Despite controvery, editor upholds story April 7, 2009

Original post from The Temple News.

CHRIS STOVER
Editor in Chief

Shannon McDonald stands by the 22nd Police District headquarters. A story she wrote on an officer recently garnered media attention (Julia Wilkinson/TTN).

Shannon McDonald thought a ride-along with a Philadelphia Police officer would make a good story for her capstone journalism class.

Though she received an ‘A’ on the report, she is now embroiled in a controversy that might not have been worth the grade.

“I just wanted to get some crime specifics and information on [the neighborhood] and … to see how the officer interacts with the community,” said McDonald, a senior magazine journalism major and managing editor of The Temple News.

McDonald wrote the article, titled “Black and Blue,” for the Multimedia Urban Reporting Lab, the capstone course for journalism seniors. The article was published to MURL’s Web site in early February.

In it, she quotes Officer William Thrasher, 24, as using derogatory terms and expletives in describing the district he patrols, which has a large African-American population.

“These people are f—— disgusting,” Thrasher reportedly said per McDonald’s article. “It’s like they’re animals.”

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