Journalists have countless ways to formulate a single story, stressing certain aspects over other tidbits. This creates an angle. Angles are not inherently bad, unless created carelessly or with malice.
An example: Most local media outlets reported that a man, Abdulrahman Ali, allegedly raped a female employee Dec. 2 at a travel plaza in Mapleton, N.D. It’s a heinous crime needing coverage.
Valley News Live duly reported the story before later adding an angle with “new” information, leading a Dec. 4 newscast with this:
“Court documents say the man accused of kidnapping and sexually assaulting a gas station worker uttered ‘Allahu Akbar’ during the assault.”
Specifics are important when retelling a story, as is a mindfulness of a report’s impact. The Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics lists “Seek(ing) Truth and Report(ing) It” and “Minimiz(ing) Harm” as its first two tenets.
Factual evidence is also fairly important.
The court documents didn’t actually say what VNL reported. Ali allegedly said the phrase, which is Arabic for “God is great,” after, not during, the assault. VNL claims it was an honest mistake. Lines seven and eight set the scene clearly, but OK. Mistakes happen in journalism. Sports Illustrated just misspelled the name of its cover story’s featured coach. The Forum recently bestowed the front page to my beloved Gold Star Marching Band, in which it muffed the name and gender of a friend. I once gave the head coach of the North Dakota State Marksmanship team a daughter he never had. Mistakes happen because people write the stories.
These kind of mistakes and eyebrow-arching angles are far too commonplace at VNL, though, and some scrutiny is needed. While the station may revel in any publicity, good or bad, shoddy “professional” journalism needs to be confronted. It may become dangerous if unchecked.
Forum columnist Mike McFeely again calls out VNL for the blunder, further questioning news director Ike Walker and reporter Nicole Johnson on the mistake.
Johnson, an NDSU alumna, responded, explaining her reporting process before apologizing on behalf of the station, writing, “It’s a mistake that we as a station regret and we corrected.”
The apology ends there; VNL then takes the opportunity to reload, pulling a line from McFeely’s column for its headline. “McFeely: Woman’s alleged rape nothing more than ‘slightly odd crime story'” is as much of an apology as it is ten shots fired.
The full line McFeely writes reads, “It goes from a slightly odd crime story to one that carries the implication of terrorism, religious fanaticism, Islamic extremism and even the dangers of unchecked immigration.”
To paraphrase VNL’s cherry-picking: Hey, journalism is tough. We messed up but also McFeely is a meathead who thinks an alleged rape is just a peculiar crime.
VNL’s “mistake” is admissible. That “apology” is not.
If you have TV or Internet access, this can’t still surprise you. VNL consistently appeals to the pathetic (both the emotion-fueled and pitiful) in the Valley. Nobody else regularly takes these angles, save VNL. Why? Perhaps so the station can tell a story that often appeals to viewers who want to validate their anger. Islamophobia, especially recently, is VNL’s viral bread and butter.
Look at the recent “exclusive” VNL did on ISIS in our area.
Look at a VNL Facebook page update. The most liked comment eloquently reads: “Shoot (Ali) and send him home.” Read the comments of those who shared the post. Racism still stews in Fargo-Moorhead.
Look at VNL’s constant pestering of Lutheran Social Services, which McFeely also blasted. Even in its recent coverage, VNL contacted LSS to see if Ali was a refugee because “many viewers asked.”
After rattling off Ali’s criminal history, VNL reporter Ashley Bishop writes, “There is no public database that allows people to look up people’s immigration status. Valley News Live has tried calling Lutheran Social Services and reached out to the Department of Homeland Security.”
Yes, let us reach out to third largest cabinet department in the United States and see if this alleged rapist is a refugee to appease our viewers.
Homeland Security must have been busy, for it didn’t respond. LSS could not give any answers, either, and CEO Jessica Thomasson reminded VNL not every immigrant is associated with her nonprofit.
VNL continues to act as a vehicle for the angry and hateful in the area. We need to stop this train in its tracks.
In “Metamedia Minor,” Benjamin Norman, a media junkie and journalism minor, takes a closer look at communication culture, here and elsewhere.