Jena 6 Top Twelve Myths
Newsbusters highlights an article by Craig Franklin, published in the Christian Science Monitor, outlining the media myths about the Jena 6. Mr. Frankin is a local Jena journalist and his wife is a teacher at the high school.
As it goes these days, the MSM will latch onto a narrative and fill in its own story based on some fact and more myth. Here are a few:
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Myth 1: The Whites-Only Tree. There has never been a "whites-only" tree at Jena High School. Students of all races sat underneath this tree. When a student asked during an assembly at the start of school last year if anyone could sit under the tree, it evoked laughter from everyone present – blacks and whites. As reported by students in the assembly, the question was asked to make a joke and to drag out the assembly and avoid class. ... Myth 8: The Attack Is Linked to the Nooses. Nowhere in any of the evidence, including statements by witnesses and defendants, is there any reference to the noose incident that occurred three months prior. This was confirmed by the United States attorney for the Western District of Louisiana, Donald Washington, on numerous occasions. |
As disheartening as it is to speak with people who have formed strong opinions on the story but don't know anything more than what the MSM is telling them, I can't blame them for reaching their conclusions. Who has the time to do the research that the reporters should be doing? Unfortunately, I believe these are deliberate errors, done to create an impression, much in the same way a trial lawyer will mention something he knows will be objected to and sustained. It may be stricken from the record, but will forever be in the minds of the jury.