topic Re: Incomplete reporting in Community Chat

Incomplete reporting

hyacinth003 — Sat, 27 Dec 2014 00:31:25 GMT

I am really curious if this is a regional issue, or is it in other parts of the country. I am in suburban Chicago.

We have a local news online called "The Patch," which I have seen in other places. Like the "Orlando Patch," and many others throughout the country.

Was just reading a story about a pedestrian killed by a car. It named the man, his age, what town he was from. However, nothing about the circumstances of the accident. Was it a hit and run, etc.? I go to the Chicago Tribune website and see it was an accident with a teen driver, etc.

Earlier this year, there was a report of an armed robbery at a 7-11. Now, this would be RARE in the town I live in. At least it was! All they said was the location and that the suspects were "a man and a woman." Huh? How about age, description, race, any other identification of the suspects? You might actually get help from the public.

These are just examples of many more I have seen. Are people not being taught in journalism school, or are they deliberately holding out details on stories?

Hyacinth

Re: Incomplete reporting

Peaches McPhee — Sat, 27 Dec 2014 00:34:07 GMT

I wonder about this too. I often think reporters are leaving out a significant part of the story, and leaving the reader with more questions than answers. Puzzles me.

Re: Incomplete reporting

deepwaterdotter — Sat, 27 Dec 2014 01:22:37 GMT

Have you contacted ""The Patch"" to request more thorough reporting?

Re: Incomplete reporting

YorkieonmyPillow — Sat, 27 Dec 2014 01:43:27 GMT

The local TV station here refuses to reveal the race of a suspect. They said it was their ""policy"" not to mention race----- even when there was a armed bank robbery with the suspect still at large.

PC gone mad.

Re: Incomplete reporting

Kachina624 — Sat, 27 Dec 2014 01:46:32 GMT

I don't think that is happening in my area. We seem to get all the ugly details including photos from closed circuit cameras.

Re: Incomplete reporting

Buck-i-Nana — Sat, 27 Dec 2014 04:14:22 GMT

I believe those "Patch" sites are really just limited "taste of home" type news sites. I get facebook feed from the Levittown Patch, my old home town, and if something catches my attention, then I will go to other more in-depth news sites for the whole story.

Re: Incomplete reporting

hyacinth003 — Sat, 27 Dec 2014 05:10:27 GMT

On 12/26/2014 YorkieonmyPillow said:
The local TV station here refuses to reveal the race of a suspect. They said it was their ""policy"" not to mention race----- even when there was a armed bank robbery with the suspect still at large.

PC gone mad.

OMG. Better not tell the police either!

Hyacinth

Re: Incomplete reporting

millieshops — Sat, 27 Dec 2014 05:14:16 GMT

No idea what's going on now with Patch, but for a while I felt they were volunteers reporting bits of local news, not a news agency with any budget to allow for in-depth reporting. Maybe just listening to scanners?

Re: Incomplete reporting

AnikaBrodie — Sat, 27 Dec 2014 05:59:25 GMT

Many in the media want to get the news story out first before other sources report it. In doing so they don't check their facts and either report misleading or inaccurate or incomplete information and then have no follow-up. It's aggravating to say the least.

We just had a RARE reporting of a road rage incident in our small town that happened on Christmas morning with no update(s) on today's news.

Re: Incomplete reporting

LilacTree — Sat, 27 Dec 2014 19:59:42 GMT

Never heard of this type of news reporting. We don't get that around here (northeastern coast . . . NJ, PA, etc.).

Re: Incomplete reporting

newziesuzie — Sun, 28 Dec 2014 03:31:55 GMT

I'm not familiar with the Patch news either.

Re: Incomplete reporting

Puzzle Piece — Sun, 28 Dec 2014 03:46:46 GMT

There's reporting, there's breaking 'news', entertainment amusement passed off as news, and then there's journalism.

I don't need to know all the details of accidents or killings - that is for the authorities and the families of those involved. Also, it affords a person some dignity in their passing as to all the gory details being made public.

