{"id":8644,"date":"2014-12-03T07:23:37","date_gmt":"2014-12-03T12:23:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thinblueflorida.com\/?p=8644"},"modified":"2014-12-03T17:04:52","modified_gmt":"2014-12-03T22:04:52","slug":"ferguson-story-twisted-by-the-media-bias","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thinblueflorida.com\/?p=8644","title":{"rendered":"Ferguson Story Twisted by the Media Bias"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"image\"<\/a>With 24-hour news cycle focused firmly on the events in Ferguson since the findings of the grand jury, I would like to discuss the media coverage.\u00a0 In my opinion, the mainstream media spins itself in the direction of solid ratings and the truth be damned.\u00a0 It has been disappointing to see the public misled by faulty journalism.<\/p>\n

Nearly three months after the shooting, I am still hearing about the slow police response to the crime scene.\u00a0 Four hours for that poor suspect to lie in the street was \u201can injustice.\u201d\u00a0 Having investigated many major crime scenes, I can tell you that the photography, examination, and forensic collection at a death scene can take days, not hours.\u00a0 It is not an injustice to seek to uncover the truth.<\/p>\n

Those of us who are detectives and crime scene technicians know that you can only properly process a crime scene once.\u00a0 It is very meticulous work that is objective, avoids contamination, and seeks to uncover every piece of evidence available.\u00a0 It cannot be rushed.\u00a0 You have to get it right the first time.<\/p>\n

The deceased cannot be moved until all evidence in and around the body can be examined.\u00a0 To do so could alter the integrity of the scene, eliminate vital clues, or introduce items not present at the incident.\u00a0 Fingerprints, fibers, DNA, blood spatter, footwear impressions, and other physical evidence are delicate and perishable.<\/p>\n

But the news reporters and their hired guns, those who have never donned a latex glove or shoe cover in their lives, insisted to their audiences that four hours was too long.\u00a0 They do not know what they are talking about and their opinions are harmful.\u00a0 Worse, their assertions were the flawed foundations upon which laymen built their understanding of this case.<\/p>\n

\"crimetape\"<\/a>From the earliest moments of the shooting and subsequent investigation, news shows had recklessly pushed for instant transparency, as if this tragic event was a network drama that should be solved in, say, about an hour (with commercials).\u00a0 Justice also takes patience.<\/p>\n

The reporters and experts asserted that there was a lack of \u201cgood, timely information\u201d coming to the both media and Brown family from law enforcement.\u00a0 Apparently to the media, good information equals speculation because that is all you have in the early stages of an investigation.\u00a0 It is irresponsible news reporting to treat speculation as fact.<\/p>\n

Case in point, the very symbol of Michael Brown\u2019s innocence, hands raised in the air, was erroneously reported as fact to viewers and readers of the media outlets.\u00a0 Physical evidence and credible witness testimony showed he was not surrendering with his hands up, but since it was told on TV, it persisted as the truth.<\/p>\n

Transparency does not apply while a crime is actively examined; it is the manner in which information is released at the end of an investigation<\/em>\u2014weeks or months later.\u00a0 Cries that the police were not talking only spurred disinformation being promulgated as the truth.\u00a0 Much of what is urban legend now about the confrontation between Ofc. Wilson and Brown in Ferguson is the direct result of the media trying to feed their viewers.\u00a0 Unfortunately, it was junk food.<\/p>\n

In the aftermath of last week\u2019s media circus, I have been dumbfounded by \u201cformer federal prosecutors,\u201d \u201claw school professors,\u201d and other \u201cexperts,\u201d who stated that St. Louis County Prosecutor Robert McCulloch mishandled the grand jury.<\/p>\n

The \u201cexperts\u201d that I heard must have missed the day in law school that they taught how the justice system prosecutes cases.\u00a0 For the uninitiated, the prosecutor\u2019s office first decides whether there is probable cause to believe that a crime actually occurred.\u00a0 Secondly, the prosecutor\u2019s office decides whether the accused committed the crime.<\/p>\n

\"gavel_transparent\"<\/a>From my experience, in 99% of cases the prosecutor\u2019s office decides if a defendant will be charged.\u00a0 In the remaining one percent, the facts and circumstances of the case are given to a grand jury to rule if probable cause exists.\u00a0 Neither course is a trial.\u00a0 They exist to explore if there should be one.\u00a0 Media personalities complained that Ofc. Wilson was not cross-examined.\u00a0 Yeah, he wasn\u2019t because he was not on trial<\/em>!<\/p>\n

McCulloch\u2019s office could have investigated the incident, found no p\/c, and filed a No Information, ending the case.\u00a0 Instead, McCulloch brought the case to a grand jury for consideration.\u00a0 In doing so, McCulloch took himself out of the equation and let the grand jury weigh the evidence for themselves.\u00a0 His office went above the normal standard to give the grand jury all the testimony and evidence available for the case.\u00a0 The grand jury found insufficient evidence to charge Wilson.<\/p>\n

Recall that the accused is innocent until proven guilty.\u00a0 A grand jury of his peers said no crime was committed by Ofc. Wilson, therefore a trial was unwarranted.\u00a0 Let\u2019s all please move on.\u00a0 I sometimes have to remember that news shows are slaves to their Nielsen ratings and beholden to their advertisers.\u00a0 We should not believe for a moment that the truth can be learned from mere infotainment.<\/p>\n

Randall<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With 24-hour news cycle focused firmly on the events in Ferguson since the findings of the grand jury, I would like to discuss the media coverage.\u00a0 In my opinion, the mainstream media spins itself in the direction of solid ratings and the truth be damned.\u00a0 It has been disappointing to see the public misled by faulty journalism. Nearly three months after the shooting, I am still hearing about the slow police response to the crime scene.\u00a0 Four hours for that poor suspect to lie in the street was \u201can injustice.\u201d\u00a0 Having investigated many major crime scenes, I can tell you that the photography, examination, and forensic collection at a death … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[407,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8644","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-media","category-misc"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p28xkp-2fq","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thinblueflorida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8644","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thinblueflorida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thinblueflorida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thinblueflorida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thinblueflorida.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8644"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/thinblueflorida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8644\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8656,"href":"https:\/\/thinblueflorida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8644\/revisions\/8656"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thinblueflorida.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thinblueflorida.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thinblueflorida.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}