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Being pro-police

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lovinlife101
Posts: 6164
Joined: Fri Jul 08, 2011 11:53 am

Being pro-police

Post by lovinlife101 » Tue May 19, 2015 10:07 am

A journalist should be objective. He/She should tell a fair and balanced not only in the selection of a story, but in the telling of a story.

I don't see that with Bill Harris.

Look at his bio and the majority of stories he has covered is about police. The stories are pro-police.

http://www.minbcnews.com/about/bio.aspx?id=987

There are bad cops and bad departments too, but you won't find those stories here.



lovinlife101
Posts: 6164
Joined: Fri Jul 08, 2011 11:53 am

Re: Being pro-police

Post by lovinlife101 » Tue May 19, 2015 10:31 am

I'm saying you won't find stories critical of police or police departments on Bill Harris' page because he won't do them.

Feel free to pitch those kinds of stories his way, but don't expect him to cover them.

His bio shows a clear conflict of interest:

"Bill has also distinguished himself in the area of law enforcement with a rare perspective of someone who has been on “both sides of the fence.” While anchoring and reporting for WJRT, Bill also served as a uniformed, reserve deputy with the Genesee County Sheriff’s Department’s Paramedic Division. He is a recent graduate of the FBI Citizens Academy and has trained with numerous federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.
He continues to work closely with numerous agencies and consulting firms, including the Michigan State Police, as a media consultant and instructor and, this past August, served as the Public Information Officer for Flint’s “Back To The Bricks” Law Enforcement Task Force."

So he still "works closely with policy agencies and consulting firms" so much so that he's served as a "media consultant and instructor" and "Public Information Officer for 'Back To The Bricks' Law Enforcement Task Force."

Long story short. He gets paid by police agencies for his services. His wife worked as a police dispatcher. Not only is covering police stories a conflict of interest for him, it's payola.



lovinlife101
Posts: 6164
Joined: Fri Jul 08, 2011 11:53 am

Re: Being pro-police

Post by lovinlife101 » Tue May 19, 2015 12:04 pm

Welcome back, Jack "ad hominem" Attack!

Seems like you're having difficulty refuting logic.

Here it is again:

When a journalist is getting paid by an organization and then does positive stories on said organization, that's called payola (See George Stephanopoulos).

Feel free to defend this practice.



lovinlife101
Posts: 6164
Joined: Fri Jul 08, 2011 11:53 am

Re: Being pro-police

Post by lovinlife101 » Tue May 19, 2015 1:11 pm

Jack "ad hominem" Attack,

See your first post for the proof you so allegedly desire. Attacking a person rather than the argument is the basis of your conversation.

If you checked Bill's bio page, you'll find 17 of 34 stories are positive pieces on police. Zero stories of any criticism on anything related to police.

He is paid by police departments to work for them, according to his bio.

This is clearly a conflict of interest.

Your claim that I bash this station "all the time" is 100% incorrect. You've made no effort to see my other posts observing the other Flint stations as well as Detroit stations.



lovinlife101
Posts: 6164
Joined: Fri Jul 08, 2011 11:53 am

Re: Being pro-police

Post by lovinlife101 » Sat May 23, 2015 11:06 pm

That's the problem. When he's acting as a public information officer for the police department, as he has in the past, he is speaking on behalf of a police department. Any good public information office will paint the organization it works for in the best light. Therefore, working for the police and covering the police as a journalist is a conflict of interest.



lovinlife101
Posts: 6164
Joined: Fri Jul 08, 2011 11:53 am

Re: Being pro-police

Post by lovinlife101 » Sat May 23, 2015 11:09 pm

We may never know if something was hidden. When a person is the spokesperson/consultant for the police and a journalist, there's no way to know. There's no check and balance, just one side.



lovinlife101
Posts: 6164
Joined: Fri Jul 08, 2011 11:53 am

Re: Being pro-police

Post by lovinlife101 » Wed Jul 08, 2015 4:42 pm

This is to answer audiophile's question.

The problem with being "pro-police," even occasionally, for a journalist is that it is tipping the story in favor of the police and being biased rather than being balanced.

Simply reporting what police say, without scrutiny, is journalism malpractice.

See this link: http://wcrz.com/flints-bill-harris-talk ... -12-audio/

At 4:10 there's talk about training new police chiefs in media relations. There's also a comment about a state police lieutenant being a best friend. Don't get me wrong. There's nothing wrong with having a best friend that just so happens to be a state police lieutenant. But when that results in only positive stories for police, no scrutiny, training police how to handle the media, serving as a police public affairs official, etc., that's where it crosses the journalistic line.



lovinlife101
Posts: 6164
Joined: Fri Jul 08, 2011 11:53 am

Re: Being pro-police

Post by lovinlife101 » Fri Jul 10, 2015 8:06 am

And then there's this: http://www.mlive.com/news/saginaw/index ... _svsu.html

A Detroit student studying in a masters program at SVSU gets pulled over for no reason, gets cuffed and charged with felony fleeing and alluding simply because he pulled into a lit parking lot. His cousin had been robbed by fake police before and he was simply taking precautions.

