2 Shot, Cookie Cutter Journalism Ensues

Fear and panic abound about a shoot out behind a Hyde Park School by teenagers. Was this about drugs? I don't know.

What I see in this story is a formula that is tired and does a disservice to the reader. We don't need to hear the fears of those living 100 yards away. Why is the reporting taking the angle that the fear caused in the neighborhood is news? The news is why the person was shot and who did it. Those are the facts. Adding in the fears of local residents creates an image that people who don't pay attention suck up like sheep that Hyde Park is somehow unsafe. Sure, report this happened, but the story is not the neighborhood reaction. That is a backstory, if and only if you get letters or outcry from residents on their own, not at the prompting of a reporter’s questions.