Shots fired at Capitol

From the NYT story an odd entry:

" During the lockdown, the police permitted some members of Congress to walk through the underground tunnel that connects the Capitol to the Senate office buildings.

At one point, Representative Darrell Issa, Republican of California, snapped at the police guarding the entrance to the tunnel, “Let me past, I am going through,” as he walked at a fast clip back toward the Capitol. "

No mention if The Times writer actually witnessed Issa.

 

A car can be a deadly weapon. Even if this woman was unarmed, police were justified in using deadly force if she was trying to run them over.

 

Maybe that was what the Westside Hghy motorcycle guys were thinking. / cross thread

 

You are absolutely correct on this.

But it does kind of ruin the "shots exchanged" reports.

 

Hope you didn't run "shots exchanged". That was bullshit.

 

There's a whole board dedicated to Journalism Topics Only. Man up and go over there instead of trolling breaking news threads.

 

Everyone piling on about errors in breaking news would be wise to remember that all of this sorting out of facts used to take place before the story even saw the light of day, instead of unfolding for the entire world to see on teevee or Twitter.

So, if you want something to blame, blame the immediate and mostly meaningless transparency of the 24-hour news cycle.

 

Aside from the Murdoch media empire, you just can not find good, honest and accurate journalism anymore.

 

Meh. Don't buy that.

Sure, there is increased pressure with the news cycle. But if you don't have something confirmed, don't publish, tweet or broadcast it. Simple as that.

 

This is not some just-recent phenomenon.

Fifty years ago next month Walter Cronkite said on the air that a Secret Service agent was shot dead in Dealey Plaza during the Kennedy Assassination.

 

I can't speak to what companies ask reporters to tweet or take on live teevee.

But, I can speak to the fact that just about every crime story in the history of the world has a cesspool of misinformation swirling around it constantly, especially in the first hour or two after it happens. That misinformation comes from everywhere, too. We're not talking about things that can be fixed by looking in a stylebook or taking two seconds to Google it. We used to be afforded the time it took to get it right. We're not anymore.

Do you really dispute that?

 

The Hartford Courant has the woman's name. She's a dental hygienist with a history of mental problems.

http://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-capitol-shooting-1004-20131003,0,5388938,full.story