Ferguson prosecutor slams “non-stop” social media while calling for increased attention to race

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St. Louis County Prosecutor Robert McCulloch delivered a sometimes combative 25-minute address to announce a grand jury's decision not to indict Ferguson (MO) police officer Darren Wilson for the Aug. 9 shooting death of black teenager Michael Brown.

During the announcement, McCulloch focused particular attention on the role of social media in covering the story, which he blamed for misleading the public and making the investigation of Brown's death fraught from the start. He said retellings of the incident on social media were "filled with speculation, and little, if any solid, accurate information." In fact, the most significant challenge in his three-month investigation, he said, was the insatiable 24-hour news cycle and "non-stop rumors on social media," which he said clung to any available scrap of real or imagined insight into the case.


Ferguson prosecutor slams “non-stop” social media while calling for increased attention to race Ferguson prosecutor blames the media (Politico)