Published August 20, 2010
WBUR’s managing editor, Dave Shaw, goes on the radio from time to time to talk about what stories are getting people jazzed on wbur.org. Here is his latest roundup of the week’s big stories.
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The hubbub this week was over our coverage of the weekend prison suicide of Philip Markoff, the former Boston University medical student accused of murdering a woman who’d advertised massage services on Craigslist.
A commenter using the handle Giri said media are “sensationalizing (Markoff’s) death,” adding, “There are many more criminals in the same jail for homicide. Why is this station not talking about any of those?”
[pullquote author=”Jim Breslauer”]”Compared to everything else that’s going on in the world … this suicide got top billing. It just made no sense to me.”[/pullquote]
Another commenter, Jim Breslauer, wondered rhetorically, “Is there nothing more important to report?” I spoke with him on the phone, and he elaborated: “Compared to everything else that’s going on in the world, whether it’s the 10th congressional district, whether it’s the gubernatorial debate that was going on. And this suicide got top billing. It just made no sense to me.”
The criticism was most pointed on Deborah Becker’s Tuesday interview with Suffolk County Sheriff Andrea Cabral, who runs the Nashua Street Jail where Markoff killed himself.
Becker pressed Cabral about jail policies, mental health services and why Markoff was no longer on suicide watch when he killed himself.
The interview was described in comments as “over the top,” “abrasive” and “out of line.”
A commenter named Lindsey Brown put it this way, “I found myself wondering if I had somehow mistakenly tuned into a Fox News report.”
He described his trouble with our story in greater detail in a phone interview.
“I got the impression that a conclusion was being foisted upon the listeners in an almost witch hunt-like fashion against Sheriff Cabral,” he said.
Our coverage of the Markoff suicide wasn’t the only story on people’s minds. Our profile of independent gubernatorial candidate Timothy Cahill also got plenty of attention.
There was the usual partisan sniping but also this assessment from Matt F.: “I’m surprised that WBUR left out the line ‘This ad paid for by Tim for Governor.’ ”
The same commenter left that same sentiment on our profile earlier this month of Republican Charles Baker. Who knows, maybe he’ll say the same thing about the profile we’re doing later this month on Gov. Deval Patrick.
I suppose you could call that balance.
