In an interesting turn of events, the man who police had centered on in the case of a Chicago judge's murdered family may not be the proper suspect at all.
Granted, Matthew Hale, the white supremacist on trial in Chicago, made a compelling target. it's easy to dislike racists, much easier to ascribe crimes that occur within their circle of influence to them. But it is not proper conduct, and it is irresponsible for the media to run with a story with so little information. Hale had all but been tried and convicted in the various news stories that went out over the mainstream news outlets; now, following the suicide of a man in West Allis, Wisconsin, it appears that Hale was not the only person with motive.
A judge's job is perhaps one of the most difficult, especially for criminal court judges. Given the nature of their job and their caseload, any judge of reasonable tenure likely has a laundry list of enemies that should be closely examined before one is singled out. Although the police may have done so in this case, the media did not. They saw a racist and they ran with it, in part because it added juice to the story.
Much as Randy Weaver's personal beliefs didn't necessitate his family's execution at the hands of the US equivalent of stormtroopers (under the CLINTON administration, for all you libs out there), Hale's personal beliefs do not necessitate equating his name with ruthless murder. In the case of Weaver, he was made into a hero when in fact, given everything else known about him, he should have been anything BUT a hero. The Hale case is similar. What irritates me most is that, like the Weaver case, the attention focused on Hale may promote SYMPATHY for the man where there should be none, resulting in a lighter sentence.
But, the brunt of the responsibility here doesn't fall on the media, but upon US. We are so ravenous for a sensationalist story that we will accept anything that suits our fancy, regardless of the facts. In many ways, the media is only a monster if we continue to feed it.
So stop feeding. The media does not, and should not, play a role in determining guilt or innocence.