Then, police and the prosecutor have the audacity to offer a plea deal so that he would still have a misdemeanor, lose his job and forfeit his financial aid.

THESE FOLKS DO NOT WORK FOR YOU!

The police and prosecutor targeted this Detroit student who is trying to make a better life for himself and the police want to ruin his life.

Absolutely disgusting.



lovinlife101
Posts: 6164
Joined: Fri Jul 08, 2011 11:53 am

Re: Being pro-police

Post by lovinlife101 » Sat Jul 11, 2015 7:56 pm

To answer the first question, the proof I have that Bill Harris does not scrutinize anything police do is the same proof that I have that pigs can't fly. There's no evidence of either.

When Bill does a police story, it's only to promote a department, the way they do things, highlight one of the officers, etc. He's a cheerleader for them, an extension of public relations.

On to the other assumption that I don't want police enforcing laws or that I got "mad" at a basketball event with kids and fully armed cops. These are both false. Police enforcing laws means they are respecting peoples' rights. Unfortunately, that's not happening. Police assume the worst, violate peoples' rights and then act surprised when citizens call them out on it. Police pulled over a minority student from Detroit who is trying to honestly improve his life through hard work. This kid did absolutely nothing wrong. The cop thought the color of the kid's car may have matched the color of a car that was driving on a sidewalk. That's not suspicion. People are allowed to travel at night unmolested. That's what this kid was doing. When the kid tried to protect himself, he gets put in cuffs and is charged with a felony. He's threatened that he could lose his job and lose his financial aid. Do you call that police working for you? The prosecutor is in on it too. He tries to cut a deal with the kid so that pd can try to save face and make it look like the cops weren't totally in the wrong (which they were). Luckily, popular opinion was on this kid's side and the charges were dropped.

This "open communication" leading to improvement is a farce. People have the right to remain silent. It's the Fifth Amendment. What you don't say can't be used against you in a court of law. Cops try to force things out of people by saying "If you have nothing to hide, then you'll talk to us." Pure bs. No one has to talk to cops and I recommend they don't.



lovinlife101
Posts: 6164
Joined: Fri Jul 08, 2011 11:53 am

Re: Being pro-police

Post by lovinlife101 » Tue Jul 14, 2015 10:07 am

DAC, why would you call the minority, unarmed, innocent SVSU student from Detroit and everyone else that I have described having a bad experience with cops a criminal? The police and prosecutor tried to make the SVSU student a criminal, but he stood up for his rights and won.

If you want to take the police's side on this, be my guest. But it's wrong.



lovinlife101
Posts: 6164
Joined: Fri Jul 08, 2011 11:53 am

Re: Being pro-police

Post by lovinlife101 » Wed Jul 15, 2015 2:16 pm

DAC, thanks once again for proving my point. You say the norm isn't pretty. Neither is the "non-norm" that you describe as police behaving badly.

If you weren't speaking about the specific case, which one or ones were you talking about? I just want to make sure I note who you are calling a criminal.

Did you see this one? http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-m ... story.html

Just a few guys standing with their hands up until police decide to shoot them.

Feel free to continue to support these kinds of actions by police. I on the other hand want to keep public officials accountable to the people who pay their salaries.

This innocent, unarmed minority student from Detroit used his common sense and street smarts to protect himself. He's probably alive today because of it. He drove a safe speed to a well-lit area. If he sped away, well, you know what often happens in high speed chases. He did not know it was a legitimate police officer trying to pull him over. His relatives found that out the hard way when they were robbed by fake police. Do you support people not protecting themselves? You think everyone should pull over even if the person with a siren and flashers is a fake cop?

He did not know it was a real police officer. And as you said, he was not liable of a crime, so why did you say he broke the law? Police officers have what's called "discretion." They don't have to write you up for everything you allegedly did. So your point is moot.



lovinlife101
Posts: 6164
Joined: Fri Jul 08, 2011 11:53 am

Re: Being pro-police

Post by lovinlife101 » Wed Jul 15, 2015 2:25 pm




lovinlife101
Posts: 6164
Joined: Fri Jul 08, 2011 11:53 am

Re: Being pro-police

Post by lovinlife101 » Wed Jul 15, 2015 8:42 pm

Thanks for proving my point.

Cows jumping over the moon are more likely than police to treat innocent citizens with respect.



lovinlife101
Posts: 6164
Joined: Fri Jul 08, 2011 11:53 am

Re: Being pro-police

Post by lovinlife101 » Thu Jul 16, 2015 12:12 pm

DAC, then why didn't you just try to present a valid point rather than calling me "pro-criminal"?

The SVSU student was not a criminal. No charges there. Burden of proof is on the police, not the other way around.



lovinlife101
Posts: 6164
Joined: Fri Jul 08, 2011 11:53 am

Re: Being pro-police

Post by lovinlife101 » Thu Jul 16, 2015 12:43 pm

Just another day of cops protecting and serving....or punching pregnant women in the stomach.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nom_vX6lAzk



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