Monday, August 9, 2010

Is Metro's Fight Problem Covered Unevenly?

The Bethesda rumble

So, the big news with Metro this past weekend was a brawl at Gallery Place/L'Enfant Plaza. It was ALL OVER the mainstream media, even getting a mention on a national outlet.

Yet, as first reported here a few weeks ago, there was another extremely violent brawl at Bethesda. That near riot was ignored by the media.

It was certainly not without drama. One terribly injured person, unable to remain standing because of the beating they'd taken, fell onto the tracks, and those who tried to help were nearly run over by an oncoming train.

So why does one get so much play in nearly every major TV, internet and print outlet while the other is virtually ignored and not even mentioned in the coverage of the L'Enfant fight? You'd think the media would at least like to tie to two together to show that Metro has a safety issue which can erupt anywhere.

Instead, if you read the comments on the Post's site, the conversation is largely about race, discrimination, education, poverty, some really wacky shit, pretty much anything but what Metro could be doing to prevent large scale fights within the system.

Do you think the coverage is uneven or spot on? Why? What do you think Metro could do to stop this sort of thing?

Comments are moderated, so if you want to be an idiot, better go leave your pearls of wisdom at the Washington Post's site where you can expound away.
 
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