Author: William H. Freivogel

Twitter explodes with invective, partisan comment after Ferguson shootings

By WILLIAM H. FREIVOGEL / Twitter provided the earliest reports of the shooting of two police officers in Ferguson this week. It also provided the forum for invective, hate and partisan reaction. President Barack Obama used Twitter to condemn the shootings and conservative critics condemned Obama for relegating his response to Twitter. Fox commentators blamed

Minds open; don’t prejudge

By WILLIAM H. FREIVOGEL / In announcing that no federal criminal charges would be filed against Officer Darren Wilson, Attorney General Eric Holder said he recognized “the findings in our report may leave some to wonder how the department’s findings can differ so sharply from some of the initial, widely reported accounts of what transpired."

“Blue on black’ violence statistics explained

BY WILLIAM H. FREIVOGEL// An article of faith among those protesting Michael Brown’s death and among much of the media writing about the protests in Ferguson is that young African-American men are far more likely to be shot by police than young white men. Much of the national media – The New York Times, USA

Who’s leaking in Ferguson?

By WILLIAM H. FREIVOGEL// Attorney General Eric Holder said this week that he was "exasperated" by the flood of leaks from the criminal investigations of Ferguson Officer Darren Wilson's shooting of Michael Brown on Aug. 9. He suspects local officials leaked the information favorable to Wilson, just as they had earlier leaked a

Ferguson aftermath, two months later

By WILLIAM H. FREIVOGEL// Two months after Officer Darren Wilson shot Michael Brown, St. Louis remains at the vortex of a media whirlwind of live streaming video, social media, traditional media, national media and slanted cable and online outlets. For this journalist of four decades, the coverage of such an important national story in our