Uh, Whale?

So, here's my question. This is from ABC News just yesterday:

The 20-year-old shooter went to Sandy Hook Elementary school where he shot his way into the building and killed 20 children and six adults with a Bushmaster .223 caliber model XM15 rifle. The Bushmaster was loaded with a 30-round capacity magazine. Fourteen rounds were in the magazine when the Bushmaster was recovered by police. There was one round in the chamber. The shooter took his own life with a single shot from a Glock 10 mm handgun. He also had a loaded 9mm Sig Sauer P226 handgun with him. He also had three magazines for the Bushmaster, each containing 30 rounds, and additional ammo for the handguns. When the carnage was over, police counted 154 spent bullet casings.

Okay, relevant points highlighted. ABC did a good job saying what type of weapons. I'm cool with that so long as they do it all the time. They also point out how many mags and rounds there were. Which is interesting to me.

154 spent rounds, but the story only says that 4 magazines were recovered, so where are the rest of them? I'm pretty goddamned sure he didn't stop to load mags in the middle of his rampage.... The math doesn't add up. So is ABC trying to say that he only had 4 super-baby-killing mags? Or did they omit the part of the report that states how many empty mags they recovered, because, you know, that's a rather pertinent and relevant FACT that is worthy of being reported....

Edited by tallen702 - 29 March 2013 at 5:35pm

nice

agentwhale007 wrote: And one wonders how the paranoid gun-nut stereotype forms.

And others wonder when the trademarks of yellow journalism became the gold standard for responsibility in the media.

agentwhale007 wrote: Because a good portion of people are not going to know what that means. I could see an argument that, to some extent, explanation as to what the type of gun means could be included, but that's not to say that the media is inherently incorrect in simply saying the number of rifles, pistols, etc.  <div style="color: rgb0, 0, 0 !imant;">

Okay, so a good portion of people aren't going to know what it means, but a good portion of people also aren't going to understand the significance or lack there of, of the amount of ammunition. Why not just state that pistols or rifles or whatever were seized along with ammunition?

Whale, I know you've been taught that "this is the way it's done" but the reality is that it intentionally omits relevant information. We're in the world of electronic media now where there's no need to fit a column into a column-sized space on paper. If the industry is going to stand on the grounds of "we report facts" then report them and let the readers determine if they're relevant or not.

It's like saying it's relevant to explain that the quarterback for the football team is out with an ACL injury rather than just a "knee injury" but it's not relevant to say .22 caliber AR-15 instead of "Assault Weapon."

Edited by tallen702 - 20 March 2013 at 1:23pm

usafpilot07 wrote: 1) Tallen's point, being specific,

 

tallen702 wrote: "Cops seize four .22LR bolt-action rifles, two .22LR revolvers, and one-thousand rounds of .22LR ammo from John Doe's house"

agentwhale007 wrote: tallen702 wrote: and 200 rounds of ammunition as if that was something overly dangerous. If he had 200 rounds of ammunition in his home, and the news reported he had 200 rounds of ammunition in his home, what exactly is the issue?

Because there is a decision in each of these cases to report "just enough truth" rather than the whole truth. It's always "x-guns and x-rounds of ammo" but never any information on what caliber, what make, etc. If you're going to omit pertinent facts and keep vague ones, what's the point?

tallen702 wrote: and 200 rounds of ammunition as if that was something overly dangerous.

evillepaintball wrote: <h5 ="uistreammessage="" uistreamline"="" -ft=""tn":":"" ="0"="" style="font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; word-break: break-word; word-wrap: break-word; font-weight: normal; outline: none; line-height: 1.38; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><div ="actordeion="" actorname"="" -ft=""":2,"tn":":"" style="margin-bottom: 0px; font-weight: bold; padding-bottom: 4px;">Jeffery Riley</h5><h5 ="uistreammessage="" userwrapper"="" -ft=""":1,"tn":"K"" style="font-size: 11px; margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 0px; word-break: break-word; word-wrap: break-word; font-weight: normal; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 14px;"><span ="message"="" -ft=""":3" style="color: rgb51, 51, 51; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.38;">So, uh, what's the best way to get blood out of a carpet?</span></h5><span ="uistreamfooter"="" style="color: rgb153, 153, 153; width: 10000px; display: table-cell;"><span ="uistreamsource"="" -ft=""":26,"tn":"N"">12 hours ago near Gainsville, FL</span>  </span>

Seltzer water and a shop vac..