Tuesday, October 20, 2015

NBC News Fixes Gaffe In Coverage Of Corey Jones Shooting

Early today, I wrote a piece criticizing NBC News for their story about the killing of Corey Jones, a church musician, by a plainclothes police officer in Florida.

The incident report filed by Palm Beach Gardens Officer Nouman Raja says that Jones was armed, and the story stated that the police said that Jones was armed. My criticism lay with the fact that both the headline and a photo caption went beyond saying that the police said Jones was armed, to actually describing Jones as armed. Which is an entirely different statement.

I said that at best, that was sloppy, and that at worst, it was racist, "buying into assumptions about the dangerousness of Black men."

I am happy to report that both the headline and the photo caption have been changed. The headline now reads, "Musician Killed By Florida Plainclothes Officer Was Armed, Police Say." And the photo caption makes no reference at all to Jones being armed.

Good job, NBC.

Now, if only you guys - and all of your mainstream media competitors/colleagues - could find a photo of Officer Raja that does not show him receiving a medal, that would be excellent. Because when you're reporting about an officer killing a citizen, under circumstances that warrant investigation, showing that officer receiving a medal is gigantically creepy.

Ya feel me?

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