Some viewers of WTOK in Meridian, Mississippi are upset over how long it took the ABC affiliate to air video showing a black teenager allegedly being beaten by white men while being taunted with racial slurs.
Here’s the video. Some language may be considered offensive.
“Show the correct way to report the story,” said protestor Danny Evans. “It took ya’ll over a week or so to show the video of a young kid, beaten by some white guys with a gun to his head.”
The station said it got the video last Thursday and aired it yesterday after “verifying its authenticity and learning some of the facts regarding it.”
The station said yesterday the video was posted by the mother of the teen being beaten after one of his alleged attackers sent it to his cell phone. Police are investigating the incident.
“Newscenter 11 has a long history of fair, accurate, and timely news coverage,” said WTOK GM Tim Walker. “Any assertion that a recent story has not been covered in that manner is without merit.”