News Anchor Uses Negative Stereotype as a Sterling Journalistic Frame

After watching the edited clip of the four year-old boy from South Albany after a drive-by attack, I was appalled that a journalist would be so... greedy for a good angle for a crime story. As a journalism major, I find it disgusting when a journalist or writer has to edit a medium--soundbite, quote, etc.--such as the video clip, to twist it for a new angle on the story. After watching the original footage where the little boy says he wants a gun to be a police officer, the journalist in my head immediately wanted to scream,

"There's the story right there!! Even a four-year-old knows the difference between right and wrong and wants to stand up and protect his community as a police officer!! That's a WAY better lead!"

Framing is everything, especially in journalism. After reading Lakoff's views of cognitive framing and the examples given, it is easy to see how one word can be associated with hundreds of other words, images, and theories. But in the case of the edited interview with the young boy, the news anchors and writers used the edited clip to frame the situation like this: "Four-year-olds want to be hardened criminals. What has our society come to?"

Like AmBushed, I was shocked, ticked off, and scowling at the screen as I watched the clip a few times over. This just leaves the public with a bad taste of journalism in their mouth. Even though we live in a society where the media reigns all--newspapers, television, magazines, the Internet, etc.--it's sad that a reporter had to edit an interview to play upon stereotype and then submit into the world. Where was the Executive Producer? Where was the main editor of the teleprompter and the camera clips?

If I were to re-write and film the story I would use the entire news clip with the four-year-old stating he wants to be a police officer. That's the story. Children know what is wrong and they want to make things right even at a young age. Not all children who grow up in rougher neighborhoods aspire to be hardened criminals. We say we want to "Spread the Word to End the Word" when it comes to all negative stereotypes, and that piece of journalism isn't helping the cause.

My mind is still blown, and I assure you, the next Hollywood Heat Wave will be playing the entire soundbite for Chicagoans listening. Because there is such a thing as bad press. And it should be stopped.

- Meredith Haas