As I’ve pointed out many times before, The Philadelphia Inquirer is our nation’s third oldest continuously published daily newspaper, serving the nation’s sixth largest city and seventh largest metropolitan area, winner of twenty Pulitzer Prizes, the unofficial newspaper of record for the area, but they just don’t want to report the news!

Man Shoots Would-Be Car Thief During Gun Battle, Police Say

During the gun battle, the 18-year-old was shot four times throughout his body and collapsed to the ground after trying to flee, according to investigators.

By David Chang • Published March 16, 2023 • Updated on March 16, 2023 • 11:54 PM EDT

An 18-year-old man was shot four times after he got into a gun battle with the owner of the car he was trying to steal in Northeast Philadelphia, police said.

Police said the 18-year-old and a second suspect were trying to steal a Toyota sedan along the 4400 block of Princeton Avenue around 3:30 p.m. on Thursday. The two suspects went inside the car when the vehicle’s owner, a 26-year-old man, heard the commotion and exited his home, according to investigators.

The 4400 block of Princeton Avenue isn’t a depressed area, but one of reasonably well-kept single-family, duplexes, and four-family homes. Chief Inspector Scott Small noted that the 26-year-old vehicle owner was licensed to carry a firearm. While we do not know the owner’s motivation for having a weapon, as we noted a year-and-a-day ago, license-to-carry applications have skyrocketed in Philly.

The 26-year-old man was armed with a gun. Police said the 18-year-old man – who was also armed – exited the vehicle and the two men got into a shootout. Police have not yet determined who fired first.

There’s more at the original, and the NBC News 10 site is not behind a paywall.

As expected, the Inquirer had nothing at all on the story, either on its website main page or specific crime page, as of 10:00 AM EDT on St Patrick’s Day. Oh, there are several stories about people protesting “gun violence,” but, all told, the Inquirer is doing exactly what publisher Elizabeth Hughes said it would: censor the news!

• Establishing a Community News Desk to address long-standing shortcomings in how our journalism portrays Philadelphia communities, which have often been stigmatized by coverage that over-emphasizes crime.
• Creating an internal forum for journalists to seek guidance on potentially sensitive content and to ensure that antiracism is central to the journalism.
• Commissioning an independent audit of our journalism that resulted in a critical assessment. Many of the recommendations are being addressed, and a process for tracking progress is being developed.
• Training our staff and managers on how to recognize and avoid cultural bias.
• Examining our crime and criminal justice coverage with Free Press, a nonprofit focused on racial justice in media.

Miss Hughes did something really radical in that: she told us the truth, that the Inquirer would no longer tell the truth, not if that truth might offend some people. The Inky will talk about “gun violence” in the abstract, but is loath to report on the actual crime that has made Philadelphians arm themselves against the gang-bangers and wannabes.

We previously noted that the Inky has reported on some crime stories, but most recently over 24 hours later, after every other media source in the city had covered it.

It’s time to ask the obvious question: can The Philadelphia Inquirer even be considered a legitimate new source if it has been directed not to cover certain things?