Jackson Jambalaya

Update: Today, The Jackson Free Press issued the following corrections:
"editor's note: The above story and "Sharpton Defends The 'Jena 6'" (Vol. 5, No. 47) have been corrected to remove the association of Justin Barker with the noose-hanging incident at Jena High School. Barker has been reported as a friend of the noose-hangers, whose names have not been disclosed, but not as a co-conspirator in the noose incident. This error was not intentional. xxx xxx and The Jackson Free Press apologize for the error. "
http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/comments.php?id=15054_0_63_0_C

Credit is given where credit is due. At least the JFP corrected its errors, which is more than I can say for The Clarion-Ledger, which rarely corrects errors pointed out by bloggers or other media outlets.

Original post:

The Jackson Free Press published several stories covering the Jena 6 case in Jena, Louisiana. This is no surprise as the JFP has stated repeatedly it is committed to social justice and fighting racial discrimination in all forms, truly admirable and respectable goals.

However, in its coverage of the Jena 6, a reporter at the JFP, committed several egregious errors. In fact, they are so egregious they could be considered to be slander or libel.

In two stories, xxx xxx states Justin Barker, the White student who was beaten up by the Jena 6, was involved in the noose-hanging" incident three months earlier at the school. She writes: "Justin Barker and his friends at Jena High School were wrong to hang nooses from a tree under which black students had congregated the day before." ( "Let the Punishment Fit the Crime", October 3, 2007 )http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/comments.php?id=15054_0_63_0_C

On Dec. 4, 2006, the six black students attacked one of the white males involved with the noose hanging, Justin Barker, at school. He suffered a concussion and bruises, but later that same night, he went out to a social gathering. Meanwhile, the Jena Six went to jail and are facing the harshest sentences possible for the fight. ("Sharpton Defends the Jena 6", August 8, 2007) http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/print.php?id=14477_0_4_0

This is very sloppy reporting, so sloppy it could be considered libelous. There has been no suggestion in the media that the victim, Mr. Barker, was involved in the noose-hanging incident. In fact, several authorities and media sources have stated he was NOT involved in said incident.

The Town Talk, which covers the Alexandria, La region, stated:
"Barker wasn’t one of the three students disciplined for the noose incident, and he hasn’t been named in any of the fights in Jena leading up to the Dec. 4 incident."
http://www.thetowntalk.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/99999999/NEWS/70915030

Darryl Fears of The Washington Post, that bastion of right-wing conservatism and racism, wrote: "The victim in the beaten that resulted in the charges was said to have been one of the participants in hanging the nooses. That couldn't be verified."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2007/09/20/DI2007092000816.html?nav=ft_lol

Snopes also stated Mr. Barker was not involved in the noose incident. It quotes the District Attorney, Reed Walters: "The victim in this crime, who has all but been forgotten, was a young man named Justin Barker, who was not involved in the nooses incident three months earlier." http://www.snopes.com/politics/crime/jena6.asp

These sources were found after googling "was Justin Barker involved with the noose incident?" It took less than ten minutes to find these passages. xxx cites no sources or evidence in support of her writing that Mr. Barker was involved with the noose incident. Only xxxx can say if this was intentional or merely sloppy reporting. However, when one engages in so-called advocacy journalism, just because a reporter wants something to be true does not mean it is.

Miriam-Webster Dictionary defines libel as: "a written or oral defamatory statement or representation that conveys an unjustly unfavorable impression b (1): a statement or representation published without just cause and tending to expose another to public contempt (2): defamation of a person by written or representational means (3): the publication of blasphemous, treasonable, seditious, or obscene writings or pictures (4): the act, tort, or crime of publishing such a libel." However, the law in Mississippi is much more forgiving and allows for honest mistakes. See Section 95-1-5 of the Mississippi Code of 1972, http://www.mscode.com/free/statutes/95/001/0005.htm.

It is also interesting how xxx omits for the most part any mention of Mychel Bell's prior criminal history. See earlier post: http://kingfish1935.blogspot.com/2007/09/what-is-truth-here-thugs-or-theologians.html. Mr Bell had numerous arrests for violent crimes and was convicted of at least one, which is why he was on probation in the first place. Snopes stated: "Prosecutors in his case revealed that Bell had been convicted as a juvenile for attacking someone a year prior to the Jena 6 assault, then committed three more crimes while on probation for that one, which meant the Jena 6 verdict marked his fifth conviction for violent crimes." (His criminal record is discussed in my post cited above in a news report from the Baton Rouge newspaper).

These earlier convictions and criminal history are why Mr. Bell's probation was revoked last week. To put it mildly, Mr. Bell is a thug who was also a star football player. He was given a free pass until he beat Justin Barker. Everyone is familiar with the double standard for jocks which occurs in too many schools. Compare his treatment to incidents at Brandon and Morton High Schools where football players who were arrested were suspended from the team after they were arrested the first time, not the second....or third....or fourth....or fifth.... you get the idea.

In another display of ignorance, Blogger L.W. writes on the JFP website: "He has to spend 18 months in a juvenile facility for violating his probation. However, the charges are old and weren't brought up until now..." . This statement is simply not true and is completely at odds with the facts. In fact, she quoted a column by Jason Whitlock where he disclosed Bell's December, 2005 conviction for battery, http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/comments.php?id=14950_0_27_0_C, so one fails to see how she can call these old charges with a straight face.

Earl Hutchison writes on the site as well: "The DA claims that several other scrapes with the law helped keep him there." http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/comments.php?id=14999_0_7_0_C Claims.....CLAIMS? There are no "claims" as you put it. Mr. Bell WAS arrested. He WAS convicted. He IS on probation. Even his own father admitted it to the Baton Rouge newspaper. One must wonder if this really is ignorance on display or just plain dishonesty.

One must ask why the writers over at the JFP so blatantly ignore the facts and information that basic research would provide. xxx is a good writer and it is clear she is passionate about several causes. It is nice to see young people take an interest in social justice while trying to improve our society. However, passion and a belief in one's cause is no excuse for sloppy journalism and getting the facts grossly wrong. In the age of the internet, these false statements about Mr. Barker can easily spread throughout the media. The fact they were printed by a weekly alternative newspaper is irrelevant in today's world of blogs, mobile news alerts, and websites. Since xxx wrote Mr. Barker was involved with the noose incident depsite all evidence to the contrary, it is a smear upon Mr. Barker, who was beaten to a pulp by the Jena 6 (Yes, he was at a school function that night, a function he attended with a beaten and swollen face according the The Times-Picayune.) .

On the pages and blogs of The Jackson Free Press, Ms. Ladd, the co-owner as well as a holder of a Master's Degree in Journalism from Columbia, wields her literary lead pipe against The Clarion-Ledger and other media outlets for sloppy journalism and violating the so-called best practices of journalism. (Make no mistake, they usually deserve it). However, what is good for the goose is good for the gander. If these false statements about Mr. Barker do not cross the line, it is hard to see what does. I care about social justice as I have a law degree and that means I don't like to see someone who was savagely beaten smeared for something he did not do, regardless of race. At the very least, xxx owes her readers a correction and Mr. Barker a public apology on the pages of The Jackson Free Press.


See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advocacy_journalism for a dicussion of advocacy journalism.

Note: Saw an interesting post by a blogger about this:
http://www.myurbanreport.com/?p=252#comment-1635