Last night I saw the worst reporting job I have ever seen on television. The teaser for the story was about how a (Roman Catholic) priest's testimony helped to free a man convicted of murder -- "but some people are outraged!" Here is the story (from the website, which is almost exactly what was shown on television last night)):

"A Bronx man convicted of a 1988 murder was released on his own recognizance today, the same day a federal judge threw out his conviction following a Catholic priest's testimony that another man had confessed to the crime. US District Judge Denny Chin released Jose Morales pending final approval by the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals of his ruling to vacate the conviction. Morales was convicted in 1988 for the beating and stabbing death of Jose Antonio Rivera in the South Bronx. At an appeals hearing last week in federal court in Manhattan, Reverend Joseph Towle testified that another neighborhood gang member, Jesus Fornes, had told him in 1989 that he and 2 other people were involved in the slaying, but not Morales. Chin wrote that if Fornes's statement to Towle was disclosed at his trial, "it is difficult to imagine that any reasonable jury could find Morales guilty beyond a reasonable doubt." Morales's codefendant, Ruben Montalvo, also jailed for the past 12 years, was falsely accused as well, according to Fornes. But only the appeal of Morales was addressed by today's ruling, so Montalvo's fate was not immediately clear."

The outraged people in this story? The relatives of the deceased. They said that Morales got away with murder.

Was the priest violating the sanctity of the confessional or did he confess to the priest as if the priest wasn't a representative of the Catholic Church? If the latter, why did the priest wait about twelve years before revealing this news? If the former, why did he violate the confessional? Why wasn't the priest's testimony considered heresay? I'm certain a good reporter would have found out.

We should adopt the British word and just call them "newsreaders".

-Faux "The other big story they mentioned in one of those news teasers was a report on how some fast food chains have different prices in New York City. That's right. These are the only newsworthy events happening in the New York City area. You can sleep safely." Pas