Kansas City Star Tacitly Selling Imaginary Urban Serial Killer Fear?!?

Kansas City's slowly fading daily newspaper starts the week by selling fear without many solutions, analysis or perspective.

Regarding recent stats . . . 

Actually, it's kind of encouraging that KCPD are taking note of missing persons cases and sharing data with the public by way of numbers that would otherwise be ignored.

Meanwhile . . .

The subtext here is that the newspaper is giving a subtle nod to a lie told last year about an imaginary serial killer that NEVER turned up.

Meanwhile . . . 

Adults realize that deadly shootings over pointless arguments and/or gang rivalries are a much great threat to the community than some mysterious boogeyman or imagined police conspiracy. 

As always, to be fair, we'll share the other side of the story . . .

The data shows what many Black leaders had feared and suspected: Black adults and children have been reported missing in Kansas City in significantly greater numbers than other racial groups. And their cases remain unsolved more often.

In its May 10 analysis, the police department reported that Black adults accounted for 11 of the 15 active adult missing persons cases.

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . .

KCPD data proves fears true: More Black people reported missing and cases unsolved

For months, Black leaders urged Kansas City police to provide public reports on how many people were reported missing in the city and how many cases were resolved. Such information, it was argued, would help answer community members' questions about how many Black people were going missing and what was being done to find them.

Related reading from one of our BEST & BRIGHTEST TKC denizens . . .

Journalism's Essential Value

The debate around "objectivity"-if that's even the right word, anymore-has become among the most contested in journalism. In recent years, CJR has served as a forum for that discussion, through numerous pieces, and even a conference, last fall, exploring approaches to the question. This essay, from the publisher of the New York Times, and the [...]