Rewriting Jacob Blake

When the paper of record distorts the record.

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Almost a year has passed since the New York Times first reported the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin. During that time, the Times has struggled on more than one occasion to accurately characterize the events of that day, contradicting its own reporting or leaving out vital details. In a climate where actions and reactions of police officers in confrontations with black suspects are under intense scrutiny, accurate and complete details (including the brandishing of a weapon) are of utmost importance. The Times has been found wanting.

The most recent example appears in an article about tennis star Naomi Osaka and her involvement in protests against police violence (emphasis added):

And yet, as recently as 13 months ago, despite the growing fame that had already made her the world’s highest-paid female athlete, Osaka could still slip into a march in Minneapolis largely unnoticed with thousands of others to protest police violence against Black people.

Her activism intensified after Jacob Blake was shot in the back after exchanging words with the police in Kenosha, Wis.

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  1. Avatar photo
    Jason Gibson

    "we have always been at war with eastasia"

    -New York Times

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    Ben Connelly

    I did not know this bit about the knife until I read this article! Thank you Jeryl and the Dispatch for helping to overturn a false narrative. The Dispatch still never fails to cut through the noise.

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    Victor Clairmont

    When narrative trumps facts, the truth dies the death of a thousand needles.

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    Todd T

    I found this post hard to follow.

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  5. Mathew A

    I don't believe a large part of the NYT cares about facts at all any more. All they care about is the narrative. And they will gladly twist or admit facts if it serves the narrative.

    Simply put the New York Times is no longer worth the paper it's printed on.

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    Joe Delanis

    The New York Times is singlehandedly responsible for the myth surrounding the Kitty Genovese murder. A sinkhole swallowing their headquarters would probably result in a net improvement in the quality of American journalism.

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    rlritt

    I agree there are extenuating circumstances. But the fact remains that someone who had no gun was shot. We blindly accept the fact that with some people, police can act as judge and jury in certain cases. Blake had a knife, he was accused of assaulting his girlfriend. He may have been kidnapping his children. What if the police had backed away from Blake when he was brandishing his knife instead of shooting him.? Were Blake's kids in danger? It doesn't matter now, the damage is done. I don't fault the officers, I'm sure the situation was tense, but I do fault those who say the person shot was a criminal so it's okay to shoot him under certain circumstances.

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      Tytonidaen

      It wasn't acceptable to shoot him because he was a criminal; it was acceptable because he posed an imminent lethal threat to others and would not relinquish a deadly weapon.

      Furthermore, had Blake kidnapped the children and/or harmed them, the police would be getting blamed for *that* instead. This was a no-win situation, all around.

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      Joe Delanis

      Inside of 21-30 feet, a person armed with a knife actually has an advantage over somebody armed with a gun. Especially if the person's gun is still holstered.

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      L Bernard

      A knife is just as deadly as a gun, in close proximity. Please don't be dismissive of the very real danger and damage a knife is capable of.

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    Synchronize Your Dogmas (Bill B)

    "Never let the facts get in the way of a good story." One point of convergence the Left and Right might eventually agree on is how crappy journalism is these days. It's what happens when you monetize the news.

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  9. Alex DeLarge

    The NYT has been a dumpster fire of woke lies and propaganda for years. It's long since given up any reputation for fairness or accuracy that it ever had. No one ever calls it "the paper of record" except ironically. So this article gives it too much deference, frankly.

    It's also weird that you are picking out this year-old story to complain about. Today's edition has plenty of lies if you want to debunk something more current.

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    Chris Jenkins

    The media narrative surrounding the Jacob Blake shooting is an example of what happens with so many of these police shootings. The initial reporting depicts, usually based on eyewitness accounts (that later turn out not to be credible), an event that appears to be clearly unjust shooting of an innocent, or mostly innocent, man, and the assumption is that racism is the primary motive. Then, as time goes on, more details trickle out indicating that the shooting was actually way more complicated than the initial reporting suggested, but the narrative has already taken hold.

    In the Jacob Blake case, the initial reporting suggested that Blake was present because he was there to break up a fight, and that police shot him in the back while he was unarmed in front of his kids. It turns out he was there in violation of a restraining order (that was put in place because he had sexually assaulted his ex-girlfriend), he was armed, and there's a pretty decent chance he was kidnapping the kids (they were his, but his ex had custody). However, very few people are aware of these facts, and the Blake shooting keeps being used as an example of racist police violence against unarmed black men.

    A similar thing happened with the Michael Brown shooting in Ferguson, MO. How many people are aware that "hands up don't shoot" was a complete fiction, and that investigations (including by the Obama Justice Department) showed that the shooting was justified? I still hear and read in the media references Brown being murdered by police.

    There are certainly cases where the police use violence unjustly, and are not held accountable for their behavior. It's also clear that there are disparities in how police treat people of different races. I'm in favor of certain police reforms, including getting rid of qualified immunity and curtailing police union power. However, this issue is not nearly as racialized as the media depicts.

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