Meet Wendy Bell, a hitherto successful Pittsburgh-area news anchor. In at 18-year career with WTAE-TV (a Hearst station), Ms Bell won 21 regional Emmys [Emmies? Ed.], and was highly regarded for her professionalism, and charming on-air personality. It all came to an end on Wednesday, when she was fired after "engaging in racial profiling of the worst kind" on her official Facebook page.Walt can't show you the FB post that wrote finis to Ms Bell's career, since it has been removed, along with her profile on the WTAE-TV website. And you've probably guessed already which race it was that Ms Bell "profiled" in a negative way. (I won't say "libelled" or "slandered", because in any action for defamation, the truth is the best defence!) Hint: it wasn't Caucasians or Hispanics or Asians. No indeed. What Ms Bell said in a classic CDM (Career-Destroying Move) was that the killers in a brutal area murder were "young black men".
The problem was that Ms Bell posted her assumption -- for that's what it was -- before anyone was taken into custody following a horrific mass shooting in Wilkinsburg PA earlier in the month. "You needn't be a criminal profiler," she wrote, "to draw a mental sketch of the killers who broke so many hearts two weeks ago Wednesday. They are young black men, likely in their teens or early 20s. They have multiple siblings from multiple fathers, and their mothers work multiple jobs."
Would it come as a surprise to anyone if that description turned out to be accuratge? Of course not. The trouble was that it's politically incorrect! In Obama's America, you can't call a spade a spade.
A statement from Hearst Television said, "WTAE has ended its relationship with anchor Wendy Bell. Wendy's recent comments on a WTAE Facebook page were inconsistent with the company’s ethics and journalistic standards." Apparently those standards forbid any suggestion that black people might be responsible for black-on-black crime. Even that phrase makes a racist assumption, eh.
For her part, Ms Bell issued the customary abject apology, "I now understand that some of the words I chose were insensitive and could be viewed as racist. I regret offending anyone. I'm truly sorry."
That was the required act of contrition, but Ms Bell expressed her real feelings in an interview with AP, saying that she didn’t get a "fair shake" from the station, and that the story was not about her, but about "African-Americans being killed by other African-Americans. It makes me sick! What matters is what's going on in America, and it is the death of black people in this country.... I live next to three war-torn communities in the city of Pittsburgh, that I love dearly. My stories, they struck a nerve. They touched people, but it’s not enough. More needs to be done. The problem needs to be addressed."
It's hard though, Walt thinks, to address a problem if you can't even mention it.
WTAE: Wendy Bell & Missing an Opportunity:
ReplyDeleteWendy Bell and Profiling
Dudley Sharp
For decades, we'd hear about a new batch of serial murders and one profile would come to mind - white male, age 25-35.
Some folks, wrongly, interpret profiling as racism or stereotyping. Profiling is based upon probability and statistics, with solid databases.
Based upon a horrific crime, the premeditated murder of 6 people, in Wilkinsburg, Pa., Wendy Bell, a Pittsburgh WTAE TV news host, stated, "you needn't be a criminal profiler", than she went on to profile.
"You needn't be a criminal profiler to draw a mental sketch of the killers who broke so many hearts two weeks ago Wednesday. ... They are young black men, likely teens or in their early 20s. They have multiple siblings from multiple fathers and their mothers work multiple jobs. These boys have been in the system before. They've grown up there. They know the police. They've been arrested."
Some have stated that Bell's comments was racist.
It is not racist to look at the probable characteristics of the assassins, based upon the known probabilities of criminals in a jurisdiction, under a known set of circumstances.
Competent criminal profilers get things right and they get them wrong. The only issue here is whether Bell made a credible profile based upon her knowledge, as opposed to a non credible profile based upon racism.
Bell may have made a reasoned profile, as any true profiler would do.
Bell has 18 years as a "semi pro" criminal profiler, with her database being her own, everyday professional knowledge of crimes in the area, additional research which she may have done, if any, all giving her the probable characteristics of the offenders in the area, in those circumstances.
Whether it turns out Bell was right or wrong, in this case, was her profile reasonably accurate, based upon probability, based upon the known criminal activity in the area, as opposed to her just being racist?
That would be easy to confirm by having a credible criminal profiler appear on WTAE to give a profile of the probable assassins and to detail where Ms. Bell was, likely, correct or not and why.
Those who claim that Bell made a racist profile appear to have no evidence to base that upon - not yet. In effect, the allegations against Bell may be the ones based upon lower probability, but we'll jut have to wait and see.
contd
ReplyDeleteCONSIDER:
1) Based upon the greater Pittsburgh area, for the last 10 years, what will be the probable racial/ethnic characteristics of multiple assassins (2 or more) , who shot multiple black victims (2 or more), at a residence?
Asian, Hispanic, white or black, male, female, stable or unstable family?
Easy to look that up in the greater Pittsburgh area.
2) Nationally, 94% of black murder victims are murdered by blacks.
Easy to look that up in the greater Pittsburgh area.
3) Nationally, 70% of murderers have a prior crime record.
Easy to look that up in the greater Pittsburgh area.
4) Based upon the data for all mass shootings, the majority of which are gang or drug related. http://crimeresearch.org/2015/07/washington-posts-misleading-article-mass-shootings-falsely-claiming-204-mass-shootings-in-204-days-this-year/
Easy to look that up in the greater Pittsburgh area.
5) The DEA is involved in this investigation
http://www.post-gazette.com/local/east/2016/03/10/Multiple-people-shot-in-Wilkinsburg/stories/201603100136
6) The AP wrote: "Wilkinsburg is a poor, largely blighted suburb east of Pittsburgh known for drug trafficking and gun violence . . . .".
It may be easy to look up the racial/ethnic, sex, age, parental status and criminal records of probable offenders in that area.
7) What Do ALL the Mass Shooters Have in Common? No Father in the Home
October 2, 2015 http://thebullelephant.com/what-do-all-the-mass-shooters-have-in-common-no-father-in-the-home/
Easy to look that up in the greater Pittsburgh area.
"percentage of the population divorced, the percentage of households headed by women, and the percentage of unattached individuals in the community are among the most powerful predictors of crime rates.”
8) "The murders were planned, calculated, brutal," Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala told Pittsburgh's WPXI-TV. Zappala told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that police believe there were one or two intended targets, and that a relative of the victims might have been one.
9) Is there any rational reason or evidence for anyone to identify Wendy Bell as a "racist profiler" or as insensitive? None that have been shown, so far
Bell's profile of the assassins may, reasonably, be based upon probability, from her knowledge, as with any profiler. Is it absolutely accurate? We won't know until they are caught, just like any profile made by a professional criminal profiler.
Folks, WTAE and others, how about being more reasoned and thoughtful?
Also:
Restaurant worker thrilled by Wendy Bell's compliment
April 2, 2016
http://www.post-gazette.com/ae/tv-radio/2016/04/02/Restaurant-worker-thrilled-by-Wendy-Bell-s-compliment-dismayed-she-was-fired-by-WTAE/stories/201604020085