Jumping the Gun
A lack of careful reporting hurts us all
If you’ve seen the news in the past day or so, you are probably aware of the story of a 21-year-old man who was charged with committing eight murders at Atlanta-area spas on Wednesday.
What happened is terrifying and tragic. But the way it is being reported by some media outlets is deeply troubling.
Last night, my husband and I were watching “All In with Chris Hayes” on MSNBC. As journalists ourselves, we were surprised and disturbed by how irresponsible his coverage was.
Though the story was new and unfolding, he decided — in the absence of any hard evidence — that these murders were anti-Asian hate crimes. It was, he said, “impossible” not to reach that conclusion.
He began by playing a video of Capt. Jay Baker of the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office relaying what the gunman had told detectives about his motive: He had a “sexual addiction” and saw the spas he targeted as outlets for something “that he shouldn’t be doing.”
Out of the video, Hayes immediately cast doubt and suspicion on that motive, essentially insisting it was ignorant and outrageous to conclude that this was anything other than a deliberate and calculated effort to murder Asian women.
