2008 Woodie Awards
Not a black and white issue
Stefanie Williams
Issue date: 4/4/07 Section: Opinion
I have a weird obsession with news. Not just plain old news, but stories that stick. People like Fred Phelps and Mike Nifong have basically driven my existence for the past year. But all my experience analyzing media over why or how they cover stories hasn't helped me accept why the mainstream media is completely overlooking one story in particular.
A Google News search of the names Channon Christian or Christopher Newsom would bring up few mainstream sources. Maybe you'll find a couple of blogs and local stories from Knoxville, but you won't find anything from Fox, CNN or MSNBC.
Trust me when I say this story is more newsworthy than the Natalie Holloway case, the Duke lacrosse scandal and Anna Nicole Smith combined. A young couple, students from the University of Tennessee, were victims of a carjacking and were kidnapped, raped, tortured and eventually murdered by five people. Descriptions of their deaths were so brutal that I had to read them several times to fully process the implications.
Newsom was kidnapped, raped and beaten. Newsom shot several times and set on fire, all while his girlfriend watched. His body was then dumped alongside train tracks. Christian was kept alive and gang-raped multiple times over a span of days,and her kidnappers sprayed cleaning fluid into her mouth to cleanse it of DNA. Her body was then put into a garbage can.
This should have been front- page, prime time news. There is speculation that because all five of the arrested kidnappers were black, and the couple white, this story was swept under the rug. Whatever the case, instead of this legitimate news story, I have been spoon-fed pointless stories about Anna Nicole Smith and the innumerable men she slept with.
It's the unfortunate truth that the media cherry-pick the news on race. Last year, we saw blanket coverage of Sean Bell, who was shot by plainclothes New York City Police Department detectives, where race became such an unnecessary factor. Even worse was the coverage of the Duke lacrosse case, where very obvious lies were upheld for months.
It goes beyond the media. In both these cases, prominent politicians such as Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson rose up in racial condemnation. Members of the Duke faculty even took out an ad in Duke's The Chronicle expressing remorse over the alleged "social disaster" that took place at the lacrosse house. But no one has so much lifted a finger to condemn such an obvious act of hatred like what happened to Christian and Newsom.
Tragedy strikes people of all colors, and I think it is imperative that those who print the news as well as those who would claim to seek equality and justice acknowledge that. Christian and Newsom died tragic deaths. Their brutal murders deserved to be acknowledged, and the attackers deserved to be known.
I can guarantee that I'm not the only one who is suspicious over whether the lack of coverage is a concerted effort to brush the story under the rug. Even if it wasn't, it is a huge fumble not to have reported the case. But if my suspicions are correct, it'll only reinforce a sad truth that I've come to learn: The most devastating and important cases are simply passed over when they don't fit the agenda.
Stefanie Williams is a junior English major. She can be reached at swills25@umd.edu.
A Google News search of the names Channon Christian or Christopher Newsom would bring up few mainstream sources. Maybe you'll find a couple of blogs and local stories from Knoxville, but you won't find anything from Fox, CNN or MSNBC.
Trust me when I say this story is more newsworthy than the Natalie Holloway case, the Duke lacrosse scandal and Anna Nicole Smith combined. A young couple, students from the University of Tennessee, were victims of a carjacking and were kidnapped, raped, tortured and eventually murdered by five people. Descriptions of their deaths were so brutal that I had to read them several times to fully process the implications.
Newsom was kidnapped, raped and beaten. Newsom shot several times and set on fire, all while his girlfriend watched. His body was then dumped alongside train tracks. Christian was kept alive and gang-raped multiple times over a span of days,and her kidnappers sprayed cleaning fluid into her mouth to cleanse it of DNA. Her body was then put into a garbage can.
This should have been front- page, prime time news. There is speculation that because all five of the arrested kidnappers were black, and the couple white, this story was swept under the rug. Whatever the case, instead of this legitimate news story, I have been spoon-fed pointless stories about Anna Nicole Smith and the innumerable men she slept with.
It's the unfortunate truth that the media cherry-pick the news on race. Last year, we saw blanket coverage of Sean Bell, who was shot by plainclothes New York City Police Department detectives, where race became such an unnecessary factor. Even worse was the coverage of the Duke lacrosse case, where very obvious lies were upheld for months.
It goes beyond the media. In both these cases, prominent politicians such as Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson rose up in racial condemnation. Members of the Duke faculty even took out an ad in Duke's The Chronicle expressing remorse over the alleged "social disaster" that took place at the lacrosse house. But no one has so much lifted a finger to condemn such an obvious act of hatred like what happened to Christian and Newsom.
Tragedy strikes people of all colors, and I think it is imperative that those who print the news as well as those who would claim to seek equality and justice acknowledge that. Christian and Newsom died tragic deaths. Their brutal murders deserved to be acknowledged, and the attackers deserved to be known.
I can guarantee that I'm not the only one who is suspicious over whether the lack of coverage is a concerted effort to brush the story under the rug. Even if it wasn't, it is a huge fumble not to have reported the case. But if my suspicions are correct, it'll only reinforce a sad truth that I've come to learn: The most devastating and important cases are simply passed over when they don't fit the agenda.
Stefanie Williams is a junior English major. She can be reached at swills25@umd.edu.
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Viewing Comments 1 - 10 of 95
Hibernian
posted 4/04/07 @ 7:52 AM EST
This case really was horrific. I heard the details about it on Vanguard News Network, and only on the internet. Nothing from the main stream media.
Graham Wellington
posted 4/04/07 @ 9:23 AM EST
"The most devastating and important cases are simply passed over when they don't fit the agenda."
Whose agenda?
Truth
posted 4/04/07 @ 10:24 AM EST
"Whose agenda?"
If you have to ask that, this conversation might be a bit over your head.
y lee
posted 4/04/07 @ 10:43 AM EST
google Jesse Dirkhising
Matt
posted 4/04/07 @ 12:55 PM EST
Well, there's two things here. You can't just generally criticize our entire media system because of notable failings. That's unfair. Literally thousands of hard-working reporters, editors, photographers, feature writers, columnists, copy editors, news editors, line editors, make-up people, proofreaders, researchers, sports writers and others work very hard daily at a thousand or so newspapers across the United States. (Continued…)
Joe Dowgiallo
posted 4/04/07 @ 3:26 PM EST
AWESOME STORY. You get an A+ in bravery. I'm almost surprised that your story fit the DBK's agenda enough that they are willing to handle the controversy that might result from what you have to say ("Blah, blah, it's an opinion piece and does not represent the DBK. (Continued…)
john
posted 4/04/07 @ 4:02 PM EST
The old "switch the races" question MUST be applied here. If 5 whites kidnapped, tortured, sexually mutilated and murdered two black people it would be all we would hear for months. (Continued…)
Mike
posted 4/04/07 @ 5:08 PM EST
Horrific story, but your paranoia regarding the "reverse the races" angle may be a bit too rash a judgment. Case in point, Natalie Holloway, the Runaway Bride, not to mention this whole infatuation with Anna Nicole Smith. (Continued…)
GateCrasher
posted 4/04/07 @ 10:09 PM EST
Joe D. Gives you an A+ for bravery - but I gotta geive you a D for fact checking. They were kidnapped on a Saturday night and Christian's body was found Tuesday afternoon, 2 and a half days later, yet you cliam "Christian was kept alive and gang-raped multiple times over a span of four days. (Continued…)
Critic
posted 4/05/07 @ 12:59 AM EST
I can't believe this article would such a claim such a sweeping generalization based on putting three stories together and pointing out the different one. (Continued…)
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