Letter to the Editor
In regards to the article, “Crash damages building, vehicle,” published 4 March 2021 in the Cheney Free Press, I have questions, I have comments, mostly, I have concern.
If the title of the article is “Crash damages building, vehicle,” why does the front page picture depict two police cars, three uniformed officers, two potential emergency medical responders, and one handcuffed man lying on his side on the ground? I hope the answer is not for effect. I came to “effect” as my own answer since the picture tucked away on page eight is actually a car that has crashed, into a building…as the title depicts, but for some reason, is strategically placed on page 8.
I say “effect” because we are living in an age where media NEEDS to be the first to print, first to picture, first to televise, at all cost, just…be…the…first. I doubt your reporter, your editor, your managing staff had taken into account a trial which is starting today in Minneapolis. About 1,400 miles away, a jury is being selected to try a white police officer for allegedly killing a black man. What does this have to do with our Cheney Free Press article you ask? Effect. Your front page picture clearly shows, five white men (three of whom are law enforcement officers) talking with one another beside a handcuffed black man, who is on the ground, lying on his side, with no medical personnel tending to him. This perception is not likely what your paper was going for, however, you have certainly made that effect.
‘Three vehicles and a building damaged…a woman taken to the hospital with a neck injury’. Where are the pictures of the other vehicles? Where are the pictures of EMT helping the woman? Where are the pictures of the ambulance and/or the fire department responding to the accident?
The Cheney Free Press is not The New York Times or the Washington Post. You are better than that. I hope, you are better than that. “Crash damages building, vehicle” was nothing more than sensationalism. Be better.
Jim Bratsveen
Cheney
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