A Different Level for Censcorship

I've been working at WBFF (FOX45) in Baltimore for a week now and after 4 days I've lost count of the death toll for the week--this while a little 5-year-old girl continues to cling on, on life support after being shot in the head. When you stop and think about it (for me that's what it takes) it's absolutely disgusting. Should I by a stroke of a miracle get a job here and move here, I would not stay to raise a family in the future. No way in hell.

So, after that little girl was shot the other day I noticed something in the hour afterward. We were receiving video of the scene fed back from the live truck prior to the newscast and there was a shot of a young guy being put into the back of a Baltimore Police van. The Assistant News Director told the editor he could use any of the video, just not that shot. Why? Well, that's simple of course, it would lead viewers to believe that guy was guilty of shooting that little girl when in reality he may not have at all. He was being taken in for questioning at that time and nothing more. Simple journalistic ethics.

But, in a city like Baltimore (or Detroit or a couple other cities) things are different. A decision like that I've realized after just one week==whether the Assistant ND realized it or not--goes much further than just ethics. It may save someone's life.

This is gang stuff. That's how the girl got shot because she unfortunately got between 2 moving gangs in a neighborhood and took a stray bullet. Say this isn't the guy who fired that gun and is released before police make an arrest. Around here the gangs may take care of business themselves and go after that guy when he's back on the streets. All because we would have used one piece of video of him that gave the worst person the wrong impression.

So, get your facts (including video) straight. It may go well beyond just "moral ethics." In some cities, it may save lives.