Blog#3 Bad Journalism #1

I have read several articles pertaining to a particular case I posted on my first Blog about the kidnapped victim Shawn Hornbeck. This case highlights how the media took a child victim and made a mockery out of his life story.

Shawn Horbeck was found at the age of fifteen by the FBI four years after having been abducted by a child predator. Shawn was held captive by Micheal Delvin and and during his captivity he presumed a normal life for four years. After being rescued the question that the media chose to place all their energy and focus on was "why didn't Shawn escape?" This question gave the hounding media fuel to orchestrate terrible unjust and extreme unethical journalism at the price of an innocent child whom at the hands of the media was made a victim over and over again.

The phenomenon of bad journalism is really highlighted in this case, they lacked essential elements in practicing ethical journalism one of which is to approach such a story with great sensitivity and caution. O'Reilly is a prime example of terrible classless media that should not be referred to or even entertained. However the New York Post did not make it any better. They brought even more attention and speculation around the question of Shawn's "voluntary captivity", as if the victim has not gone through a traumatizing four year ordeal, here comes the NY Post advertising something that happened to be a coincidence and completely irrelevant to the case... they tried to psychologically attach Shawn's circumstances to Shawn's deceased father's child molesting past.

The Post did nothing to sympathize with the victim and intentionally left an air of doubt about Shawn's abduction. They even made it relevant to mention the kidnapper's passion for video games and how the child enjoyed playing for hours. According to the blog O'Reilly and The Post share the same parent company NewsCorp. It is not a coincidence that they would publish articles to back up O'Reilly's ignorant assumptions and vice versa.

What makes this case incredible bad journalism by NewsCorp reporters, is their abundant disregard for the journalistic code of ethics. A child was taken from everything he loved and forced to live a life of abuse and sexual torture all of which is bound to come with psychological consequences. Showing very little compassion, zero sensibility to a sensitive vulnerable child, they demonstrated how invaluble the code of ethics as well as the elements of journalism are for today's newspapers and televised media. Through O'Reilly's mindless jargon, the newspaper's uneducated coverage, the child was made to be a victim all over again via bad unethical journalism.

NewsCorps' people (I will not refer to then as journalist's) did not focus on the facts of the case, or the truth. The New York Post and O'Reilly are the epidemy of bias, un-truthful and frighteningly over-exposed journalism.