Both the national and local media have allowed their personal biases to color reporting on the Jena 6 controversy. Forgotten is the effect on the lives of the young people involved….

“Bean knew the media would bite. They did in 1999, when he told them about incidents in his hometown of Tulia, Texas. He exposed a corrupt cop and helped overturn more than a dozen drug convictions against minorities. Tulia was quickly labeled a racist town.

“I knew that it was probably the kind of case the media could be talked into covering because it had so many spectacular features: The fire – something that was terribly significant that nobody was picking up – the nooses and the racial tension. I thought that if the story was framed properly and people could see the connective tissue they could see how one thing led to another,” Bean says.

While he is critical of the coverage, Whitlock doesn’t cast Bean as the villain. “I’m not saying it’s Bean’s fault – that’s unfair to him. If there’s any bad guys in the Jena 6 story it’s the media. We blew this.” ”

…and I was particularly drawn to the above quote.

If that were the only thing I knew about the case, it would be enough.