I Loathe Inaccurate Reporting

Just visited the BET website (Get the story here.) where I was greeted with the title "National Guard Ordered to Patrol NOLA." The title is accurate. But that's where the accuracy ends. First, the "reporter" names New Orleans City Council President as "Olive" Thomas when the man's name is Oliver. Then the entire article implies that the National Guard is being sent to New Orleans to solve or thwart murders, which is just not true. Its obvious the so-called reporter who wrote this article just read the first few paragraphs of an AP article and then paraphrased. That's my bad for relying on BET as a news source. BET should stick to what its good at - throwing award shows and degrading women.

Any good reporter would have uncovered that the city of New Orleans submitted the request for national guard troops to Gov. Blanco weeks ago. And the troops will be assigned to devastated areas to quell looting leaving local police free to focus on crime-ridden neighborhoods. See this excert from an article found Tuesday on nola.com ...

The city initially asked for 300 Guard soldiers and 60 troopers, and the Blanco administration said late Monday that the deployment will build up to that number in the coming weeks. Leaders of the various agencies involved will meet today to discuss patrolling strategies.
For now, the plan calls for stationing troops mainly in desolate areas devastated by Katrina, Police Superintendent Warren Riley said in his own news conference late Monday. Their presence in those areas should curb looting, and will allow police to focus on "hot spots" in more heavily populated sections of town where most of the violence is occurring, he said. (Pic is of symbol for Louisiana National Guard)

Any competent journalist would have inferred and then confirmed that the real story isn't that the National Guard is being sent to New Orleans. The real story, especially for a "Black" entertainment television website, is that 5 Black young men had to be slaughtered before our clueless governor got a clue and realized the police department here is understaffed and needs help doing routine patrols so that it can concentrate on unforeseen tragedies and challenges. (Get the story here)

In addition to loathsomeness, the article's inaccurate implications make me muse: "What investment does the news media have in painting New Orleans as a den of murder, hopelessness, devastation and inquity?" Oh yes, I know. People don't want to feel guilty about not helping those in need. BET doesn't want to feel guilty that they spend more time and money advertising Beyonce's opening act for the upcoming BET awards than to disaster relief. How does one assuage the guilt of selfishness? Just pretend the situation is beyond salvagable. Problem solved. The selfish people can now live in peace. All I have to say is: Et tu, BET?