Five days ago, I read an article about a baby that was shot in a Detroit drive-by. Three adults and the child were shot in Detroit’s west side. It was on the “front page” of The Detroit News website, and upon further searching, I found a slightly more explanatory article on CBS Detroit, the only difference between the two articles being that the CBS one indicates that the baby is expected to survive. What surprised me is how few details were offered in the article. In the news that I’m used to reading, insufficient articles like this are usually published in the immediate aftermath of an event, but with time, more and more information is added in order to offer a full, fleshy, comprehensive story of a given traumatic event. That not a single news development has been made on this already barely-there article in the past five days is either extremely indicative of the almost commonplace nature of this event or a reflection of poor journalistic standards. The journalist has an obligation to follow up with their readers and to finish a story (a story being the journalistic coverage of an event). In these times of sensationalized journalism, we tend to believe that journalists also have a responsibility of humanizing a story. However, for what it’s worth, this article made me rethink that. I probably don’t need a video of the grandmother sobbing or a time-line of the one-year-old boy’s first few months of life thus far. These are things I would get from some of the news companies that I’m familiar with. However, at the very least, I think that knowing the identities and potential motives of the suspects is necessary to gain even the most basic understanding of the event. On the writer’s part, including this information would be in accordance with even the most fundamental journalistic standards. In my books, this journalist failed, but I think there’s a bigger picture to look at.
I think the purpose of this blog prompt was to pick something we saw on the news that made us upset in its representation of Detroit. Detroit isn’t all crime, it isn’t all blight, it isn’t all desolation. This is true. But crime, blight, and desolation still exist in Detroit. Just because we live and work in Midtown, far away from it, doesn’t mean it’s not there and that it’s not an inherent, indelible part of Detroit’s past and present. News companies can’t be expected to shove that stuff under a rug. Sure, nobody who loves Detroit wants it to be known for its crime. That doesn’t change the fact that crime exists here, just like it does everywhere, and that one of the jobs of a news reporter is to objectively and comprehensively report on crimes in the area. Sometimes, this means putting heartbreaking, morbidly interesting, and generally terrifying news on the front lines. If a baby is shot, Detroit media corporations darn well better put it on the front page. That would be a headline anywhere in America. What disturbs me is how short, matter-of-fact, unaffected, and distant the article is. This is not a story. It’s a cold and unfeeling depiction of an event. Some might argue that, lack of informative value notwithstanding, this is exactly what makes it true, essential, and unsensationalized journalism, but all I can say is that this is not what I’m used to. This article’s scant detail and complete lack of follow-up make it almost ridiculous. I wouldn’t have even known that the baby was “grazed” unless I saw the URL. It makes me angry. This is not to say that Detroit journalism is subpar. One article is not necessarily indicative of an entire industry and value system. I’ve read plenty of wonderful articles on these same news websites, and I’ve read plenty of awful articles on non-Detroit news websites. However, they say you’re only as strong as your weakest link, and I happen to be looking at what seems to be very weak link indeed—a single snippet of data I found on the internet one day. It’s a snippet that stuck with me, even though I’ll probably never know the ending of the story. At least we know that the baby and the three adult victims will be okay, whatever that means.
http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2015/07/15/police-4-shot-in-detroit-including-1-year-old-grazed-by-bullet/
I think the purpose of this blog prompt was to pick something we saw on the news that made us upset in its representation of Detroit. Detroit isn’t all crime, it isn’t all blight, it isn’t all desolation. This is true. But crime, blight, and desolation still exist in Detroit. Just because we live and work in Midtown, far away from it, doesn’t mean it’s not there and that it’s not an inherent, indelible part of Detroit’s past and present. News companies can’t be expected to shove that stuff under a rug. Sure, nobody who loves Detroit wants it to be known for its crime. That doesn’t change the fact that crime exists here, just like it does everywhere, and that one of the jobs of a news reporter is to objectively and comprehensively report on crimes in the area. Sometimes, this means putting heartbreaking, morbidly interesting, and generally terrifying news on the front lines. If a baby is shot, Detroit media corporations darn well better put it on the front page. That would be a headline anywhere in America. What disturbs me is how short, matter-of-fact, unaffected, and distant the article is. This is not a story. It’s a cold and unfeeling depiction of an event. Some might argue that, lack of informative value notwithstanding, this is exactly what makes it true, essential, and unsensationalized journalism, but all I can say is that this is not what I’m used to. This article’s scant detail and complete lack of follow-up make it almost ridiculous. I wouldn’t have even known that the baby was “grazed” unless I saw the URL. It makes me angry. This is not to say that Detroit journalism is subpar. One article is not necessarily indicative of an entire industry and value system. I’ve read plenty of wonderful articles on these same news websites, and I’ve read plenty of awful articles on non-Detroit news websites. However, they say you’re only as strong as your weakest link, and I happen to be looking at what seems to be very weak link indeed—a single snippet of data I found on the internet one day. It’s a snippet that stuck with me, even though I’ll probably never know the ending of the story. At least we know that the baby and the three adult victims will be okay, whatever that means.
http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2015/07/15/police-4-shot-in-detroit-including-1-year-old-grazed-by-bullet/
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