Media Culpa? Michael Brown vs. Dillon Taylor

The advent of social media has completely transformed the news cycle. With instant dissemination through a national and global information network, local news now has the ability to instantly become national headline news, by being compelling enough to “go viral.” But then, with so many sensational stories across the United States, how does a story become national news?

Let’s suppose I tell you that a few days ago, a young man, apparently unarmed, was shot and killed by police as he was moving away from confrontation. Stop me if you’ve heard this story. Would you be surprised to note that this shooting occurred in Utah, and the name of the victim was NOT Michael Brown?

Every so often, coincidence comes along and lets slip the mask.

Let’s first touch on the tragic story of Michael Brown which is a local story gone viral national story, and is currently ongoing because of the public response (protests and rioting) and the subsequent city government response. (militarized police and armed confrontation with innocent citizens) This is the story of an apparently unarmed young black man who was shot and killed by police during some minor confrontation. News outlets have this story on a 24-hour cycle, journalists, media celebrities, prominent public figures, and decidedly unfamous “bloggers” are all throwing their opinions into the public arena via twitter, facebook, and a host of other modern media. All of this is understandable, as it is big news when police, who are tasked with protecting the citizenry, kill a young man who is unarmed.

Then why is it that you don’t know who Dillon Taylor is? The Salt Lake Tribune reports that a young man named Dillon Taylor was shot and killed by police in Salt Lake City, while apparently unarmed. This similarly tragic event happened just 2 days after the shooting of Michael Brown. As more facts come out, we may find that these stories are different. For now, however, the case of Dillon Taylor in Salt Lake City, Utah, is nearly identical to the case of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, with a few notable differences. One notable difference is that Michael Brown is black, and Dillon Taylor is white. The Michael Brown story went viral immediately and is now on a 24 hour news cycle following riots, and police response. The Dillon Taylor story is still a local story, garnering some small local demonstrations by friends and family.

The media – national journalists, prominent figures, and media celebrities, chose to report the Michael Brown story, immediately and continually, through traditional and social media. News outlets sent reporters to Ferguson to report on Michael Brown, the riots and protests, and the police response. And it is a grand, chaotic mess on a nationally reported scale. They have not chosen to report the Dillon Taylor story at all, even as a sidebar. (i.e. another apparently unarmed young man gunned down by police) Why?

I cannot answer that question.

But I can note that the Michael Brown story fits a current political narrative of systemic oppression of black people in the U.S. The common and oft-repeated tale of black victimhood is a career for many politicians and public figures re: the history of racism in America. I can note that the Reverend Al Sharpton, who makes a grand living of financial gain and influence from the divide between blacks and whites, has inserted himself firmly in the middle of the Michael Brown story. I note that in Ferguson, there have been riots and looting, and now confrontations between a now-militarized police and the local citizenry.

The correlation/causation dynamic in the Brown story is too complex to place any actual blame with the media for the escalation of events in Ferguson. But we can surmise that the anger and violent response of the people of Ferguson comes from a feeling that this happens far too often to blacks (and blacks alone) in this country. And we can wonder if that feeling stems from media decisions to promulgate stories that fit that narrative, rather than dispel it. And when events occur in such a way as to leave no doubt to the type of news that is reported on a national scale, we can notice.

And we can ask, “Who is Dillon Taylor?”