Duke lacrosse: Neff and Taylor at the National Press Club

La Shawn Barber attended the panel discussion and has an in-depth post on it:

Duke Case: Journalists’ Rush to Judgment

A couple of points caught my attention.

Joeseph Neff of the News and Observer is remarkably astute about the cable news shows:

His paper was getting calls from national media outlets that essentially wanted local reporters to come on their shows and do the reporting for them.

Some members of the MSM remain arrogantly obtuse:

[American Journalism Review editor] Reider closed the discussion with this: Let the Duke case be a lesson for young journalists. Try to avoid the rush to judgment and mob mentality. Report crime stories like the Duke case as routine court cases. That will help keep the focus on facts, not stereotypes.

I don't know why Reider thinks that young journalists have a special need for this lesson. The student-run Duke Chronicle did a better job on this case than the New York Times. The people who should be chided are old bulls like John Feinstein who bloviate little regard to the facts.

Moreover, who is Reider to preach in light of this little nugget?

Reider said that the MSM’s coverage of the story is the new story and admitted that his publication, The American Journalism Review, should address this but hasn’t so far.