Paper That Couldn't Be Bothered To Report On Local Police Misconduct Fires Off Editorial Insulting Writer Who Actually Did

from the unearned-superiority dept

Mon, May 2nd 2016 2:12pm — Tim Cushing

As we recently covered here, a few Aiken, South Carolina, police officers engaged in a steady procession of Constitutional violations during a traffic stop predicated on nothing more than a (fully legal) temporary plate. Shirts were lifted and breasts exposed. At least one cop spent a considerable amount of time probing the passenger's anus. For all intents and purposes, it was a roadside raping, performed under the color of law.

The horrific traffic stop is the focus of a federal lawsuit… and a whole lot of belated scrambling by law enforcement and city officials. Radley Balko of the Washington Post, who broke the story, found himself on the receiving end of a sneering, condescending editorial by the Aiken Standard -- the local paper which had no interest in covering the lawsuit until after national internet hellfire began raining down on the town it serves.

The editorial is worth reading all the way through, if only to experience the surreality of being talked down to by an editor who wouldn't know unbiased journalism if it showed up at his desk wearing a blue uniform and told him to kill an unflattering story.

First, the editorial -- even as it throws shade at Balko for being a mere "blogger" -- acknowledges that it didn't even pick up on this story until after it had been covered at Balko's Washington Post blog. From that point, it only gets worse. These three sentences are enough to give you some idea of how underqualified the Aiken Standard editorial staff is to be entering into a heated debate over journalistic priorities or law enforcement misconduct. (It also must be noted that the paper feels perfectly fine criticizing Balko's blogging while not providing readers a link to his post so its readers can view the source material for themselves.)

We’re not criticizing the blog writer’s assertions since we are as ardent protectors of the First Amendment as is The Washington Post.

Our point is that The Washington Post blog was rooted in opinion, which is how the blog should be regarded. It’s not a news story conveying information from a neutral perspective. The incident also didn’t happen last week or even last month. It happened 17 months ago.

First off, the First Amendment not only protects criticism, it practically demands it. This editorial -- as horrendous and misguided as it is -- is the "more speech" the First Amendment encourages. If you don't like something someone wrote, write something of your own rebutting it. There's no need to pretend the First Amendment is there to saddle up your High Horse and act as your squire during your trip down the High Road. And, for that matter, the editorial does criticize Balko's assertions, along with taking cheap shots at his lowly blogger status (for the Bezos-owned paper serving one of the nation's largest subscriber bases).

As for the Aiken Standard being concerned about "neutral perspectives," it would have been nice for it to have any perspective at all prior to a mere "blogger" making public news that it should not only already have known about, but should have addressed in print months ago.

Even stupider is the idea that horrific violations have some sort of expiration date. Lawsuits take time -- generally being the tail end of a process in which other, less expensive options are exhausted first. Just because it didn't happen within the last week doesn't mean it's not worthy of coverage. But that's apparently the Aiken Standard's standard.

Towards the end of its piece, it takes time to thank law enforcement for the hard work they do when not violating citizens' rights.

Police officers face danger every day. They’re not perfect, but they lay their lives on the line every day so we can be safe.

For a paper making the claim that "opinions" from "bloggers" are worth less than its "neutral" reporting that allows "every stakeholder" to have their say, it sure sounds like the Aiken Standard is issuing absolution before all the facts are in.

Ken White at Popehat responded to the Aiken Standard's blog-slamming editorial with an opinionated blog post of his own. Again, his is worth reading all the way through, but for much different reasons than the Aiken Standard's. He calls the paper out for claiming to be the arbiter of neutrality and civility with two paragraphs that should serve as a stinging rebuke for every reporter granting law enforcement officials vast amounts of deference while still claiming to be a member of the Fourth Estate.

Civility is a good thing, even when discussing controversial subjects. It's a goal I often fall short of, but a goal nonetheless. Civility even on heated subjects is a good thing because of humility: we may be wrong about the things we are angriest about. It's a good thing because of proportionality: our sense of what is outrageous enough to provoke incivility may be idiosyncratic. It's a good thing because of perspective: the world is full of people ready to be uncivil to us about things we have every damn right to do, and if we encourage incivility we'll get what we ask for.

[...]

