[Lucy22437]

The media is definitely biased and rarely fair. The stories that get reported by the media are the ones that will get them ratings, and therefore more money. That is why we heard so much about Elian Gonzales and alomst nothing about anything else during that time. A lot of newsworthy things happened during that time, and I'm sure many of which were more important to the country as a whole than the fate of one child. Another example is that Jon Benet Ramsay murder case. She wasn't the only kid murdered that day, but the media covered her story over and over. Every tiny development was reported. So when we watch the news we have to keep this in mind. The first priority of the people who make the decisions in the media is to make money. Reporting the news is second, so they will show the stories that will get the highest ratings and generate the most advertising dollars. The media may think that they are judge jury and executioner, but they aren't.

User Detail :  

Name : Lucy22437, Gender : F, Race : Hispanic/Latino (may be any race), Age : 25, City : San Jose, State : CA Country : United States, Occupation : Engineer, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

[John29282]

Not too long ago there was a black man who went on a shooting spree. He was quoted by witnesses who said he was after only whites. Since that time, we have not heard any more, such as whether he went to trial. Isn't this also a hate crime? If this had been a white person, wouldn't we still be hearing about it? Why does there seem to be a double standard? If we are to live as a nation united, we should strive to have one set of rules for everyone, regardless of their race, religion and all the other differences. We are all in the United States, and therefore should all be under one set of rules and laws.

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Name : John29282, Gender : M, City : Salerno, State : MI Country : United States, 

[Liz22555]

You say that that witnesses claimed that the black guy was only after Caucasians, now...how would they know that? If they claimed, 'at the 7-11, all the people he shot were white' that can be used as evidence, but if they claimed 'he wanted to kill Caucasians only' that's opinion. You must consider various factors, you have to ask yourself were there any non-Caucasians at the scene of the crime and if so how many out of the total number of people where the shots took place? If it so happened that he shot people in Detriot for example and they all were Caucasian, then it's most likely there's racial bias involved in his motives. Or maybe if he killed 50 people and 49 or so were Caucasians then it's also likely racial bias was involved as well. Perhaps the case you are referring to lacked evidence which could tie him with racial motives, for example, there was that guy in Indiana who shot only non-Caucasians, the fact that the guy had ties with some White Pride group and was heard by witnesses using derogatory terms helped classify the case as a hate crime.

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Name : Liz22555, City : San Francisco, State : CA Country : United States, 

[Dan27299]

If I'm correct, you speak about the train shooting in Long Island. I think they found the guy insane. At first everyone considered the church shooting in Ft. Worth, TX, to be an example of religious hate, but when they found out the guy was insane everyone forgot about it by next week. I guess insanity is seen as a fix-all explanation, and doesn't merit the absolute deconstruction of the person's life (as was done with Harris and Klebold). As for there being a double standard: Nazis, klansmen and related nut-jobs outnumber racists of color by an inummerable amount. Whenever a crime is committed against a person of color by any of the above said groups, the shockwaves go through the entire community, including communities of other colors. In the light of the brutal history of injustice and the current prevalance of hateful rhetoric and rumors, an attack against a person of color harms the community much more than would an attack on a white person to the 70% majority. The act itself is no better or worse, but the harm it does is of a different nature. Finally, what about when 7 people were shot to death at the National Zoo on Easter Sunday? The media attention lasted about 3 days; all concerned were African American.

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Name : Dan27299, Gender : M, Race : Hispanic/Latino (may be any race), Religion : Pentecostal Christian, Age : 21, City : L.A. area, State : CA Country : United States, Occupation : Student, Social class : Lower middle class, 

[John-A29400]

I'm a journalism student, so I can tell you that the media is an information gate-keeper. It decides what news stories are fed to the public. It is also responsible for how this information is packaged. We know that the No. 1 group victimized by hate groups and hate crimes is minorities. Now, what would happen if the news story you mentioned were aired every day for a month? There would be an increase in hate crimes committed by whites againsts blacks (get them before they get us). Which in turn would cause additional retaliation by blacks, which would cause race relations to deteriorate even further than they already have. Also, news stories are aired on the basis of being newsworthy. After the shooter was arrested and sentenced, he went to jail. The story stopped airing because nothing else happened. Hate crimes committed by whites seem to be aired for a longer period of time because the perpetrators aren't caught immediately. They run away and hide. Once they're caught, 10 out of 10 times, the case always go to trial (a long trial). As long as a situation maintains some news value, it will continue to air.

