For months, the story of the so-called "Jena Six" unfolded largely out of sight of the mainstream media. But in the emerging "Afro-Sphere," as some call the loose network of black bloggers, the story of six black teenagers initially charged with attempted murder in the beating of a white classmate passed from blog to blog, taking on a life of its own. Petitions were signed, money was raised and protests were organized — all online.
"I think a lot of people ignored the story but the African-American blogosphere has been on it from early on, and it has really caught steam recently," said Shawn Williams, who writes the popular Dallas South blog.
How many times have we read and talked about stories LONG before the Corporate Media has covered it. A good example is Talking Points Memo's coverage of the fired US Attorneys. They started connecting the dots several months before you saw or read about it in the newspapers and on TV.
More from the NPR story:
Recently, a group of black bloggers organized a "blog-in." They agreed to write about the Jena Six case on one day, raising the profile of the story. Within a matter of weeks, African-American bloggers had helped collect 220,000 signatures and raised $130,000 in donations, they say.
"Ten years ago this couldn't have happened," the Rev. Al Sharpton was quoted in the Chicago Tribune. "You didn't have the Internet and you didn't have black blogs and you didn't have national radio shows. Now we can talk to all of black America every day."
Sharpton says he first heard about the Jena case on the Internet.
Shawn Williams was on Talk of the Nation to talk about the lack of media attention to these types of stories:
BROOKS: Do you believe the mainstream media missed this story?
Mr. WILLIAMS: The mainstream media definitely missed this story. Like you said, the Chicago Tribune ran the story back – few months back, and you know, I had comments from Europe – all over, hearing BBC coverage - way before I heard any of the national publications picking up on the story.
BROOKS: And why do you think that was? Why do you think that they missed it?
Mr. WILLIAMS: I think that people naturally gravitate towards stories that they associate themselves most closely to. And since the majority of the media is not black - and this is a situation which is involving African-American youth - they kind of see a fight, they see – as soon as they see, you know, the young man going to jail and it just doesn’t strike them as anything different. And so, I think that the African-American blogging communities associate it with the story much more and felt a more connection. And so, that’s why we kind of kept it going over the last few months.
BROOKS: And yet, it’s curious because stories about racial conflicts and the criminal justice system and injustice often attract all kinds of people to it. I’m curious why you think in particular this story sort of flew under the radar for so long. I mean, I take your point about people identifying with stories that are about them but, again, stories about racial conflict are often, you know, fall under that unfortunate heading: if it bleeds, it reads. If it bleeds, it leads, excuse me.
Mr. WILLIAMS: I understand that and I think that there are numbers of stories still flying under the radar. And I think most of the ones that eventually come to national attention, generally, the national media is late to it. There’s the Megan Williams torture case in West Virginia, which involved six people in West Virginia who held her captive for a period of a week. She was raped. She was tortured. And, you know, you got one story maybe one day where that was covered and it’s pretty much gone off the national conscience. So, I really do think that the point is that once people no longer feel the connection with the people that they see that it kind of goes by the wayside.
BROOKS: Mm-hmm. Now, as we mentioned, you did a lot to advance the story online in the blogosphere. How did you, living in Dallas, hear about it? What brought you – your attention to this story?
Mr. WILLIAMS: I was made known to the story in the Chicago Tribune by the Howard Witt article, that really was one of the first national articles related to the Jena Six. And after that, I posted it that same day on my Web site and, you know, basically a lot of the people in the Afrosphere Bloggers Association group that I’m associated with also posted the same story on their site. And that’s when many of us saw just what type of case this was. And for us, it never went away.
BROOKS: Mm-hmm. Interesting. An editor might say of a story like this that this – or might have said before this sort of burst on the national – into the national – into the nation’s attention that this is a local story, not a national one. How would you respond to that?
Mr. WILLIAMS: I think in many ways they’re probably correct, but I think, you know, again for the majority of my readers – for the African-American community, you know, you see this in every community, you feel like you see this all over the country. And so, whenever we see this type of injustice, it’s not really local because you can feel it wherever you are.
