Depending on what newspaper you read, these men were either assassinated or killed in a fair fight.
Talking heads on news programs and morning radio shows have been voicing their outrages about the manipulation of a 911 call made by George Zimmerman in Florida. An NBC affiliate edited the 911 call to sound vastly different from the actual report. Whereas I appreciate the fury over the fact that news corporations report current happenings with half-truths, innuendos, and outright lies, their methods are not new. Newspapers as far back as 1881, (and I’m sure it goes back even further than that) have reported on stories based more on what they want people to think than what actually occurred. More than one newspaper covered the gunfight at the OK Corral in Tombstone, Arizona, in October 1881, and each one had a different take on what went down. Some newspapers were more biased towards the Earps and others were biased toward the Clantons and the McLaurys. I’ve had personal experiences with misleading news coverage in the Kansas City, Missouri area. I have about as much faith in their ability to do their job correctly as Andy Taylor had in Barney Fife. There is a reason Andy made Barney keep his bullet in his pocket and not in his gun. He could hurt someone if the gun was loaded! KMBC-TV should keep their microphones and cameras in their pockets because they can and have hurt people. When my brother Rick was arrested in 2006, the reported said that he had been “hanging around schools picking up young girls.” The truth was that Rick was at the school at my brother and sister-in-laws’ request, to pick up his two nieces and take them home. KMBC-TV used a half-truth and innuendo to sensationalize their story. They also claimed my brother had prior arrests. My brother’s last name is spelled E-N-S-S. A background report was done by the authorities for a Richard E-N-N-S and that name did show as having prior arrests, but to affix that claim to my brother was a flat out lie. The truth was my brother had no prior arrests or convictions. KMBC-TV also claimed that Rick shook uncontrollably when he was led into the courtroom because he was “petrified.” The truth was Rick had Parkinson’s disease and shakes uncontrollably because of his illness. Guess no one at that station does any fact checking and why would they? The truth is never as memorable as a lie. KMBC-TV and its counterparts do not represent real journalism. And if journalism schools keep kicking out reporters who’ve substituted attitude and ego in place of a reporter’s notebook newspapers, like the Kansas City Star, isn’t going to reflect real journalism either. Oh, and by the way, if you ever come across the story about Wyatt Earp’s sexual obsession with Greyhounds, just remember, all he said was, “I like dogs.”
