This week, we were tasked with finding an article regarding the Supreme Court, so I did. I found an article about a man in Georgia who was set be receive the death penalty even though he only has an IQ of 70 and is considered intellectually disabled. The article goes on to say that unless the court intervenes, this man's life will be taken regardless of the fact that it violates the cruel and unusual punishment segment of the Constitution. All of this is good and I agree with it. He should not be executed. However, this article on huffingtonpost.com was so one-sided and accusatory of the state government, that IT DIDN'T EVEN SAY HIS CRIME. Are you kidding me? You expect the courts to quickly intervene on a trial when you didn't even list the crime. I would think you would need details and circumstance to make a proper judgement on such a story but thats impossible when the journalist freaks out and gives no valuable information. Journalism should be about presenting the facts, and maybe injecting a light opinion to sway the reader a certain way. But telling one side of the story while leaving out critical info to the other side is almost like lying. Should this man be executed? I don't believe in the death penalty, so I say no, but its hard for anyone to make a legitimate judgement when they have no legitimate information. I realize this assignment was supposed to be about the Supreme Court... technically, mine says "court" three times... 5 if you include the two in this sentence. But it frustrates me that an established website can give such poopy information about a serious story. It's not just the huffingtonpost.com. Our Journal is starting to do the same thing. Journalism is dying and writers are desperately trying to save it, but are being idiots in the process.
www.huffingtonpost.com/cassy-stubbs
First off, I agree that they shouldn't do the death penalty. Add to the fact that the man is considered intellectually disabled and that we don't even know what the crime is, then definitely. Second, Eastmo, you could probably write a better story, and have done multiple times, than most of the articles we have read.
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