Sunday, April 4, 2010

Covering foster care in Los Angeles: Better boilerplate at the LA Times

Los Angeles Times reporter Kim Christensen proved Saturday that it is possible to cover the story of child abuse fatalities in Los Angeles County without the loaded language. Instead of the usual boilerplate paragraph falsely suggesting that child abuse deaths among children previously known to the county Department of Children and Family Services were increasing, Christensen offered this far more accurate summary:

"The county's child-welfare system -- and those in charge of it -- have come under intense scrutiny in the last two years as deaths among children have come to light."

Exactly.