CNN’s credibility
(Yes, apparently this is going to be Blank Graphic Saturday.)
I just watched a CNN report that stated, “Ethan Couch’s attorney convinced the judge that the teen suffered from “‘Afflienza”‘
This is 100% false. The judge never said a word about “affluenza” in her order, nor did her words to Couch suggest that she agreed with the lawyer’s desperate “affluenza” theory, conveyed by a paid expert. (There is no such malady as “affluenza.”)
This is not in dispute: the judge did NOT accept this theory, and the fact that she gave the teen probation with a heavy load of conditions—another fact left out of the CNN report on Couch’s disappearance—does not suggest that she did. Thus CNN is spreading a narrative rather than conveying truth, in the process ignoring easily available evidence (the court transcript) that has not changed in two years and intentionally misleading its audience.
A news organization that allows this to happen cannot and must not be trusted.
About anything
Ethics Alarms 
The fact that they all do it makes it worse, not better.
I lost faith in MSM when I saw a documentary where two editors unashamedly described a story as “too good to check”.
Infotainment. I suspect ’twas ever thus, though it used to be that not everyone was a Randolph Hurst.
This meshes PERFECTLY with the painstakingly-crafted white privilege myth they’re endlessly pushing.
Irresposnible? A serendipitous portmanteau word, about taking Irresponsible positions, little by little, a nibble at a time?
Yes!
ANOTHER Lewis Carroll reference!
(Fixed it.) Wrote that one before running off to my staged reading of a Christmas Carol. Not to be confused with Lewis.
If we can not trust the media to accurately report on criminal justice matters, whom can we trust?
Michael – we can’t, not reliably.
I tend to go to primary sources – using Austlii for example on reported judgments.
This one’s pretty good though:
http://www.dmagazine.com/publications/d-magazine/2015/may/affluenza-the-worst-parents-ever-ethan-couch?single=1
Consequences, schmonsequences. Looks like the apple didn’t fall far from the tree. It’s not a new problem, but we’re getting a higher percent of children who are too sheltered from consequences in an rainbow world beyond even the trite children’s books of the Victorian era. Good intentions and helicopter parents are NOT preparing the children to focus on a job, a family, a cause, or even staying out of prison.
I don’t think I am disagreeing, but to put such a dysfunctional kid in prison might make him worse off. Private psychiatric hospitals are not necessarily much better, such as the money pit resort described by zoebrain’s source. This “affluenza” should not be what the kid is diagnosed with, but what society is suffering from handling these kids with such dysfunction. Catch 22 with crappy juvenile treatment systems, predatory quacks, and incompetent parents.
By violating his probation,. he already showed that he is worse off than he was.
The outcome of a stint in prison could be a function of how much time is served. A year or 3 would feel like a hellish eternity to this pampered kid, whereas 10 might just institutionalize him.
Does nobody in these reports acknowledge that “affluenza” is a joke, even the way the attorney was reportedly using it? It’s a pun that just means the kid is spoiled rotten. I think it may have originated from this World Vision short from 8 YEARS AGO, but it could be even older: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFZz6ICzpjI
I mean, I assume that everyone knows this, but these media reports are suggesting that a judge was tricked into believing that there was actually some sort of disease called “affluenza.” I feel like I’m taking crazy pills!
Anything news organizations can do to “demonize” the justice system seems to be fair game these days, it fits right in with the illogical and unethical BLM anti authority movement.
If these kinds of idiots keep it up we’ll no longer have a reasonably effective justice system.
Actually, it’ll probably just re-morph into the social justice system.