SFist: Six-Year-Old Girl Run Over By Mom

bluecanary

Thu, 08 May 2008 15:17:26 -0800

How is it proclaiming fault to report the facts and not use passive voice?

makfan

Thu, 08 May 2008 14:44:53 -0800

I agree with travin. It is not appropriate for the reporter or headline writer to proclaim fault. They should be reporting the facts.

cowsaysmeow

Thu, 08 May 2008 14:33:58 -0800

Look again - we're not talking some mystery giant rape van here, we're talking about a VW van which is a very different style. That kid had to have been literally right in front of her car for her mother not to see her, which means if we're going to blame anyone here it's the kid who died because she was playing in traffic (or her sisters for not watching her), and that's even more fucked up.

bluecanary

Thu, 08 May 2008 14:17:22 -0800

Sorry, van, not suv, but a vehicle too large to see over the hood, at any rate.

bluecanary

Thu, 08 May 2008 14:16:18 -0800

and blame should be assigned. People should be alerted that when you drive a ginormous SUV, oops, you might not be able to see your kid standing in front of it.

bluecanary

Thu, 08 May 2008 14:15:29 -0800

that's not objectivity, it's hideous use of the passive voice, which is supposedly verboten in journalism anyway. It's shocking that in a major city like SF, the supposed "major" newspaper is so piss-poor.

appetite

Thu, 08 May 2008 14:14:16 -0800

There is some news that you neither want nor need to know about. This qualifies.

sissa

Thu, 08 May 2008 13:32:21 -0800

Heartbreaking. I can't imagine the pain that mom is going through right now.

cablecarsam

Thu, 08 May 2008 13:27:45 -0800

This is so sad. I hope the mother and other children gets the proper psychiatric help to get through a nightmare like this. :(

travin

Thu, 08 May 2008 13:12:44 -0800

Isn't that their edict, to report the news while maintaining a measure of objectivity about them? I realize it's not always well practiced, but I'd think it rationale - and probably rooted in risk management - to avoid laying blame without all the facts, especially when a death is involved.

bluecanary

Thu, 08 May 2008 11:03:49 -0800

I love how they word the headline on the front page. "Girl Struck by Mom's Car," like the car just came out of nowhere, of its own volition, and ran the kid over. I rarely see a story regarding someone running a person over where it's not couched entirely in terms of "the CAR did it, not the person driving it." And they never say "the driver ran them over," it's always, "the bus made contact with the pedestrian." They amend it when you click on the story, but the way these stories are written strike me (no pun intended) as ridiculous.