Second Opinion / COMMENTARY FROM OTHER MEDIA : THE SENTINEL : Riot Predictions Are Irresponsible

With the whole world watching Los Angeles, it becomes a sad day when our local Fourth Estate, better known as the mass media, exceeds its role as the transmitter of information and instead becomes an instigator with the apparent intent of promoting anti-social behavior.

Unfortunately, such is the case these days in the City of the Angels. Almost to a medium, our region’s major newspapers, radio and television station news departments are whipping people to a frenzy. They are fomenting the belief that a riot will occur if the verdicts in both the Reginald Denny beating case and/or the federal trial against the officers who bludgeoned Rodney King to a pulp don’t turn out a certain way.

The mere existence of this hype signals intelligent readers, listeners and viewers that the local media have completely misread the reasons behind last spring’s rebellion. The uprising occurred not solely because the four LAPD officers were found not guilty by a Simi Valley jury. The verdict, in reality, was simply the spark that ignited a history of economic and political deprivation, and decades of injustice heaped upon a racial and ethnic population by a callous criminal justice system. This media hype has created some sinister byproducts. In Glendale, for example, gun sales have reportedly skyrocketed.

Media moguls will argue that they are just reporting what other people say--but to no avail. Defense attorneys, they’ll say, are the ones screaming fire in the proverbial crowded theater. But anyone can see there is a method to their madness. By feigning concern for an impending riot, the attorneys are trying to influence the judge--and probably the jury pool--on behalf of their clients.

As representatives of the Fourth Estate, we, the media have a responsibility to our audience to report the news. But if in the reporting of the news we become agitators and make things worse, we become irresponsible.