Monday, November 24, 2008

Possibly the worst reporting I've seen...

Disregard the overall message of the story, for a minute, and lets focus on a couple of things, because I have decided that this is possibly the worst news report I’ve ever seen. It is twisted and directed to draw inference out of the reader, while

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,456884,00.html

[I ]Jones told a coroner's court in Cardiff, Wales, on Monday that she only realized what had happened when she saw a foot in the toilet bowl. [/i]
Okay, so the baby was small enough that she gave birth to it without knowing, and also for it to go down a toilet drain. Pretty dang small. How far along was she? Could the baby have survived on it’s own outside the womb? Was this a birth and neglect type situation, or was this a miscarriage? Without knowing how far along she was, none of this is ascertainable.
[i] She said she tried unsuccessfully to revive the baby and then put the body in the trunk of her car.[/i]
Okay, so she puts the baby in the truck of her car, and then what?
[i] The corpse was found in Jones' vehicle after she was arrested [/i]
What were the circumstances of her arrest? Was she driving to the hospital to get medical attention for her and her baby and she ran a red light? Did she leave the baby in the car for three weeks and her neighbors called in to complain about the smell, and subsequently, the police found the baby? Was she bragging to people at work about how she had a dead baby in her car trunk and someone turned her in? Was she arrested at the hospital after she tried to get help?
The circumstances of her arrest are key to the story. The amount of time the baby was left in the trunk is also key. Those facts along with how far along she was, determine whether this was a woman who had miscarried a fetus, a woman who had given birth to a viable baby too early and not known it resulting in his accidental death, or a woman who had given birth to a healthy, yet premature baby, and flushed him down the toilet to “get rid” of him, and was trying to hide her actions.
The article, to me, infers the last option, and leaves out any information necessary to refute that inference. This is a textbook case of horrible media reportage. We should all be on the lookout for this sort of crap, and I think it would be fun to spend more time posting these sorts of things here at Annie’s. Keep ‘em honest, boys and girls!

13 comments:

"Grammie" or whatever name he wants to call me!! said...

Goob, Maybe the news is so new that is all the information they had right now??

After having birthed 2 children I have no idea how the heck someone could not know they were having a baby. I'm suspicious.

Anonymous said...

"The article, to me, infers the last option,"

the article "implies" you "infer"

Anonymous said...

the article wasn't so bad. It stated the facts. Working in East Harlem for 12 years and in a city hospital in Brooklyn for many years prior to that, I can tell you this woman probably didn't even know she was pregnant, as strange as that may seem. You are dealing with obma voters. the last time they (might have) voted was for Dinkins or Marion Barry.

Anonymous said...

The story is strangely without embellishment considering it was from the AP. Perhaps it was some newby reporter that doesn't yet understand AP's political and social bias.

Anonymous said...

Goober,

You are suffering from MSM withdrawal. After reading so many politically biased articles, something written without any such leanings is somewhat alien.

Spider said...

It's impossible to determine anything from this article (other than the baby died) as it lacks any detailed information. But that's Fox for you. Go for the shock value and to hell with any relevant info.

Anonymous said...

Well...

I never had any doubt that I was pregnant with my two daughters. I never confused diarrhea with contractions. But, I have heard of morbidly obese women being totally unaware that they were great with child. As to the quality of the reporting, unfortunately most TV and internet "news" would not rate a passing grade in an old school journalism course.

Anonymous said...

I, too, have heard stories about obese women 'not knowing' they were pregnant and surprise, surprise they gave birth.

I have reservations:

I could see they were so fat they didn't 'show' - but what about not having a period for...um, say 9 months?

Wouldn't that be sorta, kinda a clue?

Could be it was a slow news day.

Schteveo said...

I ate some really greasy burritos off of a taco truck in Taft CA once, they made me shit like I was giving birth...maybe the opposite is possible.


NOT!!!

Anonymous said...

Um,... thanks Steve. Now back to our regularly scheduled program.

CTjayhawker said...

I believe that if a person of the female persuasion is "morbidly obese", it can mess with their cycle something fierce. Depending, of course, on how morbid their obesity is.

Anonymous said...

Well, if she's that obese that means she's poor, since it seems only poor people can afford to get fat. There'll be no charges.

Anonymous said...

Wellllll...

She might also be smoking a little mary-joo-anna. That can sometimes cause amehorrhea [no period].