She Went There... (Patreon)

Right now while many in this country are looking at racial injustice and just racism in general, you would hope that people in TV news might be sensitive to the language that they are using on social media. 

While covering the story of the two racists charged with killing Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia, there was a court hearing in which a witness said that one of the men charged with murder, Travis McMichael used a derogatory term as Arbery laid on the ground. 

Reporters covering the hearing heard awful details about the crime and what happened that led up to the shooting of Ahmaud Arbery.

Those not in the courtroom were relying on Reporters' social media feed for the latest information.

Let's look at how two Reporters decided to tweet out the story of Travis McMichael's comments heard by a witness. 

Here is WJAX (Jacksonville) Reporter Bridgette Matter posted the news. 

And here is the post from WTOC (Savannah) Reporter Jessica Savage:

In this case, I don't think there was any reason that she couldn't have followed the same path that Matter took.  

She reported what happened and I get that, but when posting to social media, I don't think there was any reason to use the N-Word. It is a social media post, why go there?

After some blowback, Savage deleted the tweet. 

I do think there are times when a derogatory word can be used on a newscast. If say, for example, Donald Trump used the n-word or some other derogatory word towards a group or person, I would let the video air. I would not say the word, I would not let the Anchor or Reporter say the word, but I would let Trump (who is the example here) say it. 

I think in that case, people should hear him say it. It will put in context how it was used and just how vile the word is. 

There is no doubt that bleeping up a derogatory word or using "****"'s in place of the word softens the context. In other words, it takes away the shock value of the word, if anyone is shocked by bad language anymore. 

Right now this country is on edge, it is best to stay away from anything that can help incite or inflame a situation. The Twitter post should have been handled like it was by the Jacksonville Reporter. 

I don't know Jessica Savage, and my guess is that she was not trying to be offensive. I believe she was just trying to point out just how vile the suspects, in this case, are, or appear to be. 

I don't think she should be fired or suspended, but she should understand that no word in the English language carries so much hate and is so negatively powerful as the N-word.  

Savage is in a small market and it is there where you make mistakes and learn. I really hoped that she learned from this and understands why she should have not used the word in her post. 

For those that will email me and say, "But Scott, there are black people that use the word to describe each other or to each other, all the time," just don't bother. 

You clearly don't get it and you might not want to admit, but you are part of the problem. 

Black Lives Matter.