WUSA scrubbed all videos of dreadlock hoax and denies Mikea Turner's family friends disclosure?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why blame her? Do you think she was in on it? If not, she was as duped as the rest of us.

She eagerly exploited a young girl for her own personal and professional gain - that's a j-school no-no. She also has a lengthy social media history pushing for #naturalhair movement and fighting natural hair discrimination, which makes it all a bit suspicious.

[Anonymous]

Why blame the reporter? Little dreadlocks girl lied. Simple truth. Talking about the reporter to divert attention away from the real story.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why blame the reporter? Little dreadlocks girl lied. Simple truth. Talking about the reporter to divert attention away from the real story.

I feel bad for the girl, she was exploited by a reporter with biases and an agenda and is way too young to understand the scope of her actions. There should have never been an interview, she should have never been named, there should have never gone national. This story went viral so freaking fast. It was incredible to watch it unfold.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why blame her? Do you think she was in on it? If not, she was as duped as the rest of us.

You're ridiculous.

It was her f#cking job to verify facts before misleading the whole country and defame some minors and that school.

This.

Did she talk to other sources? Did she verify the story? That is a journalist’s job.

Otherwise, she’s just writing opinion pieces and should make that clear.

IMO, this is a big problem in journalism right now.

-Not the OP

DP here. I would think a suspension of at least a month would be appropriate here. The reporter played a key role in elevating a story that turned out to a fabricated hoax.

If WUSA just pretends it never happened, it's underscoring that its journalistic standards are very low.

Conversely, if the reporter is disciplined, it sends a message that WUSA actually cares about the quality of its reporting and that reporters need to take care, especially when minors are involved.

So the ONLY person punished here in this whole thing, is the reporter who was lied to.

Not the accuser who started it all. But the reporter she lied to. That's who you want to see punished.

You are absolutely insane.

I'm looking at who played a primary role in publicizing this phony story. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems like she "broke" it and then publications like the New York Times picked up the story - presumably assuming that a leading broadcast network in the DC area had some controls around what it airs.

I'm definitely thinking that, if you're not the reporter, you're a close friend or family member of hers. There are a bunch of us posting here, and you're going over the top in attacking us for just expecting some modest measure of accountability for the journalist.

[Anonymous]

TBH, given her close relationship with the family which she evidently disclosed, she should not have been reporting on this story.
If the network found it newsworthy, someone else, more objective, should have been assigned to report on it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why blame her? Do you think she was in on it? If not, she was as duped as the rest of us.

This.

You seem to be the same person posting on other threads, mentioning that reporter, implying she was deceptive or dishonest, demanding she be fired.

WTF is wrong with you? She was lied to the same as everyone else. So she broke the story? And? That's what reporters DO. They break stories. When they do it before anyone else, they get credit for that. That reporter has been upfront from the very beginning of this that she had a previous acquaintanceship with the family of the girl. She knew them before this happened. That's WHY the family (grandparents) went to Turner with the story. Because they knew already. There's no conspiracy here. And Turner was lied to.

Are you really suggesting that everyone's default position should be to NOT believe children when they say something happened? Is that what you want? Would you first doubt your own kids if they told you something bad happened to them, and only believe them AFTER you've proved it?



You're a creep. And your obsession with this reporter is disturbing. Because of people like you, she's probably in fear for her safety.


You're a nut.

The reporter did a lousy job of corroborating the story. She had the responsibility of a journalist to make sure that what she was reporting actually happened. There was a time when something like this would not go unpunished in the journalism world. She really has egg on her face. Her job is to report true facts. It is not an excuse that she was lied to. She didn’t check her facts. That’s on her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why blame the reporter? Little dreadlocks girl lied. Simple truth. Talking about the reporter to divert attention away from the real story.

I feel bad for the girl, she was exploited by a reporter with biases and an agenda and is way too young to understand the scope of her actions. There should have never been an interview, she should have never been named, there should have never gone national. This story went viral so freaking fast. It was incredible to watch it unfold.

That is her parent’s fault, not the repoter’s fault. The parents have culpability here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why blame the reporter? Little dreadlocks girl lied. Simple truth. Talking about the reporter to divert attention away from the real story.

The reporter blew it by not verifying the story Bedford making it public. That is Journalism 101. That you find this acceptable is quite frightening. Don’t you expect more from your news sources? People lie to reporters all the time. It is a reporter’s job to discern what is true and what is false. That this girl lied is not an excuse for a failed reporting job, which this is.