And, you know, there was this situation in Paris, Texas, with a 14-year-old girl that drew a lot of attention. And so, whenever you see these stories, you feel a kinship too. And I think that’s why the African-American community, over the entire nation, have gravitated to the story. And again, when you look at those editors - and again, very few of those editors are African-American - they would not feel the same kinship to the story or feel, because many of the people you hear talk about it feel like that in African-American community, this could be their son.
I heard Mayor Ray Nagin say that in Jena. One of the reasons why he was there is because he has sons this age and this could be his son. And so, I think that’s why the community, again, feels so closely to this.
But one caller really hit the nail on the head with his analysis and points out exactly why we're so frustrated with conventional media sources today.
LEE (Caller): Hi, thank you.
BROOKS: Thank you.
LEE: I just want to say that in my opinion, coming from a male wasp from the Midwest, there’s no question that this story was missed and it wasn’t missed by mistake. I think that there are - institutionally, the mainstream media in this country is completely dysfunctional. It’s not just on race, and it’s not something that happens every once in a while. It’s every day.
Look at the headlines. How disconnected journalism is overall - TV, radio and imprints on all of these. Thank God for the blogosphere and especially the black bloggers who brought this out, because otherwise it wouldn’t have been known. And it’s time for the media to admit that the ivory tower is no longer on the campus. It’s in the newsroom.
BROOKS: Interesting.
LEE: It needs to cover stories that are important, not that are good stories in the sense of good reading in the morning while I eat my breakfast.
BROOKES: Keith Woods, Lee in St. Louis is suggesting the mainstream media is somewhat isolated, locked away in an ivory tower, out of touch. Fair criticism?
Dr. WOODS: Well, I think it’s – of course, there’s no good answer to that question, is there?
(Soundbite of laughter)
Dr. WOODS: I think that the – we are in fact disconnected from some important corners of our constituency. You know, yeah we missed the immigration marches a year ago because we weren’t listening to Spanish language radio. We weren’t reading the writing on the wall in the Latino community. We missed it a week ago again, when the march on Congress happened - a smaller affair, but equally traceable.
My barber knew about this story in the spring and was asking me about it because he was listening to the radio and picking up bits and pieces from the blogosphere. That’s why I agree, again, that it may not be that there was a conscious decision to ignore this, but there was a decision at some point by a producer, by an executive producer, by a, you know, a wire editor in the print newsroom to see it, know what it is, and decide not to do anything about it.
LEE: Well, I think there’s a whole set of assumptions that go into those decisions that say that the people in the newsroom who what’s good for us out here in the hinterland.And you can see the disconnect – go back in the ‘90s, look at the disconnect between what was on our TVs, in our living rooms, in our cars, and what we’re reading in morning - every single day, for years, about Clinton and the impeachment versus public opinion on that. Look at the war today versus the kind of coverage it gets. It’s outrageous.
BROOKS: Mm-hmm. Well, Lee, I want to thank you for the call. And I want to actually throw your point over to Shawn Williams. Shawn, do you feel that you, as a member of the black blogosphere, are more in touch with these kinds of stories than the mainstream media? I mean, in this particular case, it seemed you were.
I couldn't have said it better myself. Blogs are filling a void that the mainstream media can't or won't fill and I am pleased to see the African American blogs getting some recognition.
But one more thing before I go. From the Miami Herald
Four teenagers have been charged with a hate crime, accused of the beating and attempted drowning of a black college student
at Haulover Beach Park Marina over the weekend.
After calling him the N-word, the teens beat Florida International University freshman Stephen Barrett with a baseball bat
and tried to drown him in the Intracoastal Waterway, Miami-Dade police said.
All had attended a keg party at an island in the middle of the Intracoastal. About 1 a.m. Sunday, Barrett and two other FIU
dorm mates were on a boat headed back to Haulover Marina when the driver of the boat said it was overloaded.
''Get off the boat, N-----,'' the teens said to Barrett, according to police reports.
Words were exchanged, but the FIU students got off the boat, said Christopher Eden, who had attended the party with Barrett
and friend Daniel Cabevas.
The three friends, all 18, decided to wait on the island for the boat's next trip.
But when they arrived back at the marina, the teens, now armed with baseball bats, were waiting for them.
The three college students were overwhelmed by their attackers.
Barrett was knocked into the Intracoastal, and several teens tried holding his head under water, according to police reports.
Wonder if we'll see this on CNN?
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