Leave it to the lefty gossip site Jezebel to use an innocent baby as a means to entice its audience into reading more “bad news” about the Michael Brown verdict: Darren Wilson’s going to be an "unlucky kid's father." Actually, the news of the baby was barely mentioned in the post.
Jezebel’s Hillary Crosley blogged about the recent interview Officer Darren Wilson gave to ABC’s George Stephanopoulos on Tuesday – less than 24 hours the grand jury decided not to indict Wilson for shooting Brown in August. The blog began:
Because the holiday season wasn't already horrible enough, Officer Darren Wilson has announced that he and his wife are expecting a child. The only way this nightmare week can be saved now is if Wilson is spirited into a federal jail thanks to a Thanksgiving miracle for the ages.
If that didn’t give away Crosley’s opinion and feeling of the trial (rather than actually reporting on it), the next paragraph sure did:
Wilson shared that someone had actually married him despite his questionable life choices and that person was also pregnant. And just before he shared that nefarious news, a grand jury of what I can only assume to be Ghosts of Mississippi extras in Ferguson, MO decided against indicting Wilson for shooting an unarmed young black man named Michael Brown in August.
Note that Crosley didn’t discuss Brown’s robbery or physical altercation with Wilson prior to being shot. Also, she leads the reader to believe that the grand jury was made up of all white jurors – all but saying they are racist by comparing them to extras in Ghosts of Mississippi – when in actuality the grand jury was comprised of nine white and three black jurors. Crosley then went on to blame the decision for the Ferguson protests as well as other protests across the country:
As a result, Monday and Tuesday nights saw protests not just in Ferguson—where Gov. Jay Nixon recently re-ordered even more tanks and National Guard troops with semi-automatic weapons because that worked out so well the first time—but also across the country from New York City to Oakland, Ca.
She also blamed America for the “injustice” of Brown’s case, as well as Thanksgiving – because of those pesky pilgrims:
What a way to kick off a holiday about befriending the Native Americans that settlers would eventually go on to slaughter: by leading in with injustice surrounding the death of another minority. Great job, America!
Had Crosley done what any reporter/blogger should do (acknowledge both sides of a story), she would’ve included the fact that Wilson has been in seclusion since the August shooting and has feared for his life ever since. He told ABC:
WILSON: You’re always looking, you’re always wondering if someone’ll recognize you, if someone is following you. Just every possibility you can think of… from where you sit in the restaurant to, you know, where you drive. Everything has to run through your head. It’s every time you walk, you make sure no one’s following you, everything.
Or that he told Stephanopoulos that the altercation began when Brown reached into his police car and grabbed for his gun and punched Wilson in the face - causing him to fear for his life:
"I just felt the immense power that he had. And then the way I've described it is it was like a 5-year-old holding onto Hulk Hogan. That's just how big this man was…”
Crosley didn’t give both sides, she only gave one side to this story – hers – based on nothing but emotion and sarcasm. She insinuated racism from the jurors by comparing them to a movie about a white supremacist (who was found guilty 30 years after having been tried twice before with both trials ending in a hung jury) that killed a civil rights leader, and gave no evidence or facts to back up her claims. Her post is purely opinion.
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but before its blogged as “news,” both sides of the story must be given so the reader can make their determination – especially when it comes to issues involving racism and facts. Then again, Jezebel is owned by Gawker, and isn’t the best example when it comes to handling racial issues in their own organization, or when it comes to fact checking.
