Mass Media is an Easy Target. . .But This?

I was just made aware today of a heinous crime that took place in Knoxville Tennessee.

What is especially interesting about this crime is the reason that it was being discussed. The crime itself was really not important to the conversation. What was being pointed out was the mainstream media's reporting of this crime.

You see, it appears that a young couple who were out on a date were car-jacked, tortured and murdered by a group of five individuals. Really sad in and of itself. However, the catalyst for the discussion was the fact that the mainstream media didn't cover this story nationally. Outside of Knoxville, you probably didn't hear about it.

Do you feel like you are missing a piece of the story? If so, it is because you are. You see, the young couple was white, and their attackers were 5 African-Americans.

It seems that the white-folk are constantly being attacked, and subjugated by other races, and our news-media just don't report it enough. Or at least that's what some would have you to believe. They would point to all the coverage that the Duke Lacrosse story, or the James Byrd murder in Texas received, and compare that to this case and make the argument that the media is only interested in demonizing the white race, when whites attack minorities.

I don't buy it. I disagree with the handling of the Duke case, but there are hundreds if not thousands of other cases that go the other direction. The Duke case has the added "pull factor" of sex and class to go along with race. The James Byrd murder was pure and simple racism. In this case as near as I can tell, it was neither of the above. These folks weren't attacked for their race, they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Leonard Pitts, Jr. has written an excellent column on the subject here: http://www.miamiherald.com/285/story/125806.html. While I don't always agree with him, his reasoning is pretty good on this one. The crime here is not the media's coverage, or lack thereof, but the torture and murder of these two young people. The perpetrators of that crime are awaiting trial, and I assume will be punished appropriately. I'm not the biggest fan of the media, but let's try to criticize them for things they have actually done wrong. There is enough of that to go around. There is no need to invent controversy at the expense of relations between races.