But civility can take pernicious forms. It's pernicious if we shy from calling out outrageous and despicable conduct. It's pernicious when we give armed government officials the benefit of the doubt because the culture tells us they're brave and nice. It's pernicious when we don't demand public explanations for conduct because the conduct is horrifying and unseemly. Most of all, it's pernicious when we decide that civility is substantive rather than procedural. Civility weighs against gratuitous shouting, insults, and threats. But civility does not require that we let the government beg the question. It does not require that we accept, as true, the premises about government power that have been served to us since birth.

Balko's response to the Aiken Standard editorial is just as damning, but his closing paragraph really nails everything the Aiken Standard got wrong when it started believing subservience to law enforcement was the same thing as "neutral reporting." If you want to sling arrows of journalistic superiority, you'd best have your shit nailed down tight.

The most important function of the press is to be a watchdog on power. I’d think that when made aware an incident such as this, caught on video, a good newspaper would start digging around to see if there had been similar incidents. (Here’s a tip for the paper’s assignment editors: If it’s happened once, it’s probably happened before.) Instead, the Aiken editorial board has chosen to praise police and local officials, and to reserve its skepticism for the publication that reported the incident. For all its derision toward me (the 665-word editorial uses the word “blog” 10 times), maybe the Aiken Standard could stand to take a lesson or two from opinion journalism. Do that, and perhaps the next time there’s national news in Aiken, the town’s newspaper will be the outlet that breaks it.

Since the point the Washington Post broke the story the Aiken Standard couldn't be bothered to cover until it became unavoidable, there's been all sorts of attentiveness from the local paper. Multiple stories have appeared covering the fallout of these officers' actions -- which includes everything from the hasty installation of a citizen complaint review board to the city asking the FBI to open its own investigation into the incident. But nowhere in this flurry of coverage will you find the Aiken Standard walking back its petty attack on Balko and his "blogging." I suppose now that it's finally performing acts of journalism, it feels it's too far above the fray to offer an apology to Balko for its snide editorial, or to its readers for its journalistic failings.

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Filed Under: 4th amendment, aiken, illegal search, police, radley balko, south carolina
Companies: aiken standard, washington post

43 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 2 May 2016 @ 2:21pm

some people almost seem to desire living in a country where the average citizen has no rights, or their hero worship of police is so bad it is blinding them.
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That Anonymous Coward (profile), 2 May 2016 @ 2:28pm

Re:
some people almost seem to desire living in a country where the average citizen, who has a different skin color, has no rights, or their hero worship of police is so bad it is blinding them.

FTFY
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Anonymous Coward, 2 May 2016 @ 2:29pm

Full Retard
"It happened 17 months ago."

Really, you're publicly proclaiming that your *news organ* was limp for that long like that makes it better?! oh, Aiken Standard, bless your heart.
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That One Guy (profile), 2 May 2016 @ 2:40pm

Re: Full Retard
Yeah, in their attempt to take shots at the one who showed them up, they just make themselves look even worse.

He's 'just' a blogger, he might not have run across the story until recently, however you're a 'professional' news agency, what's your excuse?
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That One Guy (profile), 2 May 2016 @ 2:44pm

For a VERY loose definition of 'neutral'
So at one point they make a dig about how the blogger wasn't 'neutral' in their write-up, yet later on they make it abundantly clear that they are anything but, and are firmly on the side of the cops by trying the classic 'Cops put themselves at risk all the time, what's a few minor incidents?' ploy.

Ah good old hypocrisy...
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Anonymous Coward, 2 May 2016 @ 2:53pm

Rights Tax?
Does this mean that the paper believes a certain percent of rights violations is just to be expected? That isn't how this is supposed to work at all.
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OldMugwump (profile), 2 May 2016 @ 2:54pm

WaPo isn't owned by Amazon
A minor correction-

The Washington Post is owned by Jeff Bezos, not Amazon.

Bezos did found and still runs Amazon, but it's not Amazon that owns the WaPo, but Bezos himself.
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Anonymous Coward, 2 May 2016 @ 2:58pm

"So we can be safe"

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
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Whoever, 2 May 2016 @ 2:59pm

Those "editors" at the Aiken Standard see no issue.
Those "editors" at the Aiken Standard see no issue in poking someone's ass. After all, it's quite clear that they have crawled so far up the asses of the Police department and City council that they cannot see daylight.
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Anonymous Coward, 2 May 2016 @ 3:25pm

I was laughing my ass off when I read this article.

It’s not a news story conveying information from a neutral perspective.

Pardon? Since when has any news story, article or news cast reporting on the news been neutral? Every news story I've read has always been biased on the side of the moron reporting on the news item they are reporting on.

