Most interesting point in the opinion piece in my opinion:
Most interesting point in the opinion piece in my opinion:
I've had doubts about journalism's embrace of prosecutors and law enforcement since I was a junior police reporter in the late-'70s. A fair number of the police I dealt with back then were deeply misogynist, thoroughly homophobic, and, in many cases, plain racist. Some were absolutely brutal. The prosecutors with whom they worked weren't always very bright, either.
And yet I was expected, when someone was charged with a crime, to respectfully quote these characters, and even describe some of the evidence — never exculpatory, of course — without ever asking the accused person for his or her side of the story, which you would think basic journalism demands.
"They'll get their day in court, and we'll cover that," my editors would say.
Of course, we often didn't. We moved on. We – I – helped ruin innocent citizens targeted by incompetent authorities.
Most interesting point in the opinion piece in my opinion: