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Jena coverage, in three takes

By Mark Obbie

Raquel Christie's analysis of media coverage of the Jena, La., incident wins points for the most words published so far on the topic. But that's about it. The story's a muddle. Throughout the first 3,000 words of the 7,000-word story, the message is as clear as it is outdated: The national media were slow to grasp a story of racial injustice. Then the story documents why the original narrative of racism and callous, white officialdom was exaggerated, clouded by contradictions, or just plain wrong. Finally the story explores what might explain the press' laziness or jumps to conclusions. Only the last part is truly fertile ground. The debunking of the Jena myth (or at least the adding of detail and nuance to show how it wasn't a simple tale) has been told many times by now. When Christie does explore new territory, it's a quick-hit, talking-head treatment. A story of this length might have had a clear perspective on what went wrong in Jena and among the reporters who covered it. Instead, we have a notebook dump without a defined and proven point.What's most fascinating about the Jena episode -- and Christie does touch on this, though too briefly and without focus -- is its similarities to the Duke affair: rush to judgment, fueled by activists and some reporters' attraction to white-man-bad narratives. We'll have to wait for a more coherent telling of that story.

Full post as published by Lawbeat on January 24, 2008 (boomark / email).