Cap’n Ken’s Homespun Wisdom

Now that Fox 5 has run its “clarification” about the Atlanta homicide story during the newscasts that ran the reports I”ve seen, I can confirm that they are lying about what they originally reported, which is pathetic, but not entirely surprising.

In the clarification (this one is from 10 p.m. last night - the script was the same in both newscasts this morning, but read without the smooth skill of Russ Spencer), Fox 5 states:

“We want to clarify a report we aired yesterday. We reported that FBI statistics showed a dramatic increase in homicides in 2006 in Atlanta”s Zone 6 precinct, which includes much of the eastern part of the city. Now during that report, we showed video of locations in East Atlanta Village, and in fact there were no homicides in East Atlanta Village in 2006. We regret the false impression caused by that videotape.”

That is an absolute lie. Fox 5 did not report a dramatic increase in homicides in Zone 6. Fox 5 reported a dramatic increase in homicides in “east Atlanta.”

Specifically, they reported:

“The increase has been seen citywide, but nowhere has the jump been as dramatic as in east Atlanta, where in 2005 they had 6 murders; last year 15, a 150% spike.” - this was in their report that aired at about 5:30 a.m. yesterday. The “as dramatic as east Atlanta” line was accompanied by a shot of the “Welcome to East Atlanta” sign.

And:

“The murder rate is up all over the city, but especially in east Atlanta, which had 6 murders in 2005 and 15 last year, a 150% increase.” - this was in their report that aired at about 6:30 a.m. yesterday, and the report generally was toned down to focus less on East Atlanta.

“Zone 6″ was never mentioned.

Fox 5 reported that homicides were up dramatically in East Atlanta. They want to dance around what they reported and pretend this was simply a matter of poorly-placed video. But they clearly associated these murders with the East Atlanta neighborhood (not some vague notion of “the east part of Atlanta”) by never mentioning any area other than “east Atlanta” and showing our “Welcome to East Atlanta” as they said murders were up in “east Atlanta”.

Yet they are unwilling to admit their mistake and fully own up to the damage they inflicted on the neighborhood”s reputation. Instead we get sugar-coated revisionist history intended to make Fox 5 look less at fault than they actually were.

Apparently Fox 5 is more interested in protecting its own reputation than they are in damage they inflict on East Atlanta”s reputation.

Oh, this has pissed me off. Last night and today, Fox 5 here in Atlanta has been reporting on the increase in murders in our fair city during 2006. The biggest increase in the number of murders occurred in Atlanta”s Zone 6, of which East Atlanta is a part. In 2006, there were 15 homicides in Zone 6, compared to 6 in 2005.

So Fox 5 decides to focus on this increase in reports by Mark Teichner that aired on their 10 p.m. news last night and during their morning news program today. I”m not sure how long this will remain live on their site, but here”s a version of the report on their horrible myfoxatlanta.com website.

In that report, Fox 5 makes this statement:

“But nowhere has the jump been as dramatic as in East Atlanta, where in 2005 they had 6 murders; last year 15. A 150% spike.”

In case you do not see the video, it was peppered with scenes from East Atlanta, including our big green “Welcome to East Atlanta” sign and shots along Flat Shoals Avenue.

But there”s a little problem here. Their claim that murders were up in East Atlanta is 100%, absolutely, indisputably false. During 2006, there were exactly zero murders in East Atlanta. None. Not any.

Atlanta”s Zone 6 includes eleven separate “beats”, and the APD reports crimes by category, zone and beat. This is accessible through a crime mapping tool on the APD website.

Here”s the rundown of homicides in Zone 6 broken out by the individual beats:

Beat 601 - 0 homicides
Beat 602 - 3 homicides
Beat 603 - 0 homicides

Beat 604 - 1 homicide
Beat 605 - 1 homicide
Beat 606 - 0 homicides
Beat 607 - 1 homicide
Beat 608 - 4 homicides
Beat 609 - 1 homicide

Beat 610 - 0 homicides
Beat 611 - 4 homicides

East Atlanta is Beat 610 - zero homicides. Yet Fox 5 chose to tag East Atlanta with having a 150% increase in murders during 2006. This is likely a result of the typical extremely lazy journalism practiced by local television stations, but the effect is that over their air they have repeatedly painted East Atlanta as an area of the city that has experienced a 150% increase in homicides over the past year, and tangentially suggested East Atlanta has a drug dealing problem, as they have placed the cause of Atlanta”s increased homicide rate on drug activity.

Often times the media refers to “east Atlanta” in the generic sense (there is a big difference between “east Atlanta” and “East Atlanta”), but in this case, Fox 5 specifically came to East Atlanta, broadcast our welcome sign and neighborhood scenes along with the statement that murders in “East Atlanta” have risen 150%. Completely irresponsible and absolutely associating this with “East Atlanta”, not just “east Atlanta”.

I”ve written to a bunch of people at Fox 5 demanding a retraction to this defamatory portrayal of East Atlanta. We”ll see what happens, but I wanted to at least expose the truth here.

That is all.

Update: Apparently Fox 5 leadership doesn”t like to respond to emails, but if you create a blog on their crappy community site calling them out, they”ll give you a response. The guy there is hiding behind the notion that “eastern Atlanta” is what they meant, so I don”t expect much of a meaningful retraction, but we”ll see.

