Biased coverage.(an intended robbery victim shot and killed a teenager)

In Richmond, Virginia, an intended robbery victim shot and killed a teenager who had held him up at gunpoint. In reporting the story, a local paper, the Times-Dispatch, gave a very biased account of that incident in the obvious hope that the reporting would provoke an indignant response toward people who would defend themselves with guns.

The shooting occurred when Rodvon Daymetric Brown, a seventh grader, approached a 47-year-old man who was sitting in his car, and threatened him with a rifle in an attempt to rob him. In its coverage of the incident, the June 14 Times-Dispatch reported that the boy's mother and aunt, who helped raise him, said that Rodvon would not have had a gun and that they "just don't know why" anyone would shoot him. The story also quoted Alicia Rasin, a "crime-victim's advocate" who, acting as spokesperson for the family, said that Rodvon had "never been arrested, never been in trouble." Rasin went on to lament about all shooting incidents, saying, "I'm sick and tired of saying I'm tired. I'm tired of saying, 'When is this going to be enough?'"

The story in the Times-Dispatch emphasized the seeming randomness of the shooting incident, saying that the teen had just gone outside that night because it was hot, and he wanted to get on his bike and ride. In the same vein, the article built on the perception of the boy's innocence by relating the events of the shooting as they were given to the administration at the boy's school by the boy's mother. She reported to the school that Rodvon was simply "shot and killed as he walked home along Fairmount Avenue."

The following week, the Times-Dispatch did a follow-up story about this shooting, and though this ...