MetaFilter posts tagged with npr and reporting

"The justice system is invisible, unable to deter or heal."

zarq — Fri, 06 Jul 2012 13:51:36 -0800

In July 2007, NPR published a two part series (direct links: 1, 2) about a four year old uninvestigated rape case at the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. Sparked in part by a 2006 report (pdf) from Amnesty International that included a startling statistic: "One in three Native American women will be raped in her lifetime," NPR's investigation led to the reopening of the case and Congressional hearings. In February 2011, Harper's published an update of sorts: Tiny Little Laws: A Plague of Sexual Violence in Indian Country (Via)

“I‘m not lying!”

zarq — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 20:25:45 -0800

This past August a murder charge was dismissed against Nga Truong, a young mother who had confessed to Worcester, MA Police interrogators in 2008 that she had smothered and killed her 13 month-old baby, Khyle. A judge later concluded that confession was coerced -- extracted in part by police "deception," "trickery and implied promises" -- and the case was dropped. (pdf). Her case raises questions: What coercive power do detectives have who are driven to extract confessions? Under what circumstances might someone admit to a crime they have not committed? WBUR (Boston's NPR station) investigated Truong's case and has an extensive report, Anatomy of a Bad Confession: Part One and Two Truong spent 2.5 years in jail awaiting trial. She was 16 when she was arrested and is now 20. Video excerpts from the interrogation. Reporter David Boeri's additional opinions on the case and police interrogation techniques. (videos) Worcester Police Department statement on the case

"There are no national standards or regulations regarding forensic pathology and practices vary widely from place to place."

zarq — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 06:47:16 -0800

The Hardest Cases: When Children Die, Justice Can Be Elusive A joint investigation by PBS Frontline, ProPublica and NPR has found that medical examiners and coroners have repeatedly mishandled cases of infant and child deaths, helping to put innocent people behind bars. (Via. (Article contains descriptions of children that have been killed by abuse. May be disturbing / triggering to some readers.) Related: The Child Cases: "As part of an ongoing look into the troubled state of death investigation, ProPublica, PBS "Frontline" and NPR identified nearly two dozen cases in the U.S. and Canada in which people have been accused of killing children based on flawed or biased work by forensic pathologists and then later cleared." There is a document timeline available for the case of Ernie Lopez. From NPR: Parents fight to find the truth behind daughter's death. Continuing ProPublica investigation: Post Mortem, a "year-long reporting effort into U.S. death investigation uncovered a deeply dysfunctional system that quite literally buries its mistakes." From forensics and autopsies to coroners and medical examiners. See the PBS Frontline documentary. Accompanying website: Things to Know Before You Go, including "How Qualified is Your Coroner?"

Krugman on Media and Economics

ericrolph — Mon, 22 Sep 2003 10:41:33 -0800

Video of Krugman on Media and Economics

If Bush said the earth is flat, of course Fox News would say "Yes, the earth is flat, and anyone who says different is unpatriotic." And mainstream media would have stories with the headline: "Shape of Earth: Views Differ; and would at most report that some Democrats say that it's round."

So said Paul Krugman during a recent interview in Boston with Chris Lydon, former host of NPR's 'The Connection.'