Fundamentals of Interactive Journalism

By Maya Pope-Chappell

Photo by Macdiarmid/Getty/Getty Images

Outrage, noun: an act that violates accepted standards of behavior; taste or the anger and resentment aroused by injury or insult

Disturbed, adj.: showing symptoms of emotional illness; interfere with the normal arrangement or functioning of

New York Giants receiver Plaxico Burress shot himself with an illegal gun.  And now Mayor Michael Bloomberg wants him to be prosecuted to the “full extent of the law.”  But the mayor’s outrage over the self inflicted wound and his critical statements against the Giant’s and the hospital that treated Burress, seems a bit too much, too late.  Where was his “outrage” two years ago when the police shot Sean Bell 50 times?

Following the barrage of 50 bullets that resulted in the fatal shooting of Sean Bell, Bloomberg said in a statement, “I can tell you that it is to me unacceptable or inexplicable how you can have 50-odd shots fired, but that’s up to the investigation to find out what really happened.”

Bloomberg also said that he was “deeply disturbed” by the incident.

Now contrast that with statements made following the “how stupid can you be” shooting.

“I don’t think that anybody should be exempt from that,” Bloomberg said of the state gun law that comes with a mandatory sentence of three-and-a-half years for carrying an illegal weapon.  “And I think it’ll be an outrage if we didn’t prosecute to the fullest extent of the law.”

Bloomberg went on to call Burgess a role model and therefore should know better.  “If we don’t prosecute to the fullest extent of the law them, I don’t know who on earth we would.  It makes a shame, a mockery of the law.”

Bloomberg’s reaction went from “disturbed” over a black man being murdered by police on his wedding day to “outraged” over a black man shooting himself with an illegal gun.

Where do you think the outrage should lie?

photo courtesy of NYMag.com

I’ve been having an ongoing e-mail discussion with a professor over the past few days. We’ve been talking about how journalists play an active role in shaping our language, especially in regard to specific terms and phrases. Think words like “beta,” “blogosphere” or “celebutante.”

My professor urged me to think of phrases to share in our next class. Well, as it so happens, I not only thought of one, I believe I have created one.

As you can see by the chart below, Plaxico Burress is not so good with guns. In fact, his inefficiency led to a trip to the hospital, being charged with two felony counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree and the ire of one Mayor Bloomberg.

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