Monday, April 11, 2016

Ah, the reaction of media who suddenly realize

they let the cat out of the bag.  And it has claws.
Article in a paper in Canada about some of the new immigrants not exactly settling in and learning Canadian ways:
HALIFAX — Some concerned parents are reporting incidents of violence involving refugee students at Chebucto Heights Elementary School. 
Reports of students choking, pushing, slapping and verbally abusing their fellow classmates are causing parents to worry about the school’s disciplinary action.
...
Missy said her daughter, who is in Grade 3, was choked on Monday and Thursday last week by two refugee boys. School staff intervened, but to her knowledge, the students were not disciplined further.
Things like that.  I ran across this last night, but to my surprise, when I looked at the original article link,
This story has been removed. Bullying is a sensitive subject. So is the integration of newcomers, particularly those who have faced challenges, even trauma, on their way here. Our story was incomplete. More work needs to be done and will be done before the story is republished. We should have done better and we will.
Sound suspicious to you?  Does to me.  Then, this morning there's a much longer excuse that includes
Readers also rightly pointed out that the headline ‘Parents worried over school kids’ brutality’ was unfortunate. Using the word brutality to describe children, particularly of an identifiable cultural group, is problematic.

Reaction to the story was all over the map, from thoughtful to downright scary.

Many journalists called publishing the story irresponsible. Some parents weighed in on social media on the need for better discipline and more supports to help newcomers in our schools.

Appallingly, anti-Muslim groups with words like ‘crusade’ and ‘jihad’ in their names started sharing the article.

We pulled it from our website.

Since then, some readers have contacted us to object to the article’s removal.

Our concern is about more than reaction.

Social media is not a great place for the cautious, well-considered examination of problems. A newspaper ought to be. We should have done better and we will.
Translation: "We should not have talked about the behavior of these children without putting in something about 'culture' and 'sensitivity' to demonstrate how we must excuse them, and anyone who doesn't is intolerant and a racist.  Even better, we shouldn't have done the story at all, because it doesn't fit the Preferred Narrative™. and it gave ammunition to People of Wrong Thoughts."


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