The liberal news media has always been biased on every news report. When have they ever been neutral?
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David, 2 May 2016 @ 3:33pm

They are on the same page, actually.
Balko states:
The most important function of the press is to be a watchdog on power.

And I think the Aiken Standard would agree. It's just that they read "watchdog on power" like "editor on drugs".
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Riccardo Cabeza, 2 May 2016 @ 3:41pm

First off, the First Amendment not only protects criticism, it practically demands it.
No, no, NO! That's Sarah Palin's argument and it's wrong! The first amendment does NOT protect you from criticism in any way, shape or form.

It protects you from Governmental persecution.
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Paul Renault (profile), 2 May 2016 @ 3:44pm

"Police officers face danger every day. They’re not perfect, but they lay their lives on the line every day so we can be safe."

Every friggin' time I hear or read that, my blood pressure goes up. For the nth time, 'police officer' isn't one of the most dangerous jobs. Grrr!

https://financesonline.com/uploads/10-dangerous-jobs.jpg

Even refuse collectors have a more dangerous job, and for less pay.
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Anonymous Coward, 2 May 2016 @ 3:51pm

Re: First off, the First Amendment not only protects criticism, it practically demands it.
You misunderstand the statement - it doesn't protect YOU from criticism, it protects the criticism itself (from government interference).
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SteveMB (profile), 2 May 2016 @ 4:18pm

Note the statement toward the end of the screed:

Lastly, it's imperative to understand that we are in the middle of pending litigation.

"We"? Is the Aiken Standard a defendant in the case? Or, more likely, did they run a police press release under the cover of an editorial without properly scrubbing off the serial numbers?
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radarmonkey (profile), 2 May 2016 @ 5:28pm

"Police officers face danger every day. They’re not perfect, but they lay their lives on the line every day so we can be safe."
The original draft of the editorial had the following additional sentence:
"So the next time these brave police officers want to stick their finger up your ass, just submit and shut up."
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Anonymous Coward, 2 May 2016 @ 5:51pm

Re: Liberal news media?
What liberal news media? All we have is corporate news media and right wing /republican propaganda media.

http://www.rawstory.com/2015/11/here-are-13-things-everyone-would-know-if-we-really-had-a-liberal-me dia/
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Coyne Tibbets (profile), 2 May 2016 @ 6:34pm

Re:
So the next time these brave police officers want to stick their finger up your ass, you ask how far you should bend over.
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Anonymous Coward, 2 May 2016 @ 8:33pm

Re: Re:
In this case sure they targeted him because he was black, But I mean in general, some people are almost rushing to get rid of their basic rights and ignore anything bad the police do because as police they can do no wrong no matter what lies people's eyes show them.
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Anonymous Coward, 2 May 2016 @ 8:35pm

Re:
the way they keep going soon it will be as people will fighting back violently if police are not held accountable for their crimes. If the laws do not protect people from police misconduct people will start protecting themselves.
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Anonymous Coward, 3 May 2016 @ 1:53am

Nice to see a mention of Popehat. I kind of miss them. I wish they'd fix their RSS feed.
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Bergman (profile), 3 May 2016 @ 5:39am

Re:
The US is unusual in that (at least in theory) it started out as a freedom culture. This is reflected in the fact that anything not specifically prohibited by statute is legal.

But some people are profoundly uncomfortable with the concept. Deep down, they feel that anything they don't have specific permission to do must be wrong or illegal, no matter what the laws say.

Unfortunately, the permission culture is having increasing say in how the government functions, and is eagerly passing laws to 'correct' the problem with the US legal system.
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Ann Bowlynn, 3 May 2016 @ 6:38am

Re: Rights Tax?
Actually, yes. Civil rights actions must be for an entire class of persons (race, sex etc.). An individual cannot file a civil rights action until they prove enough instances where similarly situated persons have faced the same violation. Yes, a large percentage of civil rights violations occur everyday without being addressed. Trust me, I know first hand how it feels when those guaranteed rights are violated several times over and then being told nothing will be done about it because it hasn't happened to enough white females.
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Anonymous Coward, 3 May 2016 @ 6:56am

Re: WaPo isn't owned by Amazon
I had to check that because Google and Facebook are both famously structured to give a majority vote to the founders. Bezos never did that though, which makes his ability to convince stockholders that growth is more important than profit even more impressive.
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Peter John, 3 May 2016 @ 7:17am

