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Censoring the News?

It is a story out of Tallahassee, Florida that made national headlines. 19-year-old Black Lives Matter activist Oluwatoyin Salau was found dead.

Salau had been active in speaking out after the death of George Floyd.

Salau was found dead with another woman named Victoria Sims, an AARP volunteer. Aaron Glee Jr., has been charged with murder and kidnapping in connection with their deaths.

Both Salau and Sims were found dead at a home in Tallahassee where Glee resided, the authorities said. 

It is that home that news stations in town have been going live from and filing their reports.

But now, Scripps owned WTXL will no longer be reporting from the home, or even saying what street the home is on.

According to an internal email sent to the staff from News Director Vicki Bradley and obtained by FTVLive, a woman called the station and said that the news crews on the street and naming the street is having an adverse impact on the neighborhood, where the woman also owns other rental properties.

The staff has now been told to not name the street, show the street sign, or show the house.

When it comes to news reporting, it’s about the Who, What, Where, and Why?

If you are leaving out the where is that doing your job?

I understand that the woman is upset that her home and the street has become the focus of a news story, but when cops find two dead bodies inside, that’s what is going to happen.

Will the station start doing this with other crime stories as well?

Can anyone just call the station and say don’t show my neighborhood?

You cover the news when and where it happens, that’s your job and it is going to upset some people.

Here is the memo, obtained by FTVLive: