Shocking Findings on the Nightside Shift
Forgive the esoteric and immature references (in that order), but the story I covered today, about a man in Osage County who received the video footage of his son getting tasered by law enforcement officials at the county jail, reminded me a lot of the Family Guy episode in which James Woods steals Peter Griffin’s identity. See? Told you I wouldn’t disappoint.
Anyway, this subpoenaed video was one of the first things I saw when I walked in the newsroom this afternoon, after an overly-enthusiastic Jen Reeves ushered me to the front desk with “Levy, I’ve got something great for you!” I don’t know how great it is to watch a man fall to the ground, literally in shock, but you be the judge.
Nine hours later, after interviewing the father of James “Kip” Wilson (the unfortunate taser-ee on film) and members of a Columbia coalition to end taser use, I was ready to air the video with a disclaimer about its potentially disturbing content. But something disturbed me more than the video itself: While this footage was going to make for an AMAZING, reel-worthy story on my part (!!), was my gain putting this man’s court case at risk?
My inner litigator kicked in. I thought, if I were a prosecuting attorney with half a brain, the first thing I would do after watching KOMU 8 News at Ten would be to turn around to the circuit court judge and get that video thrown out as evidence. Clearly, it’s been manipulated by a biased media that aired it to the entire public, right?
You’re probably wondering, “Well Steph, this is all fine and good, but what does this have to do with James Woods?” Glad you asked! In the episode, James Woods proves that he “is” Peter Griffin by showing copies of Peter’s birth certificate, driver’s license, house deed, etc. Basically, he makes the point that sometimes, you’re only as good as the written documents about you. In this case, I was worried that my package, and therefore I (in some small way) was only as good as the TASER video I showed in my package. Because for a minute and a half, that video would make or break me, when in all honesty, it should be making or breaking Kip Wilson in his quest for justice.
It’s all very intriguing how journalism and the courts work together. Personally, I hope the video does stay in his future hearings. And that has nothing to do with my opinions either way on this individual case. It’s just that keeping the video in Wilson’s trial would in some small way maintain the relationship I think the press needs to have with the courts. It’s an interdependent duality. We need them to function (freedom of the press, hello!) just as much as they need us to function (propagators of democracy and public efficacy, hello!)
I like it that way. I like it a heckuva lot more than having to watch a man get tasered a dozen times in a day. And for a journalist with a hot day-turn lead, I think that’s saying something.
