Dear cnn

Open letter to the editor(s)

Dear cnn,

I understand that as a business, you "need" to include all sorts of infotainment and trashy celebrity stories to make ends meet, or to raise ratings and web hits for advertisers, but that is no excuse for the shockingly offensive story you ran on your homepage on March 31st, 2009 called "Man punches blond woman on bus." Clearly it was so striking that I am devoting an email and a blog post to it more than a month later. Maybe I need to get out more.

I'm not saying that KCPQ's James Lynch is not equally responsible, but I really was surprised cnn would run a story that was framed in that way, let alone feature it. Any responsible reporter would see that story for what it was-- a sad case of someone with mental illness who was not receiving the help he needed.

If anything, this was a chance to report national news that would raise awareness of an important issue in the U.S., such as the ever-diminishing funding for mental health services that is leaving so many in need without access to the care they need. In fact, you could even report on how the growing need for care is further exacerbated by the current economic crisis. Oooh, timeliness! And since you are apparently so fond of running homey, 'local' stories without doing any work of your own, I asked my friend google to help me and it turned up this lovely press release on America's Mental Health Care Crisis from the National Council for Community Behavioral Health Care-- it's written and ready to go!

Instead of educating voters on an important issue, however, Lynch made that story about yet another 'faceless black man' committing a random violent act on a defenseless white citizen. Really, cnn?

Your friend,

Rachel

P.S. yes, I heard the mumbled last line about "a man out there with a mental past.." in the last 3 seconds of the video. Bravo.