Duke lacrosse case versus Imus case
An Editor and Publisher article examines some of the bad actors in the Duke lacrosse case, in which remaining charges have been dropped.
Doubtless some on the right will try to use the Duke case as a counter-example to the Imus affair, using predictable "see the white kids got hosed so Imus was hosed" kind of logic. While the lacrosse players were indeed treated unjustly, and that is an outrage, the heart of the problem appears to be that a "rogue prosecutor" was pandering for votes. Meanwhile, large segments of the national media turned the story into a prurient extravaganza. The cable television coverage was, in a word, disgusting.
There's a lot of self-examination that needs to be done in this country by the traditional media. After Blue Dress, after sharks, after missing white women, after Duke, after the state funeral of Anna Nicole, and after Imus, at long last, will they come to their senses? Or will they make all the right noises and then, this summer, we'll find that jellyfish stings are an "epidemic?"
-- THE MEDIA. The case had lots of hot-button issues -- sex, race, class, sports, an elite university. When it broke, a swarm of reporters and television trucks rushed to Durham and made the city the dateline for a string of sweeping stories about class, race and culture. The players and accuser were viewed less as individuals than as avatars of competing political and cultural agendas.As long as attention is on media behavior due to the Imus implosion, the Duke case illustrates why the Fourth Estate needs to perform its watchdog role. Instead of the breathless panting exhibited by the likes of Nancy Grace, what if all those resources had been used to actually check out what the prosecutor was doing?
But the case itself proved far more complicated, and few of the stories grasped that Durham was a more complicated place, too.
There were racial divisions to be sure, but also a civic tradition that kept people there talking -- instead of shouting or fighting -- throughout.
---snip---
-- DISTRICT ATTORNEY MIKE NIFONG: Before the case, Nifong was a respected lawyer little known outside Durham. Now, he's on the verge of being disbarred, facing ethics charges from the North Carolina State Bar that accuse him of withholding evidence, lying to a court and making inflammatory comments about the players. Cooper sharply criticized Nifong on Wednesday, indirectly referring to him as a "rogue prosecutor."
Doubtless some on the right will try to use the Duke case as a counter-example to the Imus affair, using predictable "see the white kids got hosed so Imus was hosed" kind of logic. While the lacrosse players were indeed treated unjustly, and that is an outrage, the heart of the problem appears to be that a "rogue prosecutor" was pandering for votes. Meanwhile, large segments of the national media turned the story into a prurient extravaganza. The cable television coverage was, in a word, disgusting.
There's a lot of self-examination that needs to be done in this country by the traditional media. After Blue Dress, after sharks, after missing white women, after Duke, after the state funeral of Anna Nicole, and after Imus, at long last, will they come to their senses? Or will they make all the right noises and then, this summer, we'll find that jellyfish stings are an "epidemic?"
