In-credible

We were going to post on the following on Tuesday but talked ourselves down off the ledge. Here was the gist of the situation: On Sunday, two armed men broke into a house in San Bernardino, tied up the family, stole money and other property and then 20 minutes later, left, taking the youngest member of the family, Briant Rodriguez, age 3, with them.

The article that ran in Tuesday’s San Diego U-T was picked up from the Associated Press. The detailed account of the home invasion, robbery and abduction was absent one glaring item: a physical description of the two bad guys.

We got our hackles up but before we posted our righteous indignation, we made a few phone calls on Tuesday afternoon/evening. First to the San Berdoo police, then the Sheriffs’ and finally to Amber-Alert. The operator at Amber-Alert said the descriptions of the two men and composite sketches had been released to the media and were also on Amber-Alert’s website.

Because finding Briant was and is the top priority, we did not go too much into investigative journalism mode but the gentleman from Amber-Alert suggested that they corroborate all the data and information they have before releasing the details on the suspects’ physical descriptions. Fair enough. Begin backing slowly away from the ledge.

Well, in yesterday’s U-T, there is an article, again, from the AP which is an update on the leads investigators are pursuing with respect to Briant Rodriquez. And guess what salient point of information that just might be advantageous towards the search for young Briant and his two kidnappers was missing? Outside of the winnowing-with-a-dull-butter knife information that the two abductors are “Spanish-speaking kidnappers” from Mexico, there is zero information on what these two guys look like.

We’re left to question just how serious the AP and by extension the U-T (they ran the story, they own the story) really is about wanting to disseminate information that would aid in this search effort.

Yes, we’ve seen the physical description of the two kidnappers on T.V. but how in god’s name do you run a story about a missing child without providing that detail? How?

Pray for Briant’s safety and his ultimate reunion with his family because out of either willful journalistic negligence or misguided political correctness, some people really don’t seem to care.

When the U-T and the rest of print media finally packs it all in, you’ll be left with at least one reason as to why it may have happened.

P.S. The physical description of the two men can be found, here, at Amber-Alert’s website.

P.P.S. Letter to the Editor requesting an explanation for this omission has been sent.