Every day a member of the media whines about how their profession is under attack.
These attacks generally consist of people telling them that their stories are biased and that they are untrustworthy. Some of this criticism is fair, much of it is not.
But what is clear, at least in Alabama, is that the cultural gap is widening between the people who live in the state and those who cover it. Just see this Tweet from one of AL.com’s reporters for an example:
I have a screen door. My southern checklist is nearly complete. Just gotta gain 200 lbs and buy a spittoon then I'm done. #Alabama
— Christopher Harress (@Charress) December 2, 2017
Why this matters: Hopefully this Tweet is just a bad joke and it’s not the way Harress actually feels about the people he’s now covering. We all say stupid things, especially on Twitter.
But when you pair that joke with his coverage of the Waffle House arrest in Saraland, which by volume alone is heavily slanted in favor of the woman claiming racism (without any evidence), then Alabamians are justified in their skepticism, even distrust, of the media.
Harress will probably tell you that his Waffle House stories are just quoting people, but that’s seemingly done without regard for the fact that the evidence does not support the people he is quoting.
Is the media obligated to print provable lies, unchecked, simply because someone is saying them? (AL.com does have the capacity to write fact-checking articles … but they tend to be like this ridiculous effort to find out if there is such a thing as “full-term abortions“.)
Then there’s sensationalism, which simultaneously increases readership and distrust. One of his articles about the issue ran under this headline, “Nick Saban on the agenda as call for Waffle House boycott grows.”
Seriously?
Saban wasn’t on any agenda. Some guy at the rally simply uttered this wildly irrelevant statement: “Nick Saban will give one hell of a civil rights speech if pull all our kids out of these schools … and you better believe Saban will. That hits his bottom line.”
That quote was the last line is the article but it was chosen as the basis for the story’s headline.
This is garbage and Harress knows it:
Yeah, I know how it works. And it worked. What’s your point? Do you ever get of bed not angry about something? Have you tried meditation? It works.
— Christopher Harress (@Charress) May 1, 2018
When you question him, you are being angry and irrational:
I really do think you’re an angry person. I see you attack people on Twitter multiple times a day. And for what, clickbait headlines? I feel sorry sorry you. I mean that sincerely.
— Christopher Harress (@Charress) May 1, 2018
Trust in the media has been destroyed by the national media based in New York City and Washington, D.C.
And now the media of record in the state of Alabama, AL.com, may be in danger of doing the same thing here.
@TheDaleJackson is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts a conservative talk show from 7-11 am weekdays on WVNN
