath this tree."
Franklin also contends the school expulsion committee concluded the nooses allegedly intended to intimidate black students were actually a prank by white students aimed at other whites. And he says the beating of the white student by the six blacks was not a schoolyard fight as it was portrayed — but a carefully planned ambush and brutal beating.
posted by BP News Bureau | 12:01 PM
1 Comments:
Another common myth that Franklin doesn't address is the myth that the Jena Six, who are charged with aggravated battery, are being over-charged simply because they are
black, or would not have been charged had they been white. However, in a 2005 case similar to the Jena Six beating, five white South Carolina teenagers who beat up a black teenager were charged and convicted of "second-degree lynching and assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature." (There was no actual lynching involved. Second-degree lynching is defined by South Carolina law as any act of violence on another
person by a mob when death does not occur. A mob is considered two or more people whose purpose and intent is committing an act of violence on another person.) Like the Jena Six, the white teenagers kicked the victim, 16-year-old Isaiah Clyburn, as he lay on the ground. The attack left the
black youth "on the roadside bruised and bloodied from the attack."
The white teenagers received the following sentences: One, who prosecutors said was the person most responsible for the attack, was sentenced to 18 years suspended to six years and 400 hours of public service. Two were sentenced to 15 years suspended to three years and 300 hours of public
service. And one was sentenced to 15 years suspended to 30 months and 300 hours of community service. A sixth co-defendant, Amy Woody, 17, was also charged with 2nd-degree lynching even though she did not take part in the beating.
The South Carolina incident was an obvious hate crime. The white teenagers, who used racial slurs, singled out Clyburn simply because he was black. However, the white youths were not charged with a hate crime, probably because South Carolina has no applicable hate laws. Like the Jena Six, they were charged only for the physical assault. The Jena Six beating also has obvious racial elements. According to witness statements, members of the Jena Six used racial slurs. According to witness statements, at the onset of the attack, "There's that that white [expletive deleted] who's been running his mouth." If Jena Six had been white and had said, "There's that that black (expletive deleted] who's been running his mouth," the federal government probably would have filed hate crime charges.
A South Carolina newspaper reports on the sentencing at http://www.gaffneyledger.com/news/2006/0111/front_page/001.html
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