[Anonymous]

For those discounting this: a random 11-year-old girl's lie made it from agenda-driven Mikea Turner's exclusive interview on a.m. local news -- to the cover of The New York Times, 6PM national broadcast news (20M viewers), and CNN -- while also looping in the vice president of the United States, all in less than 12 hours. Days later it was proven to be a completely fabricated hoax. Freaking incredible. Now all the reporters, editors and producers who pushed it quietly scrub their contributions and act like it never happened. This should immediately be a case study at every journalism and communications department in the US.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For those discounting this: a random 11-year-old girl's lie made it from agenda-driven Mikea Turner's exclusive interview on a.m. local news -- to the cover of The New York Times, 6PM national broadcast news (20M viewers), and CNN -- while also looping in the vice president of the United States, all in less than 12 hours. Days later it was proven to be a completely fabricated hoax. Freaking incredible. Now all the reporters, editors and producers who pushed it quietly scrub their contributions and act like it never happened. This should immediately be a case study at every journalism and communications department in the US.

Mass Media Hysteria 101

[Anonymous]

The cult of no accountability has now thrown a 12 year old under the bus....

These people are not your "friends" kids!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why blame her? Do you think she was in on it? If not, she was as duped as the rest of us.

She eagerly exploited a young girl for her own personal and professional gain - that's a j-school no-no. She also has a lengthy social media history pushing for #naturalhair movement and fighting natural hair discrimination, which makes it all a bit suspicious.

You have NO IDEA what a HUGE issue natural hairstyles are for black women in professional settings.

No. Idea.


You really need to check your ignorance here, because it's shining like a beacon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For those discounting this: a random 11-year-old girl's lie made it from agenda-driven Mikea Turner's exclusive interview on a.m. local news -- to the cover of The New York Times, 6PM national broadcast news (20M viewers), and CNN -- while also looping in the vice president of the United States, all in less than 12 hours. Days later it was proven to be a completely fabricated hoax. Freaking incredible. Now all the reporters, editors and producers who pushed it quietly scrub their contributions and act like it never happened. This should immediately be a case study at every journalism and communications department in the US.

I completely agree with this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why blame her? Do you think she was in on it? If not, she was as duped as the rest of us.

You're ridiculous.

It was her f#cking job to verify facts before misleading the whole country and defame some minors and that school.

This.

Did she talk to other sources? Did she verify the story? That is a journalist’s job.

Otherwise, she’s just writing opinion pieces and should make that clear.

IMO, this is a big problem in journalism right now.

-Not the OP

She DID verify the story. The girl TOLD HER this happened. That's called firsthand sourcing, for those of you who aren't journalists.

She got confirmation from the school that they are looking into it.

She got confirmation from the Fairfax Police Dept that they are indeed investigating.


At this point, she has done her due diligence as a reporter. She can now report that this girl tells her that this happened, and the school and police confirm they are investigating it.




That's the story. An allegation that _____ happened. Here's a soundbite of the victim interview to listen to yourself. Here's the soundbite of the school saying they're investigating it. Here's the police spokesperson saying they're investigating it. That's a story. That's how it works.

The fact that the "victim" lied about the whole thing is something that is impossible for anyone, including the girl's grandparents and the reporter, to know until a thorough investigation is done by police.

Are any of you journalists? Either by training or practicing? I'm guessing no. Because if you were, you'd understand how this can happen.

And for those of you who are not, are you parents? Because if you are I ask you this: what would be your default condition - your very first instinct - if your child came to you with a story about _____ happening to them? A situation where your kid was claiming to be attacked and victimized?

Would your first instinct be to assume your kid is lying about the whole thing?

Or would you believe your kid?





We just had a national argument this spring about whether victims are to be believed or not when they say that 35 years ago a Supreme Court nominee acted like a cad. There were choruses of people on this very site crowing about how women MUST be believed, no matter what. On the heels of the MeToo movement, where WOMEN MUST BE BELIEVED!!!!!

So now, with this case, with hindsight being perfect, now we have the same idiot DCUM people here screaming "the reporter SHOULDN'T have believed her..... until the investigation was over".


Utter nonsense. Sheer, unbridled hypocrisy.


I almost never underestimate the stupidity of the DCUM crowd when it comes to .... well, anything. If there's anything I've learned in the years of observing this forum, it's that the people here who think they're the smartest ones in the room are usually the biggest idiots. So I'm almost never surprised by how dumb people here can be. Almost..... never.


Today is one of those times where I DID overestimate DCUM.


Live and learn. You folks are even stupider than previously thought.

Hi Mikea.

I'm not Mikea.

I'm a 47 year old white male libertarian Trump supporter who has a general disdain for the media.

And yet, I feel compelled to defend this reporter, because it's the right thing to do.


I also noticed none of you cowards had the courage to answer my non-rhetorical question of whether you'd believe your own children. Every one of you conveniently neglected to say what you'd do in that scenario.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The cult of no accountability has now thrown a 12 year old under the bus....

These people are not your "friends" kids!

Under a bus is exactly where the lying little racist sociopath belongs.