The Oakland Police

This entry is a bit of a sidestep from the others because it covers an ongoing story that has been largely ignored by our mainstream media; Democracy Now has been covering the rising troubles in Oakland's police force and criminal justice system since January.

The news is presented differently between the two sources in many ways. Most importantly, however, is the coverage of the initial murder that sparked uproar and criticism of the city's justice system. Juan Gonzales of Democracy Now explains, " A former transit officer in Oakland, California has been arrested on murder charges in connection to the killing of Oscar Grant. Grant is the unarmed African American man who was shot dead laying face-down on an Oakland train platform on New Year’s Day."

The event led to a large number of protests and the eventual arrest of over a hundred citizens; the transit officer was initially not arrested, then left to Nevada, where he stayed for around a month until his arrest warrant was released. Democracy Now also reports that the former transit officer was released on a 3 million dollar bail by a source unknown to the public. This situation is the cause of a murmuring dissent throughout Oakland, a town with a population of around 400,000 and unfortunately high rates of poverty and unemployment.

The protests grew out of anger in the initial shooting and even further when there was no response or accountability from the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) agency, the criminal justice system, the mayor or state representatives for a lingering period of time. However, this dissent was masked in the mainstream media by more of that economic crisis hysteria. Is this the Terrorism scare 2.0, our economy is in drastic collapse? Why is an enemy constructed for the media to focus on when they could simply report the news around the world?

In contrast, CBC's article mentions nothing about these past events. The headline reads, "Gunman kills 3 officers, wounds 4th in Oakland, Calif." The article continues, "Three California police officers are dead and a fourth is in critical condition after a shootout with a crime suspect in Oakland." And it concludes with the short sentence, "The suspect was armed with an assault rifle, police said."

The CBC report doesn't even hint at a past conflict or growing dissent within the population, nor the crimes committed within the justice system and transit system - it displays the officers as sole victims, (although nobody deserves to be shot, don't get me wrong), and the concluding sentence seems as though it was inserted to leave the reader with the chilling reminder of the criminal's violent actions. In contrast, Democracy Now would question whether the victim was harrassed by the officers or armed with an assault rifle as stated by the police department.

Discourse is again my essential factor in comparing the two networks' coverage, looking at word choice for the headlines and key sentences. Filters or news management may also come into play, with Democracy Now interviewing members of the community and CBC interviewing the California Attorney General and the Oakland Police Department.

This course of events makes me feel wary of the news; why was this seemingly historic moment not widely reported on? And for what reasons?