Shameful Reporting

Let them know what you think.

Being Facebook friends with older people is hard enough. Whether it's an aunt, (or more obscure family member) or a family friend, or even your own parent—they post embarrassing things. Usually it's only embarrassing because they don't fully understand the purpose of Facebook. My own mother's profile picture was sideways for a full year. But sometimes, sometimes it's worse than that. Recently, due to one of these older Facebook friends, a website was brought to my attention. This is a website that represents itself as a news outlet, but in reality I'd say it's debatable at best. Before I go any further, I am in no way suggesting that only older people post links to sketchy sites—even those of us born in the so called "social media generation" fall victim to savvy web design and smoke and mirrors from time to time. I'd like to think that this particular website never could have fooled me.

The website I'm referring to is AmericanOverlook.com. The masthead reads "Reporting the Truth." The site has a clear racial bias. It seems that every article is related to race. (Whether or not the news story is inherently related to race) Here are a few headlines from the time this was written:

93 year-old Rape Victim Bravely Speaks Out About Attack: The accompanying picture is a mug shot of a black male, presumably the accused.

Thug Charged With Burglary and Murder of 99 Year Old Woman: The accompanying picture is a mug shot of a black male, as if the readership of AmericanOverlook.com couldn't make that assumption from "thug."

VIDEO: Group of Kids Violently Bully 3-Year Old: The accompanying picture is of a young black girl with her hands on a young white girl's shoulders. When the article is clicked on it says the video was deleted.

Ronald Reagan's Son: "The Butler" Movie Is a Lie: The accompanying picture is of a smiling Reagan and wife with an American flag behind him.

It seems insignificant to point out the mistake of having "The Butler" in quotes instead of italics. In the midst of these headlines the use of quotation marks is clearly the least objectionable thing I can find. I won't argue the veracity of any of these stories. Maybe Americanoverlook.com exclusively prints the truth, but a news site that so deliberately prints only the truths its readers want disgusts me. It probably says more about the business of reporting news more than any particular website, but this one was presented to me, and it bothers me. If American Overlook is your only source of news, you are probably convinced that the United States is being overrun by "thugs" and that all respectable people are running for cover (I presume Ronald Reagan represents respectable people because he is the only non "thug" on the front page. I'll let you define "thug" for yourself.)

It looks like a news site. It reads like racism. I encourage you to check this out for yourself. If you would like American Overlook to know what you think about their reporting, they can be contacted at: [e-mail]