No, that’s not a typo in the headline: The spelling ‘journolist’ or ‘journolism’ comes from JournoList, an email list of 400 influential and politically liberal journalists, the exposure of which called into question their objectivity. I use the term ‘journolism’ frequently when writing about media bias.

The Lexington Herald-Leader doesn’t like to publish photos of people accused of, or even convicted of, serious crimes, but they made an exception in the case of Brandi Whitaker, formerly a biology teacher at Madison Southern High School near Berea who allegedly had sex with a 16-year-old male student; Miss Whitaker pleaded guilty to an electronic communication charge, a Class D felony in Kentucky, and was sentenced to a year behind bars.

Part of a series that the newspaper carried on teachers who’ve had their licenses suspended, primarily for sexual abuse of students, was mentioned because Miss Whitaker received a “shock probation” in less than two months.

Man arrested, charged after shooting in downtown Lexington early Sunday morning

by Taylor Six | Sunday, October 2, 2022 | 2:10 PM EDT

A man is facing multiple charges after he was arrested in downtown Lexington following a shooting that sent a man to the hospital early Sunday morning.

Twenty-eight-year-old Adrian Black was arrested by Lexington Police after he allegedly shot a man near the Fifth-Third Pavilion and Cheapside, according to Sgt. Nate Williams.

Around 1:45 a.m. on Sunday, police working in the downtown entertainment area heard shots fired. The located a adult male victim with non-life threatening injuries.

According to Williams, police were able to locate Black who was leaving the scene in the immediate area.

Williams stated officers on the scene were told by witnesses that there was a physical altercation before the shooting between the suspects.

Adrian Marcel Black, born February 7, 1994, was not exactly unfamiliar to the Lexington Police Department, as the public record from the Fayette County Detention Center shows two previous mug shots of him, dated March 22, 2014 and June 11, 2019. He faces charges of:

• KRS §508.060 Wanton Endangerment, First Degree, two counts, a Class D felony, which, under KRS §532.060 carries a sentence of one (1) to five (5) years in the state penitentiary.
• KRS §508.010, Assault, First Degree, a Class B felony, which, under KRS §532.060 carries a sentence of no less than ten (10) to twenty (20) years in the state penitentiary.

The crimes of which Mr Black has been accused are serious ones, far more serious than that to which Miss Whitaker pleaded guilty, as measured by the fact she was convicted of a single Class D felony, while Mr Black faces a Class B felony charge, yet what my best friend used to call the Herald-Liberal chose not to print his photo, unlike the case with Miss Whitaker.

I might not have covered this, had the newspaper not published the photo of Miss Whitaker; that would have been consistent with their policy — a policy with which I disagree — of not publishing such photos. But they did publish Miss Whitaker’s photo, then returned to their standard operating procedure by not publishing Mr Black’s. Yet Mr Black, if he makes his $50,000 bail, is far more of a clear and present danger on the city’s streets than Miss Whitaker!