This is really, really, stupid. And a shocking disregard for someone’s safety.
Jim Hoft is reporting that several news media outlets are brazenly broadcasting in front of the house of accused Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson.
CNN broadcast a report Friday that showed the house, including the street number, of the Ferguson police officer who police say shot Mike Brown. The officer has been in hiding due to death threats since the shooting last Saturday. His name, Darren Wilson, was just released Friday morning.
Another news outlet apologized for broadcasting video of Wilson’s home while others have virtually drawn a map to Wilson’s house for those bent on vengeance.
Yahoo News named the community Wilson where Wilson resides and published a photograph of the officer.
The UK Daily Mail also named the community, posted photos of the officer and gave a description of the house.
USA Today also named the community and reported a local police presence.
The Washington Post named the street where Wilson lives.
In the video report, CNN reporter Ed Lavandera is seen walking in the street where Wilson lives. The CNN video shows a wide view of Wilson’s house and then pans around the street to show its relative position in the neighborhood. While Lavandera does not name the street, he gives its approximate location.
Every news report says neighbors told them Wilson has not been home for several days.
A version of the video being aired by CNN affiliate Newschannel 13 in Orlando, Florida (and likely other affiliates around the country including the St. Louis market) shows a brief close-up of the house number by the front door such that someone could freeze and enlarge the image to get the address.
The version of the report available online at CNN has that footage edited and replaced with a close-up of a front window of Wilson’s house.
What are these people thinking? If you saw that raucous press conference given by Missouri Governor Jay Nixon yesterday, and heard the tenor of the black community in Ferguson, you know what residents are screaming about when they chant for “justice.”
And yet, the media, with sublime idiocy, makes it fairly easy for someone familiar with the town of Ferguson to find Officer Wilson’s residence.
While it’s true that Wilson was not at home at the time, eventually he is going to be back. Residents of Ferguson have demonstrated over the last few nights that some of them may be crazy enough to practice a little vigilantism, and deal out their own version of “justice” for Michael Brown.
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