Notes on a scandal...

I watched KPTV's newscast about the Sam Adams issue last night. Even though the identity of the 18 year old man has been extensively published, KPTV opted not to disclose the man's identity (this is usually done to protect the identity of minor victims; Breedlove's name is all over the KPTV website today). They also replaced the Breedlove's name in transcripts with "[teen]." If this isn't an example of artificially making a story more than it is, then I don't know what is. Here's my comment on KPTV.com:

I found it reprehensible that KPTV's 10pm broadcast last night edited transcripts of Adams' statements by replacing Beau Breedlove's name with "teen." Eighteen years old, by every other news publication standards, is an adult. KPTV tried to appear to take the high road by omitting Breedlove's name from the story (and, of course, reminding you that they did so). Breedlove's privacy doesn't seem to be as big a deal less than 10 hours later. KPTV couldn't handle the fact that their story was only about two consenting adults, they had to give the appearance of something more insidious. I think it's awful what occured, but would rather get straight news (no pun intended) than KPTV's distorted (and always somehow self promoting) version.