Selective Journalism, The Buffalo News, Racism
Selective Journalism, The Buffalo News, Racism Confronted, re: the Buffalo Murders!!
This is the story of Aaron Jackson who confronted THE BUFFALO NEWS head-on, on their coverage of the string murders that are occuring within the African American community in Buffalo, New York. Do you recall The City Grill Murders in Buffalo on Aug 14 2010? (Here is the NY TIMES article on the incident).
Well…the community was in an uproar because of a story Margaret Sullivan, Managing Editor of The Buffalo News, allowed to be ran in her paper. The article was written by TJ Pignataro rehashed the criminal past of 4 deceased African American victims of a shooting as a tactic claimed to sensationalize the story. She ran the story within days of their funerals, and Aaron Jackson, whose brother was murdered years earlier, and who himself was shot several times during that murder, confronted Sullivan in the video posted below stating, "if your gonna publish the past of black victims do the same for white victims!!"
Aaron Jackson explains to the Buffalo News Chief Editor, Margaret Sullivan, his thoughts on her quotes, her attitude and her paper in a public meeting where she wanted to meet with the black community to discuss the backlash she received for publishing the criminal background of the decease victims of a random shooting the day after the crime. SEE VIDEO THEN READ HIS LETTER AFTER THE JUMP AS REFERENCE!!!
Letter to Mr. T.J. Pignataro of The Buffalo News
Mr. T.J. Pignataro, as a resident of Buffalo, New York I am not only appalled by your article, I am bothered by the fact that you would even venture into the victims past in an attempt to connect the dots as to why these people were murdered. You should be ashamed of yourself for such a senseless story.
And just to think, I once welcomed you into my home to interview me and put a story together regarding the murder of my brother and how I've worked with young African American men since his death in an attempt to help my community. It has me to wonder, were you really there for me and my positive influence as an African American mentor here in the City of Buffalo or were you there for the sake of getting "your story??"
As a news staff reporter I understand that your job is to bring forth light to such tragedies in the City of Buffalo and I can even understand your need to cover both sides of a story for the sake of having balance, but what I can't understand is the importance of putting together a story about the decedent's criminal past. Mr. T.J. Pignataro, to further assassinate a group of people that were already executed publicly, is heartless.
A much more interesting story would be, why did it take the Buffalo Police Department so long to arrive at the homicide scene when their headquarters is just within walking distance?? Or better yet, why are my tax dollars being wasted on patrol cars that are parked on Chippewa Avenue doing absolutely nothing?? Or what about this, why was a 911 caller placed on hold the night of the shooting?? Or what about the grand finale of them all, the murderer has been allowed an extra week to roam freely because of these bumbling idiots we've entrusted to protect us all!!
The stories that The Buffalo News has continued to print are reckless and nothing short of disrespectful. First there was Dan Herbeck and Jay Rey reporting that an unnamed source stated to them that at least 40% of the participants were drug dealers or gang bangers and now your digging into the past lives of the deceased…. at what point does the scope of this reporting turn toward the person that committed this crime?? Has apprehending him, become secondary?? Any new leads on his whereabouts?? In ending I say this, an unnamed source of mine tells me that 99% of The Buffalo News staff are racists and you aren't among the 1% that isn't.
It's amazing how Buffalo's own Patrick Kane's criminal past disappeared once he hoisted that Stanley Cup Trophy over his head…. while those 4 victim's criminal past reappeared once they were laid to rest. You should be ashamed….AARON JACKSON
MY INTERVIEW WITH AARON JACKSON!!
LISA: What happened after that meeting?
AARON: We are still boycotting the newspaper…
LISA: Did the newspaper validate your claim? What was their response to what you said in the video?
AARON: she has yet to issue an apology!! I really never expected her to issue an apology at all…. it's her job to report stories.. it just that her timing was slightly off… she talked about those 4 victims criminal past after they were murdered and about a day after they were buried….
LISA: My readers truly appreciate this story. What else can you add?
AARON: she wrote the story… but WE as a people have to do better… WE have to stop giving her stories to write about… WE have to stop killing one another…. WE have to be just as upset about our behavior as we were about her behavior…Ya dig???
I SAY…THIS SORT OF NEWS REPORTING ENDS TODAY!!!
