Watts burning . Sentiments summed up by an indignant man confronting her roll dough rivera of fox news. It became a youtube sensation. I want you and fox news to get out of Baltimore City because youre not here reporting about the boarded up homes and the Homeless People under. Lk. Youre not reporting on the poverty levels. Three years ago on the 300 man march, you werent here. But youre here for the black riots that happen. Of course it was another viral video of freddie gray that ignited the outrage and ended up with murder charge being filed friday. And the clip raises important questions about the medias approach. Mike lukovich summed it up pretty nicely here. What do the words and images being tossed around this week really mean and what are the lessons to be learned . Well joining me now is helen holten a member of baltimores city council. Thank you. Do you think the media have gotten this story right . Sometimes, yes, sometimes no. But it was krart bart who said in the 1920s who said we must pray for the journalists because they have the ability to shape public opinion. We are witnessing journalism shaping public opinion. Those of us on the ground who know when the journalists story is not accurate we have a responsibility to try and dispel myth for truth. Whats the story that you have seen thats not accurate . What have you seen thats not accurate . Well so maybe inaccurate is not the right word but, you know the story of freddie gray inflicted these injuries upon himself. Oh fraeddy gray had Spine Surgery and this is why he has ended up in this position with a broken vertebrae. You know what . There was no evidence released verifiable evidence, stating that this is what caused his injuries. We have just begun the process of justice for this young man, but in taking the lid often and addressing this injustice, there are many more deep rooted injustices that even led to the arrest of freddie gray in the first place. Do you feel when the states attorney wait wait. When the states attorney spoke about this arrest and the charges against him, what he was charged with were false. He was within his legal right to carry the knife that he had in his pocket. It wasnt a switchblade with a flip button on it. So, you know it is our role as local elected officials all the way up to the federal level to continue to press for the truth. And we cant control what the media writes and what they say. Well and you are the sources. I dont know where the information came from that he was carrying that switchblade, that it was a switchblade well it didnt come from me or any of my colleagues. It didnt come me for any of my colleagues. Right. Do you feel that all the Media Attention, National Media attention attention, has in some fashion accelerated some of the activities and some of the legal actions that are being taken . Im not in a position to answer that. You know we are in a unique opportunity, one that we have not faced that has led us to this point in time. Finally, let me ask you this question as someone who knows the city as well as you do. If you could be shaping some of the coverage that we know is going to be coming from out of baltimore over the next several days and weeks and months what is the story line that you most would like to see . The story line is that baltimore is en route to healing, restoration, and repair of damage done to our city for decades. The eyes are open the covers are off and its time to do the right thing for all the people of our city. Thank you very much and good luck to you. Thank you. Baltimore city councilwoman helen holton. The troubling story of freddie grays death while in the custody of the Baltimore Police is just the late nest a series of recent confrontations between Law Enforcement and private cities. Ferguson missouri Charleston South Carolina among them. Are the media too reactive too limited, too predictable with stories like these and how do the media affect whats happening on the gro unity . Joining me now are two accomplished journalists, cnn contributor l. Z. Granderson a Senior Writer support espn and cnn commentator sally comb who tweet, take a moment to realize National Attention wouldnt be on baltimore and freddie gray were it not for the riots. Shame on us. Welcome to you both. I will get to the shame on us in just a minute but i want to ask you both to start with something that veteran media critic and Baltimore Sun reporter david zu rowick wrote. The question we all have to ask ourselves, after all the hours of coverage on all the channels focused on baltimore this week are we really any smarter about race Police Community relations, or the death of freddie gray . Lz what do you think . I think we have all the information. I think the real question is it enough information to make us care . In other words, i think the average american understands that racism hasnt been eliminated. I think the average american understands that the remnants of institutionalized racism are still very much at play. The question is do we care . And thats the medias job to make people care . Its the medias job to give them the information, but its up to the individual to process the information and decide how, if any way, thats going to impact their lives, the way they go about their day, the way they decide to vote the way they decide to call or not call city hall or the congress. There are many things that the average american can do to express their concern for the world around them. The question is do they care enough to go out and do those things . Sally, im seeing some expression on your face that suggests youre not quite sold on all this. Well no i do agree with lz its up to the people to decide whether they care. I do think, first of all, to the quality of the coverage i think the information about, oh this is in fact a rampant problem, it is a problem in baltimore, you know that information has gotten out there. Theres a level of nuance sort of depth and breadth im not sure the media has across the board achieved so maybe smarter about the big issues but not smarter about the nuances yet, is that what youre saying . We talked about implicit bias. Have we talked about the fact one of the narratives is this cant be about race because theyre black cops black Police Commissioner black mayor. Its more nuanced. Have we made the connections between baltimore and ferguson and other places so they dont just seem like aberrations, that it seems clear to people its a systemic problem. To the point about caring i actually do think its the job of the media to make people care. Whether we consciously take on that role or not. I think more and more as the line between news and opinion is blurring and more and more anchors are showing their human side showing their opinion, then it becomes more transparent but care about what sally . Once you get into that area you get into very interesting and sometimes dangerous journalistic territory. Im not sure. If youre the reporter covering the story, youre covering the story, arent you, or are you there as an advocate or as an activist. There are lines that blur here. Juke slice it in a number of ways but what we cover and when we cover it is a reflection of the values of the media and what we care about. So the fact that, to take this example, generally by and large the National Mainstream media, aka the mostly white National Mainstream media, did not go to nor cover baltimore with the same energy intensity, blanket coverage until things turned violent shows what the media cares about. And thats what you meant in your tweet when you said shame, right . Yes, exactly. Lz weigh in on that. I was going to say i would add that, you know the Baltimore Sun did a pretty scathing report a year ago detailing the horrific things that the Baltimore Police had done and