Re:
So are you implying that "conservative new media" is unbiased?
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Peter John, 3 May 2016 @ 7:23am

Search Warrant
I haven't been paying attention to this. I have a question. Did the Police get a "Search Warrant" for the anus? If not, shouldn't this be classified as rape and the police officers arrested and charged?
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Anonymous Coward, 3 May 2016 @ 7:32am

Re: Re:
your playing cards has worn thin
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Anonymous Coward, 3 May 2016 @ 7:44am

Show me a cop willing to police their fellow officers, and I'll show you an ex-cop. Those that remain are bad cops.
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nasch (profile), 3 May 2016 @ 8:51am

Re: Re: Rights Tax?
An individual cannot file a civil rights action until they prove enough instances where similarly situated persons have faced the same violation.

That's not true, the rights guaranteed by the Constitution protect individuals, not just groups. You can see this is the case by the very lawsuit in question. It is not a class action, it is about this one incident.
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DB (profile), 3 May 2016 @ 9:39am

Wait, Balko is a 'mere "blogger"'?

He's one of the best reporters that WaPo currently has. I recognize a few other names if I see them on the byline, but none are memorable enough to recall on their own. And I don't associate them with good or bad reporting (although remembering them usually means good).
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Anonymous Coward, 3 May 2016 @ 9:55am

Convenience Store Clerks
Police officers face danger every day. They’re not perfect, but they lay their lives on the line every day so we can be safe.

Why didn't the Aiken Standard take a moment to acknowledge the brave convenience store clerks? They too lay their lives on the line for us every day. Their job is more dangerous than police work yet they assault people far less often.
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Anonymous Coward, 3 May 2016 @ 10:00am

Re: Full Retard
It's also kinda sad that the entire editorial staff of a newspaper can not just see but actually use the phrase "it happened 17 months ago" and fail to understand that the important part is "it happened", not "17 months ago".
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KV, 3 May 2016 @ 11:31am

Local News
This is par for the course for a lot of local "newspapers". They depend on the local "elites" for advertising, and join the circle of corruption. If the people paid more attention to local elections, things might improve a bit, but the citizens just don't care.
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Anonymous Coward, 3 May 2016 @ 12:04pm

Re: Re:
easier to be a slave than have the freedom to think for yourself it seems. Then you can blame any bad choices you have made as solely following orders and therefore not your fault.
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jarhead66 (profile), 3 May 2016 @ 12:20pm

corruption here in South Carolina
The corruption here in South Carolina is widespread and deep. The outstanding South Carolina Policy Council is trying to do something about it, but it's like trying to swim up Niagara Falls.

http://www.scpolicycouncil.org/
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Porly Pug, 3 May 2016 @ 12:29pm

Orifice Medlin
With luck, Orifice Medlin will get shot one day, preferably soon.
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askeptic, 3 May 2016 @ 1:49pm

"Police officers face danger every day. They’re not perfect, but they lay their lives on the line every day so we can be safe."

Yes! That anus might have had teeth.
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Anonymous Coward, 3 May 2016 @ 2:51pm

Re: Convenience Store Clerks
Yeah, statistically speaking, police work isn't even in the top 10 of dangerous professions.
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DB (profile), 3 May 2016 @ 5:31pm

Police statistics count single-car accidents and deaths during off-duty activities.

If a farmer dies after losing control in a speeding truck, it's not counted as an occupational death. It is for a police officer. If you look on the Officer Down Memorial Page, they include even off duty incidences.

You could argue that it's justified, since police are almost immune to getting traffic tickets, which encourages them to engage in high-risk driving behavior.

Checking the ODMP, they have changed to separating out the police dog deaths. They were previously included in the regular list, which is very misleading. The last two deaths were from a heart attack and an officer running into the rear of a semi-truck. He was on his way home, but it was counted as an on-duty death.
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Anonymouse1562, 3 May 2016 @ 9:01pm

Re: Search Warrant
If you didn't read it, then why the fuck even comment.
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nasch (profile), 3 May 2016 @ 9:52pm

Re: Re: Search Warrant
He doesn't mean he didn't read this article, he means he hasn't been following the story over time.
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Wendy Cockcroft, 5 May 2016 @ 5:53am

Re: Re: Re:
If that's true, count up the number of similar incidents and filter by ethnicity. You were saying?
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Wendy Cockcroft, 5 May 2016 @ 5:56am

Re: Re:
Apparently it's fair and balanced, Peter John. They say it is.
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