No, really. A physical Apple Store “closed for renovations” and - according to the nice gentleman who told us not to take photos - re-opening tomorrow morning [check that: apple.com says June 9].

This is the Apple Store at Lenox Square in Atlanta - today, June 1 around 11:15.

So are they remodeling for some particular reason? Anything interesting going to appear when they re-open the place in a week?

Intriguing.

There was a rare excellent business story in the AJC this weekend - an exclusive sit-down with Coca-Cola”s CEO and President that focused on problems the soda giant continues to have in the North America market. The two talked frankly about recognizing deep problems in U.S. operations, the perception problem with high-calorie colas and their strategy to better link drinks like Coke Zero and Diet Coke to the “Coca-Cola” brand.

It was insightful, important … and edited. The AJC even went out of their way to note “Here are edited excerpts:”

Apparently the AJC published online just the same column-inch-confined story that made the paper. Or perhaps they ran the longer Q&A in the physical paper as a way of punishing online readers? That would make no sense, but I wouldn”t put it past the AJC. And if that”s the strategy, they should put a note online saying as much. But, again, that would be a lot to ask.

The AJC should take a clue from Wired, which ran a Q&A with Google”s Eric Schmidt this month and did it right. In the magazine, they ran their edited piece; and online you got the full text if you wanted it.

And, of course, the AJC still suffers from their failed strategy of requiring users to give them a fake email address and fake information to read their stories online, which is why I”m not linking to their Coke Q&A.

I”m happy to see my beloved Coke Zero finally seeming to take hold in the market. On my recent Kentucky road trip, I was able to find Zero (and even Cherry Zero) in just about every dinky little convenience store I stopped in. And I like the company”s new “sue Coke Zero” campaign. An AJC piece last month did a good job of explaining the shift in thinking that had to happen on North Avenue to start positioning Zero against the Golden Goose - Coca-Cola.

But watching the “sue Coke Zero” ads - in which they pulled some actual Coke lawyers in for hidden-camera discussions about the Coke team wanting to sue the Zero team - I can”t help but wonder how many attorneys they tried this trick with … and whether any of them happened to be outside counsel. I can imagine a particularly entertaining exchange with the right lawyer sitting on the other side of the table.

Also, nice work on the part of Coke”s agency to digitally update the ads with Zero”s new black (rather than original white) image.

Frame from YouTube video:

Frame from the Coke Zero site:

As part of my free life lesson program, I had the distinct pleasure to be in Atlanta Traffic Court Monday afternoon for the first live session using the court”s new computerized case-management system. The pleasure came from the pure comedy involved in watching a staid old traffic court judge try to use one of those newfangled computer systems. It seemed a whole lot like trying to teach your grandpa to check his email.

The judge actually had a representative from the system vendor sitting with him as he tried to navigate the system - during a live court session. Hardly any action attempted went well for the judge, and his frustration steadily grew during the 90 minutes I had to stick around to be on hand. Almost away from his mic, the judge would mutter things like “why can”t I just change this to $15? I want it to say 15 bucks!!” to his hand-holder, and couldn”t use the system at all to do some things.

A typical case went something like this:

Judge: Call the next case.

Clerk: DEFENDANT NAME

Judge: Mr. DEFENDANT NAME, you”re charged with … … … … seat belt violation.

Solicitor: Your honor, Mr. DEFENDANT NAME has three citations.

Judge: I don”t see that.

Judge”s Helper: [reaches over to show judge where to see the citations]

Judge: [to Judge"s Helper] Well, why doesn”t that show here? [pointing to screen]

Judge”s Helper: [points at screen, mumbles instructions to judge]

Judge: Mr. DEFENDANT NAME, you”re charged with … … I can”t read this (poorly-scanned citation image)

Solicitor: [lists charges]

Judge: OK, Mr. DEFENDANT NAME, are you entering a plea?

DEFENDANT: Yes sir. Guilty.

Judge: OK, $150 fine plus state surcharges … … … [to Judge"s Helper] Where does it show the fine?

Judge”s Helper: [points at screen]

Judge: [stares at screen, fumbles around with mouse] [to Judge"s Helper] I can”t change it!

Judge”s Helper: [points at screen]

Judge: [to Judge"s Helper] Why do I have to do that twice? I want to just put the fine here [points at screen]

Judge: [stares at screen, fumbles around with mouse] … … … … … … … OK, Mr. DEFENDANT NAME, please step through the door to your right and see the cashier.

Judge: Call the next case.

You get the idea. The scene was captured in this courtroom drawing that looks remarkably like a piece of a decent camera-phone picture (those courtroom artists are good!)

After making it through about five cases - none of which involved anything more than a defendant saying “guilty” and paying a fine or “not guilty” and getting a trial date - in an hour, the judge went into speed-plea mode. He called cases alphabetically because it was a lot easier to find them that way, and had defendants queue up 10 deep to compensate for the slowness of him getting through each case.

Fortunately, the guy who hit me is a “C”, so I was out of there pretty quickly. But it was a lot of fun to watch while I was there.

And the scary news? The next phase of traffic court efficiency is replacing the paper citation pads cops carry with an electronic device that records everything digitally and just spits out a small receipt for the offender. I”m sure that”ll go off without a hitch.