When the News Isn’t News

You’d think that this story reported by the Associated Press, via The Hill would be big news:

Newly released emails show that Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s office, police and the group responsible for investigating police shootings in the city coordinated their response after the death of Laquan McDonald in October 2014, the Associated Press reported Friday.

The AP, which filed open-records requests, said that thousands of emails were released regarding the case of McDonald, the black 17-year-old shot by a white police officer, including messages indicating Emanuel’s advisers recognized within months the case’s political ramifications.

but it’s barely creating a ripple for a couple of pretty good reasons. First, the timing of the story’s release is impeccable. It was released on New Years Day as Chicagoans like millions of other Americans recover from hangovers and munch on chips and pizza, watching various bowl games.

It’s also just confirmation of things that those of us who’ve been following the story all along have known for quite a while. Mayoral aides acknowledged this stuff weeks ago. And no one who’s even barely aware of how things work in Chicago could have done anything but believe that there was coordination among the mayor’s office, the Chicago Police Department, and the so-called Independent Police Review Authority. You can believe in a mayor who’s blithely unaware and unconcerned about events that might cost him the election, sure signs of incompetence, or in one who manipulated events to help him be re-elected. Take your pick.

2 comments… add one
  • Guarneri Link

    It’s difficult for me to believe that Team Rahm is able to hide the pea on this. There is no reason for the newly sober press to not pursue and report on this Monday, Tuesday………. This is by design.

    Once again we find black lives only matter when the highest priority political gain can be directed in the “correct” political direction. And for the media, especially the national media, Rahm’s close ties to Obama and Hillary make that a very, very incorrect direction. This is already diminished to a local story – unlike major metropolis’s events…….like Furguson – and expect it to wither on the vine.

  • michael reynolds Link

    Emanuel’s advisers recognized within months the case’s political ramifications.

    I love that. Not within weeks, or God forbid days or even hours, but months. That is some brain trust you have up there in Chicago.

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