Emotion And Clicks – Not Journalism – Ruling Hardy Coverage
Great journalism, among other things, is measured, fair, nuanced and loaded with context. Great journalism is not sensational.
Journalists are curious and suspicious. Like defense attorneys, journalists are oftentimes put in position where they have to explain what seems indefensible. Curiosity and suspicion caused me to look at the Duke lacrosse players (rape) and Bernie Fine (child molestation) different from some of my peers.
We’re at that point again with Greg Hardy (domestic violence). His actions a year ago are indefensible. I will not defend them.
What I will do is try to provide the necessary context so you can understand the actions of Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, the NFL and the NFLPA.
Much of the alleged journalism we’re seeing in regards to Hardy is sloppy and unprofessional.
Our criminal justice system convicted Hardy of misdemeanor domestic assault charges last year, sentencing him to probation and a 60-day suspended sentence. By later having his appeal dropped and his record expunged, Hardy did not buy his way out of prison, as some have stated and/or suggested.
Becky Thorne Tin, a white North Carolina judge far more experienced at litigating domestic violence issues than members of the media, chose not to send Hardy to prison. Tin, Mecklenburg County district attorney Andrew Murray (white) and assistant district attorney Jamie Adams (black female) saw pictures of the victim’s and Hardy’s injuries, reviewed the pertinent statements and testimony and deemed the crime a misdemeanor.
Why?
Did a white woman, a white man and a black woman with deep knowledge of our criminal justice system scheme to let a hulking black man escape prison for beating “the hell” out of a white woman?
This seems unlikely inside Judge Tin’s courtroom. A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard, Judge Tin is the co-chair of her alma mater’s battered women’s advocacy project. In 2007, Judge Tin was involved in a controversial case related to domestic violence that left her, by her own admission, “traumatized.” Over the objections of 32-year-old Sonia Long, Judge Tin issued a less-restrictive restraining order against Long’s estranged husband, Anthony Long. One week later, Anthony Long murdered his wife.
Domestic violence is an issue Judge Tin likely takes more seriously than the sports writers pontificating about what Jerry Jones and the Cowboys should do with Greg Hardy.
So why did the system that specializes in handling these issues go far easier on Hardy than Roger Goodell and the NFL?
Probably because our criminal justice system deals with thousands of domestic issues annually, has a more mature perspective and doesn’t – at the moment – have to answer to the outrage media.
Hardy and his victim, Nicole Holder, did not live together at the time of the incident. Both parties reportedly drank to great excess. Holder admitted using cocaine on the night of the altercation. She also conceded hitting and/or attacking Hardy and his assistant, Sammy Curtis. She attributed the injuries on her arms to Curtis, whom she claimed forcibly carried/removed her from the tiny bedroom/office where the main incident took place. Hardy, not Holder, called police.
http://j.school/post/132761492985/emotion-and-clicks-not-journalism-ruling
