How one New York City network covered two alleged “hate crimes”

Two so-called “hate crimes” were alleged to have happened recently in NYC and NJ, and are currently under investigation. But how were they covered in the press?

The NY Post’s Phil Mushnick wrote on Sunday about how one NYC network (WPIX/Channel 11) reported the alleged “hate crime” involving the noose that was hung on a black Columbia U. professor’s office doorknob versus how it reported an alleged “hate crime” where a black man is accused of beating an Orthodox Jewish man in Lakewood, NJ with a baseball bat so badly that the man is currently in critical (some reports say stable) condition. Here’s a preview:

Later in the newscast, where stories deemed less important are placed, Ch. 11 reported that an Orthodox Jewish man, 53-year-old Mordechai Moskowitz, in Lakewood, N.J. had been beaten into critical condition by a man using a baseball bat.

Ch. 11’s reporter, Vanessa Tyler, further reported that the suspect is a black male in his 30s and, according to witnesses, the attack was unprovoked. Thus it was being investigated as a hate crime. Lakewood is home to several ethnic communities, including a large Orthodox Jewish population.

And then Tyler added something else, something mind-blowing. “Some people say that people get along here,” she said, “Other people say [that] the Jewish community is clique-ish and un-neighborly.”

Good grief. Does that mean that there was some justification for a member of that Jewish community to be beaten nearly to death with a baseball bat?

The mere fact that the man is clearly an Orthodox Jew – a random representative of a “clique-ish and un-neighborly” population – could explain why he was bludgeoned into the intensive care unit. Perhaps the assailant, upon passing this Jew, simply could no longer contain himself. Understandable.

Imagine if Ch. 11’s lead report about the noose included similar language:

“Some people say that people get along here at Columbia University. Other people say that the black community at Columbia is clique-ish and unfriendly.”

Read the whole thing.

BTW, here’s how the AP covered the beating of Mordechai Moskowitz (who, I should note, is a rabbi). Amazingly, they don’t blame him for the attack. And I should note that CBS3.com is reporting that police are downplaying this incident as a “hate crime” at this stage of the investigation. That, however, doesn’t negate Mushnick’s point about the comparisons in coverage Channel 11 gave the two stories.

Thanks to ST reader Leslie for the heads up.