kvia-abrahamI am always writing about the lack of reliable news outlets in El Paso. As bad as it is – some news outlets really take it to the extreme. KVIA published a new item titled “Prominent El Paso attorney Sib Abraham is dying, son says” by Leonard Martinez yesterday in the afternoon. This is probably one of the worst examples of “news” pieces I have ever seen.

The whole piece is based on one sentence; “Prominent attorney Sib Abraham is gravely ill and near death, according to his son, Bill Abraham”. Except for clarifying that the disease is pancreatic cancer the rest of the whole news item takes the lawyer’s profile from a lawyer’s publication and regurgitates it to the readers.

That is it, a whole “news” item about a rumor of death sourced to one individual only. Where is the search for facts or reactions or any “news reporter” work in the piece?

It is nothing more than a rumor being broadcast so that the news outlet, in this case KVIA can claim to be the first.

Borrowing a phrase from the blogger at El Paso Speak, “El Paso deserves better”.

How absolutely disgusting that KVIA would publish this item as news.

Martin Paredes

Martín Paredes is a Mexican immigrant who built his business on the U.S.-Mexican border. As an immigrant, Martín brings the perspective of someone who sees México as a native through the experience...

7 replies on “A Quick Note on Journalism Failures”

  1. Here’s why you should stick to conspiracy theories – Billy Abraham called the station to tell them about his father’s condition. The reason the story was reported is because Sib is a prominent attorney in this town. The source – no matter what you think of Billy as a person – is unimpeachable, in this instance. There was no need to do any digging. Did you want the station to go running to the hospital? Would a camera shot of Sib’s distraught family have satisfied your misguided standards of “journalistic ethics” concerning this story? The man is dying. His son decided to make hay out of it, and now you are making hay out of the story of his impending death. He, and you, are disgusting. Shut the hell up.

    2. Ahh but Patty loves to visit. I wish you would shut the hell up for once Patty coconut.

  2. im not sure i would have taken billy’s word for it. didnt he run over a homeless guy while being drunk and left the scene ? im not sure i would believe anything he said.

  3. It’s inappropriate that Mr. Abraham’s son would call the station to tell them this. It shows low journalistic standards for the Times to print it. The family knows, close friends should already know, those in the legal community who don’t know already can ready about it in the obituary. Sorry to sound harsh, but this is not news. I think Martin’s point is well taken. Does the Times does any investigative reporting? Seldom. The EPISD story was handed to them by Shapleigh, but the Times didn’t follow through on it until much later. Martin Schalden does a better job of reporting and writing than anyone else at the Times. It’s easy to print what is handed to you in a news release, which is basically what this was. But it the Times doesn’t have to print every news release and should not have been printed this. Maybe Billy is trying to save the high Times obituary fee.

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