Birds of a Feather

The editorial writers of the Baltimore Sun decided early on that neither facts nor fairness could impede their view of what happened to Freddie Gray last year.  

They lauded State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby for her hasty criminal charges, despite the objective view of professionals who recognized the incompetence of her process.

They defended her every step of the way, even as her cases fell apart.  They thought it just fine to ruin the lives and careers of six police officers and threaten their freedom in order to "air out" facts that would have been better explored through proper use of a grand jury.  They failed, from beginning to end, to acknowledge the duty of a prosecutor to follow the facts and the law wherever they led, a failing they shared with Mosby.

And now, in today's editorial, they essentially call for Police Commissioner Kevin Davis to fire, as quickly as possible, the Baltimore Six. Here's why:

• Three of them were honored by a right wing media group.  
• All six caused Gray's death through their "callous" actions.  

I thought newspapers were supposed to be bastions for freedom of speech and association, but I guess that only applies to liberals.  Do I find the Media Research Center offensive?  Yes, I do.  Do I understand why the three attended?  Probably because their lives had been a living hell for more than a year.  Probably because they were driven towards a group that didn't hate them, as they had been hated for so long by so many.  

As for their responsibility for Gray's death, they were exonerated by Judge Barry Williams, who did not find evidence of misconduct let alone homicide.  The Sun doesn't know what Sgt. Alicia White did or didn't do, since she never came to trial.  But the Sun wants her fired, too, along with William Porter, who tried to assist Gray, and van driver Caesar Goodson, who checked on Gray multiple times.  None of these three were feted by the Media Research Center, but apparently don't deserve to be "patrolling the streets of Baltimore" either.  

If the Sun wants to take the position that the Police Department as an entity was callous, I get it. Police leaders could have ensured working cameras in vans, better restraint equipment and practices, and consistent enforcement of procedures.  Improvements like these always seem to get done after tragic accidents, hindsight over foresight.  One might also ask, where were the Sun's investigative reporters and crusading editors before Gray's death?  Why did they wait until he died to dig up evidence of inconsistent seat belt practices and defendants arriving injured at Central Booking? Because the media, like most of the world, is reactive, responding with reforms only after tragedies. But the media gets to act holier-than-thou, the first to seek out who to blame.  

The Sun demands its pound of flesh from these six even though the evidence was clear that they acted reasonably within the context of their training and actual experience. It could have been any officer acting that day with the same result.  Hurry up, the Sun demands of Police Commissioner Kevin Davis, even though outside police agencies are the ones investigating the officers.  It can't "fathom" what is left to investigate.

Neither could Mosby, when she sensationally announced her charges.  No wonder the Sun approved her actions.  The two make a perfect pair.  In their zeal for social justice, the "justice" part doesn't matter.

More Bad Journalism

Wil Hylton's article for the NY Times Magazine, referenced in the Sun's editorial, represents another example of bias disguised as journalism.  Entitled "Baltimore v. Marilyn Mosby" it could more appropriately be entitled, "Mosby's Lame Explanation Unchallenged."  Hylton hob-nobs with the Mosbys, so much so that they let themselves into his home and pour themselves some of his wine. Yet he purports to write a journalistic piece about Mosby's  decision to charge the Baltimore Six, treating us to a self-justifying Mosby narrative that blames police obstructionism for her actions. Even if true (which I doubt), Mosby had the grand jury at her disposal to properly investigate the case herself. 

Hylton's main disagreement with Mosby centers on Gray's injuries: he diagnosed Gray (from a video) as being injured before he got into the van.  Ironically,  the one point on which Mosby and all the experts seemed to agree upon is that the injury occurred inside the van.  But Hylton's personal, unscientific diagnosis led him to the same conclusions as Mosby - and his wholly sympathetic, uncritical treatment of her.

Disclosure:  Hylton called me while working on the piece. He didn't use a thing I said, other than that the attrition rate from Mosby's office is high.  But he did leave a clue as to how he writes.  When I was trying hard to stick to facts and statements that I could support, he told me not to worry, that the standards for magazine pieces were looser. 

And so he delivered a lazy, chummy piece gobbled up by those with the same point of view as Hylton. But the real Mosby shone through anyway, exposing the same arrogance and temperament we saw when Mosby ranted after dropping her cases. A Mosby who, during the riots that followed Gray's death, called up, reamed out, and hung up on Baltimore's mayor.

But Dan Rodricks tells that part of it better.  Check it out.