The St. Pete Times (now Tampa Bay Times) has run its latest sob story** about an accused killer, this one Nicholas Lindsey. True to form, the Times announces in its headline that it will explore why life unravelled for the St. Petersburg teen.
There is the usual objection to be made about such stories. The reporting is all about the killer’s alleged good qualities, and the reporters work hard to diminish the killer’s responsibility, even though doing so crudely diminishes the value of the murdered police officer’s life. Buying a Pepsi for a teacher is presented as mitigation against murdering a good man in cold blood. In the past, I’ve had reporters from that paper tell me they believe they are being “balanced” in their reporting by telling the sob story of the murderer one day and the life story of the murder victim the next, as if doing so balances some ethical scale. ...