It turns on alliteration sharper than a sword, besides plumbing the association of murder most foul with the can-do-goodism of a people’s advertising daily named Craigslist – the internet upstart that has, since 1995, upended the advertising model of the old media; the same media that is now blithely tarring the internet upstart with the “killer” moniker.
What gives? The logic behind the knee-jerk association rarely stands up to scrutiny …. or reason. Take the then most recent case in this saga: The tragic killing of Garret Berki, an 18 year old college student, following a meeting in San Diego at which the student was hoping to buy a MacBook Pro he had seen in the Craigslist classifieds. The meet-up turned into a robbery which ended tragically when the student who had been robbed of $600 and a couple of cell-phones, cornered the perpetrators in a residential cul-de-sac. One of them shot Garrett who died about an hour later from a wound to the chest. A sad, tragic story if ever there was one, but the representation of it across printed and electronic media raises questions about how old media operatives, who should know better, have been labeling this story. Coincidence or collusion? You be the judge.
cyberaxis 