05-02-2012, 04:49 PM
"Ethical questions are being raised both inside The Virginian-Pilot and in the Norfolk, Va. area after two of the paper’s reporters were attacked and beaten by a mob of at least 30 blacks, but was downplayed by police and withheld from the public for more than two weeks by the newspaper’s editors.
Reporters Dave Forster and Marjon Rostami were leaving a concert on the night of April 14 when a crowd of around 100 young people gathered on the sidewalk near their car. Rostami reached over to lock the door.
According to a police report obtained by Fox News, a black male hurled a rock at the car. Forster got out and tried to confront the individual who damaged his car. Instead, a gang of attackers began punching and pound the reporter. Police would not confirm the exact number — but at least one account put the number at 30.
Rostami tried to pull him back inside the car, but others in the crowd began attack her, the police report stated. She was beaten a half dozen times by an unidentified black man.
Rostami was eventually able to call 9-1-1. Police officers responded, they wrote an incident report and labeled it “simple assault.”
The reporters had to take a week off to recover from their injuries. To date no one has been arrested for the crime.
There was no mention of the attack in the pages of The Virginian-Pilot until Tuesday – more than two weeks later – when columnist Michelle Washington wrote a detailed story on the police department’s handling of the attack and she raised questions about her own newspaper’s lack of coverage.
And she also mentioned another previously undisclosed component to the story.
The day after the attack Forster searched Twitter and found a chilling tweet Washington wrote.
“I feel for the white man who got beat up at the light,” one person wrote.
“I don’t,” wrote another, indicating laughter. ‘(do it for trayvon martin) (sic)”
When did it become okay to hit a woman?
Reporters Dave Forster and Marjon Rostami were leaving a concert on the night of April 14 when a crowd of around 100 young people gathered on the sidewalk near their car. Rostami reached over to lock the door.
According to a police report obtained by Fox News, a black male hurled a rock at the car. Forster got out and tried to confront the individual who damaged his car. Instead, a gang of attackers began punching and pound the reporter. Police would not confirm the exact number — but at least one account put the number at 30.
Rostami tried to pull him back inside the car, but others in the crowd began attack her, the police report stated. She was beaten a half dozen times by an unidentified black man.
Rostami was eventually able to call 9-1-1. Police officers responded, they wrote an incident report and labeled it “simple assault.”
The reporters had to take a week off to recover from their injuries. To date no one has been arrested for the crime.
There was no mention of the attack in the pages of The Virginian-Pilot until Tuesday – more than two weeks later – when columnist Michelle Washington wrote a detailed story on the police department’s handling of the attack and she raised questions about her own newspaper’s lack of coverage.
And she also mentioned another previously undisclosed component to the story.
The day after the attack Forster searched Twitter and found a chilling tweet Washington wrote.
“I feel for the white man who got beat up at the light,” one person wrote.
“I don’t,” wrote another, indicating laughter. ‘(do it for trayvon martin) (sic)”
When did it become okay to hit a woman?