Indy.com
Today:
"I ain't kill them kids"
Posted: Jan 18, 2008 in Culture
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The photo accompanying today's main news article with the headline that's giving me fits.
No - it's not a commentary on a sad story - just its headline in today's paper.
Did anyone else's inner copy editor shrivel up into the fetal position after reading today's headline on main news? I know, I know, it's a direct quote. But the grammar still gave me the willies.
I love that they printed that as the headline. I think too many people think that the majority of inner-city criminal types are just like them, only they chose to rob, beat, steal from, shoot, or kill people. I think that headline really shows a lot about the mentality of these guys.
And I want to make it known that I don't feel like "I have a 3rd grade education" or "my parents abused me as a child" (or whatever) is an excuse for these people, or that we should be lenient on them. People constantly are confused by that. It's not an excuse, but it is a real reason why that we as a society need to address (which isn't to say let these guys off). So many people who live in that area are totally devoid of hope or of positive influences and until those neighborhoods are able to have those positive influences and hope in their daily lives (and see something other than violence), things like this will continue to happen.
The headline isn't what I would have chosen. If the guy had been arrested and charged with the murders, OK, but so far he's just being questioned as a witness. By printing his disavowal of the crime in big bold letters, it implies that he was being eyed as the trigger man.
But I think the paper was trying to trumpet an exclusive interview, and in that sense they succeeded.
Good point.
Well, they changed the headline on the home page. It's still that on the link to the story, but the main Star page doesn't say it anymore.
If one embraces their inner redneck and says "aint" (are not), "idint" (did'nt) in a furry of emotions and fear. One could get very similar sounding sentences.
I want to go back to school, to my journalism classes specifically, to discuss whether quoting these people directly in a prominent headline is editorializing on the intelligence quotient of these people or just simply stating the status of the world today. hmmmm