I sent the following email to the journalist of the second story:
As a ten year veteran teacher who makes the exact same amount as the teacher from Staten Island arrested for making "terrorist threats" in a staff room in Fort Hamilton High School, I have to ask why you included the teacher's salary in both Saturday's and Sunday's Daily News story about her arrest and eventual release from Rikers Island.
Why is her salary relevant?
When FOX News reporter Charles Leaf was arrested for child molestation charges, I don't remember the Daily News putting Leaf's salary in the story.
When NY 1 reporter Dominic Carter was arrested for domestic abuse charges, I don't recall the Daily News putting Carter's salary in the news story.
When WABC weatherperson Heidi Jones was arrested for making false rape accusations, I don't remember hearing about her salary in the paper.
So how come this woman's salary was relevant?
Is this one of those "She's a public employee, therefore her salary is always relevant, especially when she betrays the public trust by getting arrested" thing?
Or is it just hypocrisy from the news media that itself is loaded with child molesters, wife beaters, and other assorted criminals who enjoy tarring ALL teachers with the misdeeds of one very, very stupid and angry Staten Island one?
The news media loves to do these "Teacher Arrested" stories.
But given the criminal track records of many journalists, there is a large amount of hypocrisy emanating from the newsrooms.
It also happens with civil lawsuits, an area where teachers are "named" all the time in these mostly bogus attempts to legally extort money or legally commit insurance fraud to get money from school insurance carriers. It has happened to me and a co-defendant over a bogus "negligence" suit fabricated by a plaintiff's lawyer in order to embarrass the school district into paying out. My name was plastered all over the local media, which then got published by the likes of Associated Press and is searchable on the internet. Do you think the local paper cared whether or not our names were smeared by publishing them? No, of course not, but the plaintiff's name was never mentioned, even though the allegations were absurd and stupid on their case.
ReplyDeleteI can't take legal action against either the plaintiff's lawyer, who should be disbarred for filing a fraudulent suit, or the newspaper that printed a story about the civil action.