Just the Facts, Please?

I get a little pissed off -- OK, maybe more than a little -- by the unabashed slant of people who are paid to bring us the news. If this were an occasional occurence, I wouldn't feel compelled to get my knickers in a twist over the small stuff. The problem is being bombarded with the "small stuff" day in and day out.

Case in point:

Source: Kingsport Times News

Police breakup Jonesborough rally - Tennessee Volunteer Minutemen clash with Hispanics
Published 07/23/2006
By Staff report -Kingsport Times-News

JONESBOROUGH - What began as a peaceful illegal immigration demonstration turned briefly physical Saturday morning in Jonesborough after one side charged the other over the presence of a Mexican flag.

Carl Twofeathers Whitaker, a Sevierville resident who is running as an independent candidate for governor, was charged by members of a Hispanic group seeking to take the flag away from him.

First you get the headline -- "Tennessee Volunteer Minutemen clash with Hispanics." Clash is an aggressive verb, and the subject of the verb is the Minutemen, implying what? That the Minutemen were the aggressors.

Then you get the opening paragraph with "...one side charged the other over the presence of a Mexican flag." Even without the flashing neon of the headline, you'd assume that the Minutemen got physical over the presence of a Mexican flag in the Hispanic group.

Finally, in the second paragraph you find out that it was the Hispanic group who charged the Minuteman. As if the reporter was reluctant to share that, as always, it was the people opposing the Minutemen who got physical.

I have a little experience with this, folks.

The Hispanic group became angry at Whitaker because he had a Mexican flag tucked in his back pocket. They thought it was a deliberate provocation, aimed at disrespecting them.

Whitaker said he couldn't hold his protest sign properly unless he stuck the flag partially in his pants pocket.

As Whitaker was being interviewed by a WCYB-TV reporter, several of the immigrants charged him in an apparent attempt to grab the flag.

Authorities reacted quickly, separating the two sides and breaking up the rally that had been scheduled to last for an hour.

In the second paragraph, it is reported that "Whitaker...was charged by members of a Hispanic group seeking to take the flag away from him." Yet, in the closing paragraphs, it is referred to as "an apparent attempt to grab the flag."

Did the alleged journalist even try to find out what really happened? Was anyone from the Hispanic group asked why they charged Whitaker? It certainly doesn't appear so. What if they meant to harm the Minuteman, and not just grab his flag?

Thanks to a biased media, we'll probably never know.

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Minutemen * Tennessee Volunteer Minutemen * Carl Twofeathers Whitaker * Media Bias