Justice as a balancing act
Lance on May 19 2007 at 4:44 pm | Filed under: Lance's Page, Media
I haven’t been following closely the CHANNON CHRISTIAN / CHRISTOPHER NEWSOME story. Generally I don’t follow the crime of the day, nor have I found that the crime of the day in our media deserves to be the crime amongst all the cruel barbarity of the world to deserve much coverage. The drive this time amongst many seems to be to make this a bookend to the Duke lacrosse case, as if we need similar behavior on the part of our media and justice system to balance out the scales of justice. Simply put, we don’t. Typically Glenn Reynold’s has a reasonable view to counter the frothing and links to this:
The popular comparison for media coverage is to the Duke Lacrosse case, because the races of the accused and victims are inverted. This is considered the main difference driving the degree of coverage. But there’s another difference that matters - in the Duke case, the DA actively sought out media coverage. He was either trying to drum up witnesses for an ongoing investigation (if you want to be charitable towards him), or exploiting the racial aspect of the case to help his re-election bid (if you don’t.) Either way, he actively asked the media to cover his case. The authorities in Knoxville have not. Are the Knoxville authorities wrong for not acting enough like Mike Nifong?
For the balance seekers it seems yes. Read it all.
Just as typically Eric Scheie has lots of reasonable and intelligent observations. I would start here, but follow the links to his other posts as well.
Sphere: Related Content6 Responses to “Justice as a balancing act”
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I’m glad you feel the way you do about Channon Christian and Chris Newsome. Hopefully the Negroid Savages will be doing you and your girlfriend the same way next time.
Charming.
Well, Mr. Lance, your somewhat dimissive attitude of highly justified outrage got under my skin. However , I apologize for what I said and I mean that. Sorry.
Just one more thing Lance , one of the main reasons I’m feeling the way I am is because as a news junkie, I should have known about this abominable atrocity in January, NOT MAY. Its highly disturbing to me that this crime appears to have been deliberately covered up by the national media. I’m not going to let this get swept under the rug like other crimes have been ( The Wichita Horror, etc.) if I can help it. This last straw has broken this camel’s back, and I don’t think I’m the only one Lance. Once again I’m sorry for the comment, I’ve been in a foul mood ever since I first heard the details of it just TWO DAYS AGO. Its unbelievable we talked about Imus for a week while this has been covered up for months. Its not frothing, its sorrow for these poor kids and anger combined. Otherwise very good website Lance.
I appreciate the apology. I don’t deny the murders are heinous, nor that if the accused are guilty that they should never walk amongst the free ever again. However, I want justice, not a media driven lynch mob. I think Eric makes a lot of good points, and I see no reason to repeat them here, as to why we need to be as careful here as Nifong and the media wasn’t in the Duke case. It could harm the prosecution’s case for one thing.
Thank you for accepting my apology Lance. You’re right, we don’t want a lynch mob, though in the old days people would already be gathering around the jail house carrying torches. I read Eric’s column and I’m trying to calm down. I still feel bad about my intitial hot-headed reaction, so I sheepishly and cotritely apologize one last time, if you don’t mind!