Apparently, some irresponsible news organization leaked information about the sniper shootings in Maryland, and now Chief Moose is justifiably angry about it.
So what is it about the media that makes them think they have no personal responsibility to respect the wishes of law enforcement? Have we become so concerned with ourselves and our bottom line that we don’t care about the consequences of our actions?
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I don’t believe journalists think there are consequences to what they do. They report, report, report (It’s our 1st Amendment right!) with little regard for common sense or decency.
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That is one of the things I have a problem with also! I also think that there are some in this country (not reporters) that think they need to know more than they really do! Thus the reporters think that they have to report the things we don’t need to know!
If I understand this correctly, this bit of information was LEAKED to the press. It takes two to tango, y’know – so who was responsible WITHIN the county police department for giving out unauthorized information?
I am, btw, a journalism student. Yes, some reporters have questionable ethics when it comes to getting the scoop on a story that’s making headlines – but only some.
Rhesa, I was have a Communications degree, which I have never used. As a teenager I wanted to be a reporter. But late in college I realized I wasn’t suited to that cut-throat field. I’m not a fan of the ambush or do anything for the scoop mentality.
Yes, someone leaked that information. That was the 1st wrong done here. The reporter it was leaked to had a choice to make…report it (as they did) or hold it until the police released it.
I now work in law enforcement. There’s a very good reason the police wanted to keep it close to the vest. And it’s a large task force of many agencies (local, state, and federal) that made that decision. Releasing that information may have seriously jeopardized the investigation.
In good lazy fashion, I am reporting without showing references. The reporter in question, whoever he might be, was asked specifically not to release the information, but did so anyway. And Chief Moose’s gripe was about more than the leak, it was about the danger the media was causing the investigation by the supposed *experts* they had been interviewing. There has been a lot of conjecture that has hampered the investigation and much of that conjecture was caused by the media.
Note: I don’t put faces on entities like the *media*. There are always good people out there who do great jobs, its just that the media tends to have a reputation for this kind of thing. Blowing things out of proportion, hyping stuff, hoping to make it newsworthy and boost ratings. I’m not against good business, but sometimes there should be constaints, and i’ve not heard any apologies…
Corporate journalism gives us honest small fries a bad name. Oh, my bad…there aren’t anymore small fries to swallow. It’s not that I disagree with what yer saying, but I have to wonder about the person in the county police dept. who released this information in the first place. At any rate, I’m sure the rest of the press can thank this reporter that the law enforcement officers might not be so cooperative about new leads in the near future.
Whenever I hear about stupid journalists, I think of this movie.
Well… think of it this way, the time is ripe for reform!
I think I shall be bold and stand up for the media (corperate, whatever). (Please keep in mind that my respect for this general group of people is only slightly higher than the respect I have for the masses it leads with its garbage). Anyway, the media has a product to sell, just like McDonalds, and there is a lot of competition, just like McDonalds, unlike McD’s the each reporter and it’s competition sell the same junk food. So the question is almost always who has the news first (or more indepth). So in a free market society, I can say bad things about Walmart, McD’s, and the Media all I want but if I still shop there, I can’t blame them for selling their product (That is their job). It is like the individual that sued Mcdonalds because he or she was fat. True, a more kind version of McDonalds may refuse to sell to an overweight consumer (just as a more wise Media would refuse to report that which could jeprodize an investigation), but alas, kindest and wisdom are not among the foundations of a free market system. I am glad that their is no “control” over the media, that at least slightly increases the chance that I might find out the truth about something. That is my perspective, I have to finish my Big Mac.