The Anatomy of Yellow Journalism’s

“Crime” Reporting

Newspapers are the last vestige of the old-styled, mudslinging rumor mill that is tolerated under the guise of freedom of the press, or freedom of expression. Newspapers, unlike other media, appear to have no requirement to self-regulate.

On television the viewer is protected and warned that the following program contains scenes of violence and descriptive language of events that may offend younger and older viewers alike. In the case of newspapers that shoot from the hip, anything goes; they are not regulated. Now, I agree that anyone may read any article, and that is as it should be.

But failing to regulate themselves, newspapers in Metro must be regulated by an agency whose readers caution newspaper editors when they cross the line and for repeated infractions the agency must have the power to fine the offending newspapers, making those infractions public. This should be a deterrent to newspapers who cross the line.

If you or I walked into a downtown bar and began shouting racial epithets, defaming gay and lesbian people, people in wheelchairs and claimed the holocaust never happened, we would soon be regulated. So, why should newspapers be permitted to do what we as individuals cannot do and under the guise of freedom of expression and “crime” reporting.

The article offered here to make the point was published in the Chronicle Herald’s section B on Friday, March 10, 2006, page B 1 and B7 under the headline “N.S. man with criminal past killed in Ontario shooting.” The article was written by Dan Arsenault and Chris Lambie. The article is sensational; it re-victimizes the murdered victim, taints his life and exploits his family and community. Is this the work of a good corporate citizen?

There was no warning that this article might prove offensive to the murdered victim's parents, family, relatives, and friends and to the newspaper’s Black readers in general. The public cannot continue to tolerate such insensitivity, but then you judge: one man’s meat is another’s poison.

The Encyclopedia Britannica Online defines “Yellow Journalism” as the use of lurid features and sensationalized news in newspaper publishing to attract readers and increase circulation. The phrase was coined in the 1890s to describe the tactics employed in furious competition between two New York City newspapers, not unlike the war between the two newspapers in Halifax for circulation and revenue.

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy takes the definition a step further descriptively when it says yellow journalism is inflammatory, irresponsible reporting by newspapers.

There are ten criteria in writing "yellow journalism" successfully in Metro Halifax when it comes to "crime reporting". The true and tried way appears to include the following:

• Find a murder victim, preferably a Black male, with a criminal record.
• Find a live body to “interview” a witness, preferably a family member, a relative or a close friend who is yet unaware of the death. Be sure to move in haste.
• Make sure you contact the interviewees as fast as possible while they are yet in a state of shock over the death.
• Regardless of what the interviewees say about the victim’s character during the "interview" write the “crime” article you had intended to write from the beginning, be sure not to let facts get in the way.
• Make sure your content does character-assassinate the victim because he is dead, feel confident that he'll be unable to launch any defense.
• Make sure your language is vague enough so that there is sufficient confusion over its meaning, making sure the reader can take its meaning anyway the reader chooses. This assures the article will be discussed at work over the water coolers in offices in metro.
• Hope to blazes the article sells more newspapers and increases circulation. It is a requirement though that you must be insensitive to the harm and hurt it causes the family of the murder victim.
• Don’t worry about the friends and family of the murder victim taking any legal action against the newspaper because we have the victim’s criminal record to hide behind.
• Finally, be confident that the victim’s family and close friends are in such a state of shock and are hurting far too much to do anything about the article but cry.
• Lastly, you may assume with confidence that Black people are not likely to read the article anyway, as it is in the newspaper. Be also confident that Black people will have no idea what the article truly means.

N.S. man with criminal past killed in Ontario shooting

By DAN ARSENAULT and CHRIS LAMBIE Staff Reporters

A North Preston man with a criminal past who recently moved to Ontario was shot down at a party while celebrating his 33rd birthday.

Phillip James (Rabbit) Simmons was pronounced dead Thursday morning at Hamilton General Hospital, just over 24 hours after the shooting took place at about 3 a.m. Wednesday at a Niagara Falls home.

One source said Mr. Simmons was shot three or four times by another Nova Scotia man armed with a 9-mm pistol. Police would only say he’d been shot multiple times in the lower abdomen.

"This is just devastating," his friend Neville Provo said Thursday. "He was well-loved in the community."

The 41-year-old Upper Lawrencetown man has known Mr. Simmons most of his life. The killing has shocked the entire North Preston community, he said, remembering Mr. Simmons as a fun-loving, generous man.

Many people rushed to the family’s home right after they heard of the shooting, Mr. Provo said.

"At the time, we were just hoping that he’d pull through."

He said Mr. Simmons lost too much blood from three gunshot wounds, suffered heart failure and died.

Harvey and Alice Simmons, the dead man’s parents, have gone to Ontario, said one of Mr. Simmons’ brothers, who answered the phone at the family home Thursday but wouldn’t give his name.

An autopsy was scheduled for Thursday.

Mr. Simmons moved to Niagara Falls about two months ago looking for construction work, said the source, adding his brother, Darren, works there now.

Investigators were in the process of interviewing people Thursday who were at the party, said Const. Sal Basilone of the Niagara Regional Police Service.

"They’re still working the matter quite aggressively," Const. Basilone said.

Either one or two men held a gun to the head of Darren Simmons during the birthday party, said the source, who did not want to be identified. After that, Darren left the home, but Phillip remained behind, said the source.

"We know that there was an altercation that included the victim," Const. Basilone said. "To go outside of that, it would be premature to speculate."

The source identified the shooter as a 23-year-old man who used to live on Cherry Brook Road in Dartmouth.

Police wouldn’t say if they had interviewed that man after the deadly party.

Neighbours told Niagara This Week the two-storey Malibu Drive rental home where the shooting took place was known as a hot spot for local parties.

There was always loud music coming from the home and people were always coming and going, said one neighbour, who didn’t want to be named.

Another resident said police had been to the house on a couple of occasions before the shooting.

Mr. Simmons was not living at the home. In August 2004, sources said, Halifax Regional Police were ready to arrest the Cherry Brook Road resident for the murder of Kevin Bowser. But he was never charged with the killing.

The man was slated to stand trial around that time on a charge of possessing cocaine for the purpose of trafficking. But he didn’t show up for trial and a warrant was issued for his arrest on the drug charge.

Mr. Bowser was gunned down July 10, 2004, on a sidewalk in Uniacke Square in Halifax after leaving the home of his ex-girlfriend and two daughters.

Mr. Simmons had a criminal record that included sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl in 2000. He also has convictions dating back to 1991 for theft, threats, obstructing a police officer and fraud.

In 1999, he was convicted of trafficking cocaine. He had just completed a 20-month conditional sentence on that charge days before sexually assaulting the girl.

Mr. Provo said Mr. Simmons remained popular despite his trouble with the law.

"He did his time for that," Mr. Provo said. "He did a lot for the community.

"Any time I needed him, he was always there for me."

Mr. Simmons had two children — a six-year-old girl and a 12-year-old boy — with Laura Kane, who died of cancer about three years ago, said the source.

Mr. Provo said Mr. Simmons had three other children in addition to his two with Ms. Kane.

"They’re without a father," he said. "Can you imagine?"

Mr. Provo said this type of violence is becoming too frequent with young people in his community.

"There’s got to be other ways that people deal with problems, other than gunshots and killing."

(clambie@herald.ca)

Next time we will review the article published in the Niagara Falls' newspaper called The Review to see how the same story was handled there by that newspaper's crime reporting.

Until then,

Well wishes,
F. Stanley Boyd