Reporters for the mainstream media (or is that lamestream?) are in high dudgeon over the backlash to the two New York Times reporters who published the address (sans house number) of former Ferguson, Missouri police officer Darren Wilson last week the day after a grand jury declined to indict Wilson in the August 9th shooting death of unarmed Black robber Michael Brown.
Bloomberg Politics published a lengthy whining piece by David Weigel entitled How a Conservative Backlash Silenced #Ferguson Reporters for All the Wrong Reasons. Weigel argues that it is no big deal for the media to publish the address of an innocent man hounded by a homicidal lynch mob.
“What had been innocuous information became the kindling for a media bonfire.”
To make his point, Weigel includes the street name of Wilson’s home five times in his article and the town’s name twice.
Bloomberg News tweeted the article with the caption:
“The twittering right riots against #Ferguson reporters”
The twittering right riots against #Ferguson reporters: http://t.co/t7Z0cX9uZg via @bpolitics pic.twitter.com/cOcVq5t9vy
— Bloomberg (@business) December 1, 2014
Weigel correctly points out at that Wilson’s address was published in August by the Washington Post, but he makes it seem there was no backlash at the time by his failure to report that the Post, CNN and others sparked outrage at the time for doing so. Selective history is one way the media distorts facts to fit a narrative.
The Gateway Pundit article entitled DEATH WISH? Media Draws Map to Home of Ferguson Police Officer Who Shot Mike Brown was featured on the Drudge Report for three days from August 16th through the 18th.
The Gateway Pundit article reported on CNN showing video of Wilson’s house including the street number and a CNN reporter doing a report from the street in front of the house. That report was sent to CNN affiliates around the country.
Also listed in the Gateway Pundit report was mentions of various details of the location of Wilson’s house by Yahoo News, USA Today, the UK Daily Mail, the Washington Post and a local paper. St. Louis TV station KSDK apologized for broadcasting video Wilson’s home and pulled the video off the air and offline.
The media pretty much avoided reporting specifics of Wilson’s address after that. The New York Times filed a report on Wilson on dated August 24th that included a mention of the town, but not street, of his residence and the name of his then-girlfriend, now wife:
“Officer Wilson himself has vanished from public view, leaving his ranch home where letters on red, white and blue stars hung from a door spell out “Welcome” in a town southwest of St. Louis; he is believed to be under police protection.…”And in Crestwood, southwest of St. Louis, where records show that Officer Wilson now lives with Barbara Spradling, a fellow police officer, neighbors said they rarely made much conversation.”
There was a backlash back in August against the media. CNN reporter Ed Lavandera had what was purported to be his home address published by people upset with his reporting where Wilson lived.
Rush Limbaugh calls them the ‘Drive-by Media’ with good reason.
The media is taking heat from an American public fed up with their taking sides against them in reporting the news.
Naturally, the Weigel article is popular among reporters.
https://twitter.com/WesleyLowery/status/539472991331942400
Great @daveweigel piece on the disgusting harassment campaign against NYT's Ferguson reporters led by @ChuckCJohnson http://t.co/ppOfPn8rv0
— Jon Swaine (@jonswaine) December 1, 2014
Journalists have literally bled and been arrested trying to cover Ferguson. Now this. http://t.co/49uFzPNYvc
— Matt Pearce 🦅🇺🇸 (@mattdpearce) December 1, 2014