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Name : John-A29400, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Baptist, Age : 29, City : Charlotte, State : NC Country : United States, Occupation : Office Assistant, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Lower class, 

[Augustine23651]

Huh? White people will 'turn on' black people if black-on-white hate crimes are reported as widely as white-on-black hate crimes? And white-on-black hate crime stories drag on longer because the perpetrators are more successful at fleeing from justice? I don't buy this. There is a small minority of whites who hate enough to act it out, just as there is a small minority of blacks who hate enough to act it out. These people need to get as far away as they can from those they hate, and live in some little enclave where everyone is just like them. As for the rest of us, we've got enough to do managing our own lives, and we need to be working seriously on getting rid of little pieces of racism that might be floating around in our souls. (Having the courage to face this possibility is not easy.) As for the news media, it tends to be an idealistic calling (few journalists ever get rich) in which freedom of information, and thus freedom of thought, are paramount. That's good. However, this tends to lead to a liberal view of the world, and from there, to a bias in favor of a liberal conception of social justice and righting of past wrongs. Therefore it's not at all difficult to think that the media, taken as a whole, will downplay stories which make the 'privileged majority' look like the victim at the hands of the 'underprivileged minority'. This principle applies to white and black, men and women, straight and gay, and so on. The stories of Jesse Dirkhising (young boy allegedly raped and killed by two gay men in Arkansas) and the two white girls killed in Fayetteville, North Carolina in an apparent hate crime were barely reported in the media. Yet these were just as 'newsworthy', if you ask me, as the Matthew Shepard story and the lynching in Texas.

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Name : Augustine23651, Gender : M, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 39, City : Columbia, State : SC Country : United States, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

[Stephen S.]

John, so the media admits that it chooses what to feed the public so as to influence popular opinion? Wow, I had suspected as such for a long time, but this is the first time I have heard someone in journalism come out and say it so openly. Is the notion of impartiality gone completely? Also, don't you think that, by reporting the white on black crimes so much more that the black on white crimes, the media's approach might lead to an increase in hate crimes committed by blacks againsts whites (get them before they get us)? By not reporting in a fair and impartial manner, the media may eventually be the primary cause for the deterioration of race relations. It sickens me, because I truly believe that we as humans need to get past skin color. Dr. King was right; we should be judged by the content of our character. Nothing else.

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Name : Stephen S., Age : 32, City : San Antonio, State : TX Country : United States, 

[Janna]

If you want to talk about media double standards, look at the way the media portrays blacks on TV. I agree there should be one set of rules and laws for everyone, regardless of race. This is the same justice we have been fighting for all along. I wish America worked that way. You see one hate crime by a black person against whites and find that it is unfair. Maybe now you feel a tiny bit of what blacks feel all the time when we get treated unfairly by the law, media and justice system.

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Name : Janna, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Age : 22, City : Atlanta, State : GA Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Lower middle class, 

[Sherman]

The reason why stories like that don't get airtime is probably because the media doesn't feel that a black man on a shooting spree is news worthy because they tend to think of all of us as criminals anyway. It's much more shocking to them when they see someone who is white and supposedly above doing something that brutal especially if they aren't 'poor white trash'. Plus they know they will get ratings from minority viewers if they run these stories as long as they can.

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Name : Sherman, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Christian, Age : 34, City : Richmond, State : CA Country : United States, Occupation : Contractor, Education level : Technical School, Social class : Middle class, 

[Ashley-M23489]

The majority of people prosecuted for hate crimes are African-Americans. Now I HIGHLY DOUBT that African-Americans commit the majority of hate crimes, and I think anyone else who was the least bit objective would agree. Honestly, I very rarely see any of these crimes attract media attention. People just don't want to discuss race, and the white media definitely doesn't want to discuss it when no matter how they spin the story the white guy or white America is still the bad guy.

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Name : Ashley-M23489, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Presbyterian, Age : 18, City : Charlotte, State : NC Country : United States, Occupation : student, Social class : Upper middle class, 

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