The Scrutinator

With Hurricane Katrina, one might concede that the chaos played a role in all the astonishingly false reporting that went on.

But now, sans natural disaster, we have the Jena 6. Like Katrina, events that occurred on U.S. soil, recently, reported by people we're expected to trust. And the press generally got it disgracefully wrong.

Craig Franklin: Media Myths About the Jena 6

The media got most of the basics wrong. In fact, I have never before witnessed such a disgrace in professional journalism. Myths replaced facts, and journalists abdicated their solemn duty to investigate every claim because they were seduced by a powerfully appealing but false narrative of racial injustice. ...

The reason the Jena cases have been propelled into the world spotlight is two-fold: First, because local officials did not speak publicly early on about the true events of the past year, the media simply formed their stories based on one-side's statements – the Jena 6. Second, the media were downright lazy in their efforts to find the truth. Often, they simply reported what they'd read on blogs, which expressed only one side of the issue.

The real story of Jena and the Jena 6 is quite different from what the national media presented. It's time to set the record straight.

Via Instapundit

By The Scrutinator @ 8:02 AM