Headlines or Head Lies?

Headlines or head lies?



"New York City police officers killed a man Thursday after he had broken up a fight between two other men, insisting on placing him in a chokehold and slamming his head to the pavement, piling on top of him as he gasped for air and as he continually told the cops he couldn't breathe."

VS.

"A career criminal died Thursday of medical complications after vigorously and repeatedly resisting arrest." 

The first and actual headline is biased and inflammatory. It is not impartial reporting geared towards bringing the truth to light. Some would say that by its very nature it is criminally negligent. Its designed to evoke strong emotions and sell papers or increase viewers.

The US Constitution gives us freedom of speech and press, but there are some limitations. You can't legally yell "FIRE!" in a crowded theater as a joke. The Fighting Words Doctrine basically says that if you say certain things it the same as throwing the first punch or otherwise initiating violence. Why is the media not held to the same standard? If you print defamatory lies about a person or organization you can be charged with libel. Why do the police and we as readers put up with this? Do we want to be tricked into a revolution? Into protesting and rioting in the streets? What ever happened to journalistic integrity and getting the facts.

Fox News is heavily biased and has a mostly Conservative. Republican, Christian viewership. CNN and MSNBC are both extremely liberal. BBC seems to be the best place to get national American news with minimal slant. They're they British Broadcasting Company. Pretty sad for us dwellers of the Land of the Free.

Whether you get your news on-line, watching television, or reading an old fashioned newspaper or magazine, let your provider know that the truth is what you want; the good, the bad, and the ugly.