The Los Angeles Times buried yesterday’s news about biggest local story this week on page B8:

The Los Angeles Police Department on Thursday released still images lifted from security videotapes showing that Jose Raul Peña was gripping his 19-month-old daughter with one arm and shooting with the other during a 2 1/2 -hour police standoff Sunday.

… The video images clearly show a man said by police to be Peña emerging from the door to a small interior office into a cluttered, open area of the dealership. One of his arms is circled around the toddler; the other is held straight out, gripping a 9-millimeter Beretta pistol as he fires out an exterior door.

… The images are shot from above, and the details are difficult to make out. But in at least two images, he appears to be shooting.

The story had the wimpy headline “Video Adds to Picture of LAPD Shootout.” This after yesterday’s headline on B1: “LAPD Bullet Killed Girl in Clash”

We know front page space is at a premium. But was Cameron Diaz’s court testimony about her partially nude photographs (from 1993) really more newsworthy? Or that scandal-tainted San Diego Congressman Randy “Duke” Cunningham will retire after this term (yes, he’s from the San Diego that’s 120 miles south of Los Angeles)?

If the biggest paper in town is going to run with “LAPD Bullet Killed Girl” on the front page of the local section one day, when photographic evidence is produced the next day of just how insane the situation was, it should get the same prominence.
Of course we wonder why the LAPD was shooting when they knew there was a hostage — but no one has gotten the complete picture yet. The LAT shouldn’t leave most of its readers — the ones who don’t get past the front page, or who only skim headlines — with “LAPD Bullet Killed Girl” as the last thing they read about this tragedy.

Technorati Tags: LA Times, Los Angeles, Los Angeles Times

This entry was posted on Friday, July 15th, 2005 at 10:53 am by A Senior Administration Official and is filed under Los Angeles Times. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.