News Story Observations

CNN reporter, Randi Kaye, reported two new accounts regarding the Michael Brown shooting.  Two contractors who were working in Ferguson on the day Brown was killed recalled Brown putting his hands up, while the Officer continued to shoot.  The two male contractors asked not be identified described an unarmed teenager with his hands up in the air as he’s gunned down by a police office.  (Kaye, 2014).  With all the news coverage regarding the Brown case seems to be reported differently with each witness providing different details of the event.  The coverage provided by CNN appears to be informative for the public regarding this event.  The story continues to draw national attention since the facts regarding the shooting vary on each account, which leans towards the public becoming aware of the actions in the city of Ferguson.  The story seems to be reported properly by reminding the views and readers regarding the facts on the case.  The reason for this opinion is there does not appear to be any bias towards who is actually at fault or if the reporter of this story is providing false information to the public, just the witnesses’ accounts. 

            The public does have the right know this information since public opinion is torn over the actions and events surrounding Micheal Brown.  There may be citizens outside of Ferguson who have family members impacted by the events.  For example, cousins involved in the protest or locating witness of the event who visited the city at the time.  It also provides citizens with information on any updates in the investigation of the shooting.  From my understanding, there were a few ethical considerations in the story.  The first is the accuracy of the information provided by the two new witnesses.  They are not from Ferguson and have no connection to the Brown family.  This information was released in the newscast and once again in the article.  The second ethical consideration is how the information could impact the public opinion of the events.  Even though, Kaye provides an unbiased report of the accounts given by the witnesses, there was video evidence that backs up their account of the situation and provides a voice to the account as well. 

References

Kaye, R., Clifford. (2014, September 11). New Michael Brown shooting witnesses describe scene. Retrieved September 11, 2014, from http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/10/us/ferguson-michael-brown-shooting-witnesses/index.html?hpt=hp_t1