https://danvillesanramon.com/square/print/2014/02/25/wheres-the-outrage-over-the-irresponsibility-of-the-mainstream-media

Town Square

Where's the outrage over the irresponsibility of the mainstream media?

Original post made by Peter Kluget, Danville, on Feb 25, 2014

We all saw the stories about how a pack of teenage thugs brutally attacked a middle aged man in Pleasanton last September. This is how the local media billed it:

"vicious beating" - NBC Bay Area
"brutal beating" - KTVU
"attacked, beaten into coma" - KCBS
"brutal beating" - ABC-7

The local forums and message boards were filled with calls to "get" the teens, calling them "thugs", "demon spawn" and worse. The use of guns was suggested more than once. The teens were confidently assessed as being "drunk" or "high" when "politely" asked to quiet down by the victim. And when the prosecutor declined to file charges, accusations of political corruption, payoffs and incompetence were hurled.

So now the results of the police investigation have been disclosed, and it turns out that....

There was no "beating."

There was no brutal, vicious attack by the teens. Just a single blow thrown by an 18 year old boy defending himself from a 51 year old man who had attacked him and punched or head-butted him in the face. The man's most serious injuries were caused by his head hitting the ground after the teenager defended himself against his attack.

So where were the follow-up stories, retractions and corrections from the mainstream media?

<crickets>

(Kudos to the Weekly for following up and getting the real story, by the way.)

Comments

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Posted by William Ghoate
a resident of Danville
on Feb 26, 2014 at 11:08 am

Why, Mr. Kluget, you have shaken the very foundations of the bridges those commenters inhabit. What good are torches and pitchforks, in this day-and-age, if they can't be brandished?

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