Apparently so.
A female in her mid-twenties was shot in the head while walking on North Street between Second and Third this past Saturday night/Sunday morning.
Fortunately, the scumbag who shot her didn’t have much experience with a handgun and only grazed her skull- and she lived.
But the fact is- a young professional female who was walking alone towards an upscale eating/drinking establishment was shot in the head on Saturday night.
And possibly the only thing that’s worse than this poor girl getting scarred for life for simply walking the streets of Harrisburg alone after dark is the fact that the Patriot News and PennLive did not report the crime until Monday afternoon.
Over twenty four hours passed before David Newhouse’s “news” paper/internet news site decided to post any information.
And ironically, mere minutes before the article appeared on PennLive, a poster in the Harrisburg forum questioned why the news organization hadn’t yet reported on an important and certainly newsworthy crime.
Why did the Patriot/PennLive not report on this incident immediately?
A logical assumption would be that they would have posted the news no later than 8AM Sunday morning.
But “logic” and “The Patriot News” don’t seem to know eachother. Maybe someone can introduce them?
David V. Vitale, Legal Counsel in the Democratic Caucus Office of Legal Services sent out a mass emailer at 10:06 this morning. In the email, he stated that the family of the victim did call the news organizations [none were specifically named in the email] and they informed the family that they do not report on crime unless the incident is confirmed by The Mayors Office.
I, too, had a similar experience when I heard of the Patriot News Correspondant who was robbed at gunpoint while walking on Herr Street. I called the records office and was informed that, essentially, nothing is official unless the Mayor says it is.
Which is complete and total bullshit.
The Mayor should not EVER have the ability or right to censor or approve the distribution of information on what happens within the city.
The Mayor is OUR SERVANT.
But apparently, he sometimes forgets that.
Steven R Reed is a SERVANT of the people of Harrisburg. It’s not the other way around.
News of this heinous crime should have been on the front page, above the fold and on every news channel by Monday morning.
But it wasn’t.
A message was sent out on Facebook earlier today. An attorney in the Capital sent a mass emailer. And the topic was brought to light on the Harrisburg forum of PennLive before ANY news of this event hit our mainstream media.
When, Mr Newhouse and Mr. Reed, is that going to change?
The people who voted you into office over twenty five years ago DEMAND to know what’s going on in their city.
And you, sir, have ZERO right to deny us that information.
on Oct 7th, 2008 at 6:22 pm
I was outraged by this too and it seems that this shooting in particular is drawing a lot of attention to the problems with our local news. I’ve heard many complaints about how this was handled by the mayor and the paper in the past few days.
I can’t stand that this happened in the alley by my apartment building and I didn’t hear anything about it for 2 days. I had no idea what happened or if I was safe to walk home because I didn’t hear anything until I asked in a forum on Monday morning.
on Oct 8th, 2008 at 9:48 am
Basically, information is power and the longer the Mayor’s office has the information and the press does not — the more power the Mayor has.
I don’t like to bash the Mayor too much, but he really needs to get a task force together to help with the flow of information. Shot in the head and that is all the details we have - pretty pathetic.
Granted, as a former Federal Law Enforcement officer, I completely understand the need to keep certain information from the press…it’s essential in order to keep the integrity of the investigation. However, waiting this long to report this to the press with few details is indeed unacceptable.
on Oct 8th, 2008 at 11:10 am
I know why the Mayor didn’t want to admit it happened. I was at one of the establishments on 2nd street on Saturday night. One of my friends mentioned that there was a “Gun Alert” something about rivals gangs etc… What I am gettting at is the word was out that there could be shooting on 2nd that night. Whas there any additional police out? No! In fact I don’t remember seeing any along 2nd street all evening. Perhaps they don’t feel like driving their new cruisers over the mess of a road between Walnut and Locust street more than they have to.
on Oct 8th, 2008 at 6:40 pm
obviously you were drunk then.
the police were all over second street.
you don’t remember them shutting down from locust to pine and not letting anyone through?
drink another one
on Oct 8th, 2008 at 6:49 pm
“the Patriot News and PennLive did not report the crime until Monday afternoon.”
Mike, not true. I saw this on the PennLive front page Sunday afternoon.
on Oct 8th, 2008 at 9:35 pm
Polchic-
I”ll take your word for it- but the article I read had a timestamp of just after twelve noon on Monday.
The timestamp makes it look like it didn’t show up until Monday.
on Oct 9th, 2008 at 10:32 am
Don’t confuse incompetence with censorship w/r/t The Patriot…