looked from 2011 to today how much money the city had to spend because of cases involving police brutality. The information was out there a year ago and it didnt really register enough to make people want to do things. I would challenge the notion that we didnt start to care until violence broke out. If you look at that 2011 report or that 2014 report about the Baltimore Police weve known that violence has been going on in that city for a long time. I think the part about caring what i was referring to was when you began to see that the people who expressed outrage are not the people who are directly impacted by the occurrences, its when you begin to realize that people care. So when you start seeing older asians and white americans out marching and protesting. When you begin to see people in the top 5 beginning to actively protest and put their voices out there there. Then you begin to realize that people begin to care and theyre beginning to put themselves out there a little bit more. What do you both have to say this is caring or its also showing up because there are those who say that the media swarm made in some ways some of the violence worse. Sally . I dont think theres any question that a perverse incentive is created by the media only paying sufficient attention to cases like these, to situations like these, when they turn violent. Lz what do you think . After weeks of peaceful protest. They did not get the same kind of coverage. Lz . Im not big into blaming the media for people being outraged. Thats like blaming a doctor for you having a cancer diagnosis. Just because were telling you that theres ill in the world doesnt mean were responsible for that ill. I just their its a cop out and i think its a way for people not to deal with the fact they have to do something about the ill thats being pointed out by the media. I want to ask you both we talked about the Mainstream Media, but the other big change weve seen over recent years is the social media, where people themselves are weighing this. Well be hearing from devon allen in a few minutes. Hes a citizen journal wois wants to be an aspireing photographer and his pictures have had impact. We heard from a young woman named julia blount with a Facebook Post that absolutely, positively went viral. She wrote, dear White Facebook friends you need you to suspect what black america is feeling right now and i need you to just listen. I hear hopelessness. I hor oppression. I hear despair, i hear anger. I hear poverty. Is what shes hearing not what Mainstream Media, whatever that means, is hearing, sally . You know i dont think so. And i mean again, this isnt like lz i dont want to blame the entire media. I remember during ferguson black journalist friends or sort of citizen journalists, not official with Big News Network journalist friends on the ground in ferguson reporting certain things happening, and people being skeptical of those reports because they werent coming from the quote, unquote, official and in that case mostly white reporters who were on the ground. So even within that context, theres a sort of skepticism and, frankly, segregation, and it relates to the segregation of experience. The sort of oe well as a white person thats not my experience of the cops so thats not how cops are. Lz let me give you the last words on the citizen journalist citizen social media impact. Well, i applaud them. I want more of it. The fact of the matter is we wouldnt have been talking about Trayvon Martin we wouldnt have been talking about Michael Brown or any of the cases if it wasnt for social media. If it wasnt for the citizen journalists, if you will. Ths important to keep in mind that a lot of social media particularly twitter, are just citizen journalists tweeting out stories they have seen or has been printed or published by maybe stream journalism. Its just another way, another method of getting the word out. I think you should be skeptical of Mainstream Media and social media and we shouldnt vilify one or automatically think one is more valid than the other. Thank you both. Lz also who is a fellow at the institute of politics at the university of chicago. Up next whats it like to have the media descend on your city and not recognize the city theyre describing . When we come back. Issa anderson. They bought the place four months ago on what was arguably the scariest day of their lives. Neither has any idea what the future holds for them. But they bought into a 30year mortgage anyway. That was bold. They must really believe in themselves. Big day . Ah, the usual. Moved some new cars. Hauled a bunch of steel. Kept the supermarket shelves stocked. Made sure everyone got their latest gadgets. Whats up for the next shift . Ah, nothing much. Just keeping the lights on. laugh nice. Doing the big things that move an economy. See you tomorrow, mac. See you tomorrow, sam. 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Were looking at the medias handling of the death of freddie gray in Police Custody and baltimores response. In stories where race is involved there is often criticism that the media buy into a dominant narrative then miss the distinctions and nuances of a story. We were struck by an essay by nprs steve inski who said baltimore is not ferguson. We welcome steve now. Thanks for joining us. Its an honor to be here frank. Thanks. Tell us about this story and what prompted you to do it. This was basically street reporting. I went to baltimore. I dont live very far away and i went out into the streets, into the affected areas on the morning after monday nights violence and i simply talked to who i talked with. Who do you find in the streets . What are they saying . What are they doing . And i encountered a lot of people we had 16 interviews with different kinds of people black and white, young and old, different kinds of people different parts of town although all in the same general area and they demonstrated a side of baltimore that i thought made the story more complex. I dont want do say that race is not a factor here. Obviously race is a huge factor in the history of baltimore and in the history of the United States and in the history of Police Community relations but we have a situation where you have a black mayor, a black Police Commissioner and a half africanamerican police force. What does that mean in the black community and it was about class. And you had people saying its less about race. Some said its not about race and about class. So how did that gibe with what you were seeing on the vets . You have to find some way to think about this situation where some of the Police Officers involved in incidents like the one that is still being investigated in which the officers have been charged, some officers in those incidents are africanamericans. So what do you make of that . That doesnt mean theres no racism in the system. That doesnt mean theres no racism as part of the equation but people on the streets who spoke with me saw it as a function of class and also a furntion the drug war. Were in west baltimore. Its a city with a serious drug problem. Certain areas are especially bad, and there were people in the community who felt that regardless of whether the officer was black or white, that they were targeted simply for being from this poor area with a drug problem. When you wrote this piece, were you trying or sort of making a statement thats obviously too heavyhanded perhaps, that the story was more complex than many of the media were portraying it . That is what i learned, and im simply going on what i learned here and what i have learned from covering other stories. Every place is a little different. Every story is a little bit different. Even ferguson is not exactly what we thought ferguson was, was it . As we learned more facts about what exactly happen