There is a diary on the Rec list right now that was originally entitled, "Pittsburgh man writes police chief after witnessing police brutality; sees immediate coverup." One might reasonably conclude from that misleading title that the Pittsburgh Police Chief is engaged in a coverup after receiving a letter about police brutality. But that is not what is happening.
Some context: I am black, I live in Pittsburgh, I know and work closely with our Police Chief on public safety matters, and as the Chief well knows, I am the last person on the planet who would minimize, excuse, or be an apologist for police brutality.
Here's what actually happened: a local man witnessed a violent police arrest and believed that the police officers at the scene of the incident were covering it up, and he wrote a letter to the police chief about it. That is ALL that has happened so far.
The Chief is already investigating the incident, and has not had a chance to respond to the letter yet. Why not? Well, just last night, this Pittsburgh Police Chief was busy getting a standing ovation from a mostly black overflow crowd in a baptist church at a community meeting on police relations, when he committed to the implementation of ALL of their recommended reforms.
Despite the dangerously misleading diary title (that has since been changed), our Police Chief is in no way involved in a coverup of anything, and he simply does not need to be wrongly accused of participating in a coverup in order understand and respond to the public's concerns. I firmly believe that our Police Chief is a part of the solution to our police brutality problem, and that he has both the skills and the determination to change the culture of the department.
There is much work to do. Racial tensions are already high in our city, and we do not need to waste time dealing with the fallout of national media attention that stems from sloppy diary titles on Daily Kos. The diarist was asked for hours - both in the diary itself and in private messages - to revise the title to clarify the facts... and has finally done so. But now we have a diary on the Rec list, filled with indignant denunciations of the man who is working harder than anyone else in our city to improve relations between the community and the police. Thanks a lot.
I understand the desire to make points forcefully, the need to hold public servants accountable, and the fact that people are irate about any number of issues. To me, all of that just makes it MORE important that we give titles to our diaries that are accurate, instead of trying to lure people into our diaries with dangerously misleading click-bait.