This commentary is the opinion of the author and may not necessarily reflect those of other authors at Box Turtle Bulletin
July 25th, 2008
Earlier this week I criticized Ramin Setoodeh’s Newsweek article about the “flamboyance” of 15 year old murder victim Larry King. Now Newsweek’s Kurt Soller has written a follow up that is, frankly, disgusting.
Soller spends a few paragraphs quoting from some of the 4,000 responses. If you are easily angered, I’d advise against reading Soller’s piece.
While some of the comments he quotes share my ire that Newsweek was quick to point out every foible of King while refusing to mention reports that McInerney and his friends had picked on him, some seemed to put words to Setoodeh’s innuendo that King was really to blame for his own murder and that McInerney was the true victim.
Soller presents these justifications for premeditated, execution style murder as though they are just another opinion. It makes me nauseous that a credible news magazine can act as though “you blamed the victim” is the moral equivalent of “he had it coming” and that both are worth reporting without comment.
And what further annoyed me was the closing paragraph. Maeve Fox, the prosecutor in this case, told the magazine that they had inaccurate information and should not have relied on whispered anonymous rumors. Too bad.
While Fox thought the anonymous sourcing was unnecessary, Setoodeh says his story would have been impossible to tell without it.
Setoodeh had a story to tell. And he wasn’t about to let journalistic integrity stand in his way. And Newsweek applauds him for it.
Latest Posts
Featured Reports
In this original BTB Investigation, we unveil the tragic story of Kirk Murphy, a four-year-old boy who was treated for “cross-gender disturbance” in 1970 by a young grad student by the name of George Rekers. This story is a stark reminder that there are severe and damaging consequences when therapists try to ensure that boys will be boys.
When we first reported on three American anti-gay activists traveling to Kampala for a three-day conference, we had no idea that it would be the first report of a long string of events leading to a proposal to institute the death penalty for LGBT people. But that is exactly what happened. In this report, we review our collection of more than 500 posts to tell the story of one nation’s embrace of hatred toward gay people. This report will be updated continuously as events continue to unfold. Check here for the latest updates.
In 2005, the Southern Poverty Law Center wrote that “[Paul] Cameron’s ‘science’ echoes Nazi Germany.” What the SPLC didn”t know was Cameron doesn’t just “echo” Nazi Germany. He quoted extensively from one of the Final Solution’s architects. This puts his fascination with quarantines, mandatory tattoos, and extermination being a “plausible idea” in a whole new and deeply disturbing light.
On February 10, I attended an all-day “Love Won Out” ex-gay conference in Phoenix, put on by Focus on the Family and Exodus International. In this series of reports, I talk about what I learned there: the people who go to these conferences, the things that they hear, and what this all means for them, their families and for the rest of us.
Prologue: Why I Went To “Love Won Out”
Part 1: What’s Love Got To Do With It?
Part 2: Parents Struggle With “No Exceptions”
Part 3: A Whole New Dialect
Part 4: It Depends On How The Meaning of the Word "Change" Changes
Part 5: A Candid Explanation For "Change"
At last, the truth can now be told.
Using the same research methods employed by most anti-gay political pressure groups, we examine the statistics and the case studies that dispel many of the myths about heterosexuality. Download your copy today!
And don‘t miss our companion report, How To Write An Anti-Gay Tract In Fifteen Easy Steps.
Anti-gay activists often charge that gay men and women pose a threat to children. In this report, we explore the supposed connection between homosexuality and child sexual abuse, the conclusions reached by the most knowledgeable professionals in the field, and how anti-gay activists continue to ignore their findings. This has tremendous consequences, not just for gay men and women, but more importantly for the safety of all our children.
Anti-gay activists often cite the “Dutch Study” to claim that gay unions last only about 1½ years and that the these men have an average of eight additional partners per year outside of their steady relationship. In this report, we will take you step by step into the study to see whether the claims are true.
Tony Perkins’ Family Research Council submitted an Amicus Brief to the Maryland Court of Appeals as that court prepared to consider the issue of gay marriage. We examine just one small section of that brief to reveal the junk science and fraudulent claims of the Family “Research” Council.
The FBI’s annual Hate Crime Statistics aren’t as complete as they ought to be, and their report for 2004 was no exception. In fact, their most recent report has quite a few glaring holes. Holes big enough for Daniel Fetty to fall through.
Jason D
July 25th, 2008
newsweek needs some rebranding as gossipweek.
It annoys me that “news” organizations get around the inaccuracy and unprofessionalism of reporting gossip as news by saying they are running a story on the gossip itself.
Regan DuCasse
July 25th, 2008
I have the copy of Newsweek, I just haven’t read it yet. Stay tuned.
AJD
July 26th, 2008
What’s really disgusting is that Setoodeh went to J-school at Stanford and did a (highly prestigious) Daniel Pearl Memorial Internship for the Wall Street Journal in Hong Kong. That, of course, was after he had done one at U.S. News & World Report. Now, he’s an associate editor at Newsweek.
How does such a shoddy reporter do so well? It’s one thing to get a name or date wrong, but another thing entirely to print rumor as fact and blame a shooting victim for his own death.
My original reaction to the story wasn’t as negative as yours, but the more I read about it, the more it bothers me.
I wouldn’t put Setoodeh up there with the likes of Stephen Glass or David Benkof, but I would certainly call his skills as a journalist into question.
AJD
July 26th, 2008
Another thing is that I think the story was a rather feeble attempt at New Journalism or literary non-fiction. The thing about doing that sort of journalism is that you have to be able to write a good story, but do the same quality of reporting you would for a run-of-the-mill news feature.
That means not relying entirely or almost entirely on people around your “main character,” but also talking to expert sources.
Had Setoodeh done that, he would have found that Larry’s case was not unusual; going all out and wearing high heels and taunting people was what he did instead of killing himself.
Leave A Comment