Dangerous journalists

Matthew Hoy
By Matthew Hoy on January 19, 2008

Iowahawk has done a devastating satire on The New York Times' irresponsible story that ran last Sunday in the paper of record demonizing military veterans. The Times ran a sensationalistic article painting veterans as psychopathic killers but failed to do the basic statistics -- comparing veterans to the general population. It's pretty clear that military vets are far less likely to commit murder than the general population, but the Times didn't even bother to do the basic research.

I'm anxiously awaiting Public Editor Clark Hoyt's take on this article -- which may come Sunday -- or not.

Here's a taste of Iowahawk's piece, sans links:

Bylines of Brutality

As Casualties Mount, Some Question The Emotional Stability of Media Vets

An Iowahawk Special Investigative Report
With Statistical Guidance from the New York Times

A Denver newspaper columnist is arrested for stalking a story subject. In Cincinnati, a television reporter is arrested on charges of child molestation. A North Carolina newspaper reporter is arrested for harassing a local woman. A drunken Chicago Sun-Times columnist and editorial board member is arrested for wife beating. A Baltimore newspaper editor is arrested for threatening neighbors with a shotgun. In Florida, one TV reporter is arrested for DUI, while another is charged with carrying a gun into a high school. A Philadelphia news anchorwoman goes on a violent drunken rampage, assaulting a police officer. In England, a newspaper columnist is arrested for killing her elderly aunt.

Unrelated incidents, or mounting evidence of that America's newsrooms have become a breeding ground for murderous, drunk, gun-wielding child molesters? Answers are elusive, but the ever-increasing toll of violent crimes committed by journalists has led some experts to warn that without programs for intensive mental health care, the nation faces a potential bloodbath at the hands of psychopathic media vets.

"These people could snap at any minute," says James Treacher of the Treacher Institute for Journalist Studies. "We need to get them the help and medication they need before it's too late."

They're not just about slanting the news anymore.

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