How does omitting race for an article help? Here is an article from Oregonlive: Portland police are looking for three men dressed all in white suspected in a shooting that injured three at the downtown Willamette River waterfront. Police say shots were fired into a large crowd of people waiting in line for a party on the Portland Spirit, a boat contracted for private events, just before 11 p.m. Flyers scattered around the area of the shooting describe a "Red & White" party to be held on the boat Saturday night. It was to depart on a cruise just after the time of the shooting. Officers were combing downtown looking for three men dressed in white hats, shirts and shorts who may have been the shooters. http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/..._portland_waterfron.html#incart_river_default Now here is the Portland Police News alert that article is based off of: Gang-Related Shooting in Downtown Portland Injures Three - Suspects Fled on Foot - 08/24/13 This evening, Saturday August 24, 2013, at 10:57 p.m., Central Precinct officers responded to Southwest Naito Parkway and Salmon Street on the report of two people injured by gunfire. Officers arrived and located a third victim suffering a gunshot wound and a large crowd of people, many of them gang affiliates in line to attend a private party on the Portland Spirit. Three males have been transported from the scene to Portland hospitals. Two have traumatic but not believed to be life-threatening injuries and the third has a serious but not life-threatening injury. Preliminary information indicates that three suspects ran from the scene westbound on Salmon Street into the Downtown core. The suspects are described as African American males, late teens to early 20s, medium height, medium weight, wearing all white clothes. The area of Salmon Springs to the Portland Spirit is closed as a crime scene. Based on the initial investigation it appears this shooting is gang-related. Anyone with information about this shooting is asked to contact the Gang Enforcement Team at (503) 823-4106. http://www.flashalert.net/news.html?id=3056
same reason the boregonian doesn't mention sports team names that have a Native American slant to it. they don't want to offend 3 people in the state.
I think, since it was a deliberate omission the Oregonian is guilty of using the press to aid and abet a crime after the fact. As the ONLY major newspaper in town they have assumed responsibility to keep people informed. If I was the PPD I'd cut them off from all future information about crime and see how long till they fold.
They didn't mention the race of the victims either. Maybe they didn't think race was an issue in the story???
"Be on the lookout for 3 guys in white" while omitting other known and very useful facts about who the fuck to be on the lookout for is Political Correctness run amok. It is a disservice to the community, and the Oregonian should be ashamed of their politicization of the paper to such an extent that they willingly and knowingly put the public in unnecessary harms way by intentionally withholding valuable information that may aid in community safety.
I don't think the Oregonian is saying be on the look out as much as reporting an incident. You really think the community would be safer if the Oregonian printed "Be on the look out for three African American males, late teens to early 20s, medium height, medium weight, wearing all white clothes?" I really don't think it is a political thing with the Oregonian. The Portland police are very concerned about politics and their image and they don't have a problem saying three African American males. I don't think it is about politics, but rather the writer didn't find it an important part of the story. If they were white gang bangers, I'm guessing it would have been written the same way.
I found this on Oregonlive - As a policy, The Oregonian does not use race as a descriptor unless the suspect description is highly detailed. Police agencies typically cite a race in descriptions, but these are only suspected racial descriptors. Police do not actually verify these racial descriptors. http://blog.oregonlive.com/oregonianeditors/2010/10/the_oregonians_staffers_jump_i.html I still find it odd and I think it is a disservice to the community.
Journalists need (in theory) two sources to independently identify a fact. If there's only one set of witnesses, one incident of the crime, it's not journalistically accurate to "confirm" the descriptor.
