Media outlets want to put out compelling stories for the news consumer. The sexier the story the better for the ratings. I can’t fault these organizations for wanting to be competitive and seeking the best ratings but I do fault them for the bias and lies. I also fault them for claiming that they do not have an agenda when they clearly do. If they were at least honest about these biases or would show all sides of the story then I wouldn’t have much to complain about the MSM.

I think we need to break this down to VRB in the the simplest terms possible. It is the media’s duty to KEEP THE LEGAL SYSTEM ON THEIR TOES! It’s all about checks and balances here. The media helps expose unjust accusations.

If a wrong judgment is made, and the media stirs up enough controversy, then an appeal would be the sensible outcome. The government needs to know that they are being scrutinized and that badges of power will not shield them from ridicule when they do not fulfill their obligations to society correctly.

And getting back to the original debate stirred up by VRB, The New Media is doing a better job of factual investigative reporting than the MSM.

Because of the “feeling-based” and “rating-based” reporting of the Main Stream, I’m almost embarrassed to be part of that. But I am just a camera operator and it is a paycheck. Most of us on the production end do not agree with everything the writers and producers put together.

In the Duke case, she didn’t wrongly identify these guys, she flat out falsely accused and villianized these men. She saw a way to make some money and nothing else. Just like the accuser in the Kobe Bryant case, and many others. Women like her make it hard for women that do get raped to come forward because they fear their story will not be believed. Crystal Magnum should have to pay a hefty fine and possibly some jail time for screwing up their lives.

Thank goodness the new media isn’t afraid of asking the right questions!

I didn’t say “let the media solve the crime” or that there was no need for attorneys, police, forensics, juries, etc. That was your take on it. I’m saying that a free press is a very necessary counter-balance to the power we grant government. So important that we enshrine it in the first amendment of our Constitution.

This is personal statement. There have been men that have been wrongly identified by a rape victim. It was not done intentionally, but because of the trauma the victim experienced. It was never accepted that in this case, inconsistent statements could be attributed to trauma. That would never have been the “tip off” to me.
If there is a person that after a sexual assault say they were calm and rational, I say they are in denial.

Compare these with the adjectives used to describe Genarlow Wilson, a defendant in another case in which an athlete was accused of rape :
“Attractive”, “popular and outgoing”,”extroverted and upbeat”,”bright future” “honor-roll student”.

Now, I happen to believe that Wilson’s sentencing was a travesity and that he also is the victim of an out-of-control DA; but all of the adjectives used to describe him could have been used by the MSM for the LAX players; and you can see how the MSM can use their stories to slant perceptions one way or the other.

As well, the accuser in the Duke case has been treated with kid gloves. She was “a navy veteran”, “mother of two”, “honor student”; and her job description remained “exotic dancer” long after it was clear that this was an inaccurate
title. Her family likewise has never been subjected to scrutiny; whereas the families of the LAX players have been ridiculed and described in terms similar to those used for their sons.

Malcom X said, ““The media’s the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that’s power. Because they control the minds of the masses.”

And he was right.

While I would not wish to come across as a mens rights activist, and would certainly support gender equality, I would like to suggest that there are far more women in MSM nowadays and this has resulted in the shift to more ‘relationship’ based reporting. There are excellent women writers/directors etc, and there are some with an unpleasant axe to grind. A larger proportion of the bloggers appear to be men (with some noteworthy exceptions), and appear to be more concerned with factual reporting. There are excellent men bloggers etc, and there are some with an unpleasant axe to grind too.

In the end we can only affect the quality of the media we consume by choosing what we read and what we pay for. You want tales of celebrity and individual anguish – stick with the MSM. Interested in truth and thoughtful analysis – support the better newspapers (if any still exist) and the better blogs.

Doubtless there were some bloggers that did this. However, the primary bloggers involved in this case did not. I refer to KC Johnston ( an english professor), and W. Anderson ( a journalist with Lew Rockwell). Others were highly educated as well, a man trained as a lawyer, and in fact one of the Duke professors too. There were only six blogs that carried most of the weight.

With all respect to VRB, the focus on the question of the accuser’s profession was NOT primarily a moral judgement. The prosecutor’s evidence of the case stemmed from the allegation she made together with her identifications of the attackers, the SANE report issued after the rape kit at Duke Medical, the anticipated DNA evidence, and a peripherally corroborating statement from a neighbour Jason Bissey.

Without reviewing the merits of all of the evidence, VRBs suggestion involved only one of these elements. The press was awash with prosecutor’s statements that the SANE report indicated significant trauma, bruising, scrapes and cuts. The accuser’s father issued a statement to the press that his daughter was beaten.

The actual SANE report in fact indicated a partly healed cut on the accuser’s heel, a mile bruising of vaginal tissue. Such brusing according to experts in this field indicate that such a report is not particularly supportive of rape, but in fact is always present after intercourse.

The question to be decided given this piece of evidence is corroboration of the accuser’s statement given to police that she had NOT had sex within the past week. If this was NOT true, meaning that she had had intercourse recently, then the SANE report fails to support a finding of rape. Certainly the allegation of mutiple vaginal, oral and anal penetration is not indicated by the SANE report in any way.

In fact, the DNA evidence Y strand evidence demonstrating the presence of DNA from five different males, none of which were lacrosse players, the SBI lab DNA finding of her boyfriend’s sperm/semen DNA in vaginal swabs, and the written affidavit by her driver that night attesting to her “engagements” earlier that evening with another couple in a hotel, plus intercourse with him, as well as apparently several other engagements ALL indicate considerable sources of slight vaginal swelling.

The focus on her profession was NOT an argument that all hookers lie about rape, but rather that the evidence the prosecution was arguing, in the media, was neither compelling, nor in fact meaningful.

It also of course, created enormous credibility problems for the accuser and prosecution.

While some bloggers might well be vile, what VRB sees as bloggers hastening to denigrate the accuser is evidence based, possibly combined with the anger over this prosecution.

Lastly, it is the job of anyone interested in truth to be scrupulous to detail – be it in medical science, accounting, academia, or legal investigations.

How many men of colour have been indicted, prosecuted, and convicted for the failure to treat small details with care and diligence?

I know you’re a fan of Larry Elder… One of the things he always said is that you should definitely be an “active” consumer of news. And as Neal Boortz says, don’t believe anything he says unless you already know it to be true or you verify it elsewhere.

Too many people see the news and think that if a journalist said it, it must be true. A journalist is one data point, you need to look at the others and make up your own mind. But of course, you said as much in your post…