Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Lack of Information on Murder Case

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ran a story covering the death of a 54-year-old man who had been fatally beaten. This story is unique for the fact that before the victim died, he was taken to a nearby hospital and treated by a doctor who coincidentally turns out to be the victims very own daughter. The doctor didn't know she was treating her father because his face was so badly beaten. I can understand why this story ran, but found a few flaws that made the story misleading, confusing and lacking in information.First of all, the second line is poorly worded. "..she was shocked to learn the identity of the 54-year-old beaten man later Tuesday from her brother." At first, I thought they were saying that the brother had beaten the man. Then I realized that the brother was only the informant (told his sister about the situation). Also, the word Tuesday could give the reader (especially one just skimming through the article) the notion that the beating took place on Tuesday. But what the article actually meant was that the Doctor (daughter) didn't actually find out about the incident until Tuesday. Basically, that sentence was a bit confusing and misleading. An example of how this sentence should have been written to be more clear can be found in the first paragraph of this news article from the Associated Press. One last thing, there isn't much information about why or how this man was killed. It was reported that two men were seen walking away from the beaten man. Was there any evidence (weapons) found? Do the police have any suspects other than these two strangers seen walking away? Where did this fatal beating even occur? A bar? A street corner? The article doesn't give any clear details which could have been easily attainable. What about a possible motive? The reporters could have dug deeper into this man's life to see if he was involved with any activity which may have been attributed to his beating.I may seem too critical, the article itself was okay, but could have been beefed up a little more.

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