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Breaking: How Newsworthy Is Your Death?

188863609_c6da4f7407_m.jpgWorthy enough to be posted about. Does anyone wanna play Murderdelphia News Coverage Theory? We go first. Why is the media memorizing the name of Tykeem Law after the 14-year-old was shot down at 9th & Federal? What makes reporters turn into paparrazzi as they tap certain murders like a sick game of Duck, Duck, Goose? It was the top story everywhere all weekend. For what, after all of the past ignored victims of gun violence and their tiny blurbs and ten-second tributes? Not ratings frenzy, m’peeps. The main reason they’re all crying a little louder over this one is its location. Shit goes foul a block away from PatsNGenosLand, AKA Touristdollarphia, and there’s a big uh-oh. You picking up what we’re throwing down? Here, spin.
NBC10: A Kid Just Died And We Finally Care

This entry was posted on Monday, July 16th, 2007 at 9:21 am.

  • MikeWebkist

    Huh? Because there’s been like zero coverage of gun violence this year? Really? That was only in my copy of the Inky?

  • julia

    Maybe it has something to do with the race of the shooter?

  • zoestrauss

    Actually, I’ve been wondering what the outcry would be like if the murder victim was white.

  • zoestrauss

    Would it be different? I honestly don’t know.

  • http://djrobertdrake.com DJRobertDrake

    i found it interesting that until this shooting- the past 17 murders have gone by and no major media outlet was keeping the tally in their stories; as if they had been told to lay low on the ‘number’ element for the common good of the city etc…

    this link to NBC10 is the first time since we hit 200 that I’ve seen the statistic worked into the report.

    (218 for those interested)

  • lord_whimsy

    Has everything to do with the race of the shooter–as if white kids who feel entitled to be violent for no reason are some kind of anomaly!

    Young white mooks are scary little pricks. Last winter, I was almost intentionally run down while crossing a quiet Olde City intersection with my wife. Whole carload of backwards ballcapped infants who screeched their monster truck inches from my legs, and then started hurling verbal abuse.

    In contrast, my encounters with young black dudes usually sound like this:

    “Ey–nice suit, man.”

    “Thanks.”

  • lord_whimsy

    Poor kid–just out for a bike ride with friends.

  • Allan Smithee

    re:

    “i found it interesting that until this shooting- the past 17 murders have gone by and no major media outlet was keeping the tally in their stories; as if they had been told to lay low on the ‘number’ element for the common good of the city etc…”

    think instead of “major media” you mean traditional media.

    http://www.phawker.com has noted every homicide in the “killadelphia” column

  • sweetjohnny

    Actually, the Daily News usually mentions the homicide total whenever it runs a story on the latest murder.

    As for why this particular homicide was covered, did you actually read the story, Joey? The kid was *14*, gunned down by an *18-year-old* for RIDING HIS BIKE TOO SLOW. The fact that the kids involved are so young, and that the victim was killed so brutally for such a silly reason, has at least as much to do with the big coverage this is getting as the fact that it happened barely a block from Geno’s.

  • Patricio

    Maybe because this was a RANDOM ACT OF VIOLENCE. Which is rarely the problem here.

    Not some ex-con drug dealer getting shot up with bullets. Which is the problem here.

    Big difference.

    Who gives a shit…really though. The local mainstream news here is the most overblown, sensationial, run for the burbs bullshit. You won’t see anything like that in a number of other cities news, including those that have higher murder rates. Oh wait the local news TELLS us that Philadelphia has the highest murder rate.

    Sorry.

    As well I really don’t like the independent press treading the same boring fucking ground. Whether its Philebrity, or Phucker (or whatever the fucker’s called) or Kia Gregory crying her tits off about the apocalypse.

    Could do what Giuliani did and not let the media report a murder until the day after. Thus making it, old news. No one cares.