Especially when the issues involved are what's clearly the rapidly-declining caliber of South Florida news journalism, the touchy subject of crime and how it is reported, and the larger issue of what is actually reported and sees the light of day with airtime or column inches, AND, what goes completely unmentioned or unremarked upon by reporters, editors, columnists, anchors and news directors for days, weeks, months or years.
That is, until some offhand comment at a public meeting or party is overheard, or you or someone you trust shares what they came across at random via the Twitter feed of some reporter or columnist who drops a line about something.
Then, suddenly you are reminded of a news story and crime story that has simply fallen so far below the radar, that you almost forget that when it happened, it was not just the #1 story everywhere here, but the #1 lead story on all the U.S. TV network newscasts, and then amplified by news media all around the world.
Millions and millions of people know about that shooting that happened in a place where you live and I live and took place at a spot that you and I have been, hundreds if not thousands of times.
To be honest, I have been thinking about this post of today for, literally, months. And while I've written a few paragraphs down in my comp book, I refrained from posting those words last month or last week, I've actually waited patiently -not always my strong suit- actually hoping for a change that that my own usually insightful and accurate intuition or surmise of the situation would prove to be wrong, and that some local South Florida journo, maybe even someone I know and have spoken to before, would rise to the occasion and do what I thought was necessary.
But no.... that has NOT happened.
I'm sure that nobody who is reading this blog post wants to believe that a responsible news director or reporter at one of one of the four English language TV stations in South Florida, or an honest editor or reporter at the Miami Herald or the South Florida Sun Sentinel would intentionally NOT want to cover and write about a legitimate news story -and NOT do so in a timely, honest and accurate fashion, right?
Surely things can't be THAT bad in South Florida, right?
Uh... Maybe they are and maybe many of you just don't want to acknowledge that fact publicly.
Especially when to believe that would necessarily tend to confirm the already negative stereotypes or optics in the heads of so many angry and skeptical South Florida residents about the subject of crime, and why it happens, regardless of the viewer/reader's age, gender or race.
Here's why I mention that...
As of today, Friday December 15th., it's been over six (6) months since the Memorial Day mass shooting on the Hollywood Beach Broadwalk that injured nine (9) people. Seven of whom were innocent bystanders just minding their own business along the 1200 block of N. Broadwalk in Hollywood.
Many of the victims were young kids, out with their parents that afternoon, enjoying the sights and people-watching there, just as I have been doing since I was a kid when my parents and two younger sisters and I moved to the area in 1968 from Memphis.
Why has there been NOTHING of any real value in #Miami/#SoFL news media universe in MONTHS regarding the #HollywoodBeach Broadwalk shooting victims, who have emotional scars as well as physical scars? How, exactly, are their Hanukkah/Christmas holidays going?
What's the status right now of the prosecution's case vs. Jordan Burton, Ariel Cardahn Paul, and Lionel Jean-Charles Jr., none of whom -surprise!- were choir boys?
When is the larger public going to be told... something? 😒
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