Huh?

I'm trying to square Politico's headline — "Baltimore braces for results of Freddie Gray inquiry" — with its penultimate paragraph:

City officials, religious leaders and the Gray family’s lawyer have stressed … that the public should not expect to know any more details about what happened on Friday. There are fears that any revelations could spark new unrest.

In the reported absence of any "results" tomorrow, what is it that Baltimore is bracing for? What am I missing here?

 

Comments

[Peter G]

I had a late night last night at work and maybe should learn to sleep during the day. But I did get to watch the crew at MSNBC at work in Baltimore. It was an all hands operation with Rachel anchoring the hand offs to every single correspondent they possess breathlessly reporting on the peacefulness and anxiously awaiting its end. But nothing happened. Great for Baltimore. Bad for failing cable news show.

I've been thinking about your post the other day on getting news by phone and comments on social media and such and I am beginning to see a silver lining here. The superficiality of news coverage is a problem of course but worse still is its shelf life. News cycles grow ever shorter but maybe frequency will actually help. The protests and attendant violence were once relatively rare phenomena but it is surprising when you look at the igniting spark, if not the underlying complaint. Then it dropped out of public consciousness until the next rare eruption. And nothing changed.

Now I despise click bait journalism which is basically the only type now on offer but there's no denying that the advent of police violence porn, justified or not, is keeping this important issue on the front burner. The conversation everyone is supposed to have about race and economics and public policy may finally have some legs. And when it shows signs of fading we can pretty much count on an opportunity to revisit the subject in some other town or city. Who knows something positive might result.

[David & Son of Duff]

"police violence porn"?????

"The conversation everyone is supposed to have about race and economics and public policy"

But you don't want a "conversation", you just want everyone to form circle holding hands and chant the same old dogma. Bit like those Christian churches you despise!

[Bob]

Baltimore is supposedly waiting for no report on Friday, followed by rock and Molotov cocktail confetti. Gotta keep the suspense level high, people. Even though we already pay for it cable's got soap to sell. Don't touch that dial.