Re: Incomplete reporting

maplecrazed — Sun, 28 Dec 2014 19:44:14 GMT

On 12/26/2014 AnikaBrodie said:
Many in the media want to get the news story out first before other sources report it. In doing so they don't check their facts and either report misleading or inaccurate or incomplete information and then have no follow-up. It's aggravating to say the least.

We just had a RARE reporting of a road rage incident in our small town that happened on Christmas morning with no update(s) on today's news.

Yes, it appears "first" is all that matters. Facts are secondary. I recently watched a major news story unfold and the news was a rehash of someone else's bad reports. In that experience I learned we really only hear about 25% knowledge... the rest is filler. If that.

Re: Incomplete reporting

NoelSeven — Sun, 28 Dec 2014 21:41:51 GMT

On 12/26/2014 YorkieonmyPillow said:
The local TV station here refuses to reveal the race of a suspect. They said it was their "policy" not to mention race----- even when there was a armed bank robbery with the suspect still at large.

PC gone mad.

It used to be that race was only mentioned when it was a person who was not Caucasian.

It made it sound like all the perps were non-white, which was obviously not true.

You may see it as PC when in fact it stops the racial profiling of old. If it bothers you, tell your stations to report the ethnic heritage of everyone, including white people.

Re: Incomplete reporting

NoelSeven — Sun, 28 Dec 2014 21:46:25 GMT

I think it's most probably a time issue. They only have so much time to devote to a story, so it's cut to the bare bones.

Part of that seems to be because so much time is now devoted to sports and weather, at least that's the way it is in my area.

Re: Incomplete reporting

PIT-HAG Melissa — Sun, 28 Dec 2014 22:48:04 GMT

Nevermind, noticed they are in different burbs here..

Re: Incomplete reporting

foundinlv — Sun, 28 Dec 2014 23:10:46 GMT

On 12/26/2014 YorkieonmyPillow said:
The local TV station here refuses to reveal the race of a suspect. They said it was their "policy" not to mention race----- even when there was a armed bank robbery with the suspect still at large.

PC gone mad.

I've been asked a few times to give the race of a suspect to a police officer and it made me uncomfortable because when a witness is asked this, it's always their bias speaking...who they think it is instead of who it actually is. The first time I was asked I was around 18 years old and blurted out a race and immediately knew I was incorrect when I heard myself speak. It was then that I realized what was going on and I made the correction right away to the police. So, imo...it's okay to say what the color of someone's skin is when asked, without saying what race you think they are. Skin color is not necessarily an indicator of race.

Re: Incomplete reporting

hyacinth003 — Mon, 29 Dec 2014 04:01:02 GMT

On 12/28/2014 Ilikeshade said:
On 12/26/2014 YorkieonmyPillow said:
The local TV station here refuses to reveal the race of a suspect. They said it was their "policy" not to mention race----- even when there was a armed bank robbery with the suspect still at large.

PC gone mad.

I've been asked a few times to give the race of a suspect to a police officer and it made me uncomfortable because when a witness is asked this, it's always their bias speaking...who they think it is instead of who it actually is. The first time I was asked I was around 18 years old and blurted out a race and immediately knew I was incorrect when I heard myself speak. It was then that I realized what was going on and I made the correction right away to the police. So, imo...it's okay to say what the color of someone's skin is when asked, without saying what race you think they are. Skin color is not necessarily an indicator of race.

I guess it's possible that a witness could be not accurate on race.

But there's a heck of a lot of difference in whether the person is very light in color or dark. Even an opinion has some merit.

In the example I gave, saying the armed robbers were a man and a woman was not helpful. If you gave a more thorough description, seeing a man and a woman in a 7-11 parking lot would cause me to look better if I could distinguish something about them. Also, that is not a common description in armed robberies. It also helps the public to protect themselves if THEY are in a parking lot. I might decide to stay in my car if I saw a couple like that described in the news report. Otherwise, you might find yourself in the middle of a robbery.

Another story recently had a surveillance video PHOTO of the armed robber. He has robbed banks that are located inside grocery stores. Some people have called "profiling" a dirty word. No, it's good common sense.

The public can be helpful in pointing law enforcement to criminals, and in some cases, we should have information to protect ourselves from them.

Hyacinth