Monthly Archives: December 2012

Absence of Malice displays reporter Megan Carter as a journalist struggling through various predicaments in which she fights to advance her own career, while unfortunately, hurting people and making unethical decisions along the way.

One error that she made was that she did not try hard enough to make Mike Gallagher aware that she was going to release a report stating that he was under investigation.  She claims to have called once, but that no one picked up the phone.  This was not good enough.  She should have repeatedly called, left messages, and if anything, she should have left a copy of the report under his doorstep.  A reporter must always persist in trying to get in contact with the private individual they are releasing the report about in order to enable that individual to have a chance to release a comment.  The private individual can sue the reporter merely if he or she proves the reporter printed a falsehood.

The most outrageous act Megan committed was writing Theresa Perrone’s name in the article when claiming that she had an abortion and Mike was there with her and so thus he could not have possibly committed the murder. Megan was so focused on releasing Mike from being attached to the murder that she neglected her own morals and went against Theresa.  Theresa specifically told Megan that she did not want her name in that article for fear of how her family and coworkers would react.  However, Megan completely ignored Theresa’s plea and heartlessly published the article.  Theresa committed suicide and Megan became ridden with guilt.

It was also shocking how she developed a relationship with Mike.  This distracted her and caused her to lose control over her own investigation of the case, as she began falling in love with the man she was supposed to be investigating.

Christina

I was extremely moved by the Central Park Five Documentary.  It was incredibly sad to listen to the five men describe how they felt pressured and coerced by the police into making up stories about what had occurred merely to be able to go home.  By giving stories, the boys thought they would only be witnesses to the crime.

After spending years in jail and having their youth stolen from them, the men still struggled even after they were set free.  They had difficulty finding jobs and also had to register as sex offenders.  It was sad to see Raymond Santana describe how he felt that he was not contributing to the support of his household and so he began selling drugs and was eventually put back in jail and tried as a 2^nd offender.  Raymond also stated that at his age of 36, he dreamed of being married and owning a home.  Korey Wise said that no amount of money now could ever replace those years of suffering.

The film depicts that the boys were completely innocent in this case.  The boys were part of a group of about 25 boys who were roaming through Central Park that night.  One of the five stated the only crime he committed that night was jumping over a train turnstile.  The men described how they witnessed other boys creating mischief throughout the park, such as grabbing a couple on a bike and beating up a homeless man.  Also displayed in the film was a time map, in which at the time of the attack on the jogger, the group of boys were spotted to have been “wilding” in a completely separate area of the park. Thus, they could not have been involved in the crime.

I was completely shocked at how the true assailant, Matias Reyes, was able to get away with such a heinous crime when he had actually committed another assault in the park just days earlier.  His DNA was on file, but somehow never tested to the DNA taken from the jogger case.

The movie was very powerful, and hopefully will create awareness about the pain that can be inflicted on people through wrongful convictions.

Christina

Last night I saw The Central Park Five. NYC in the 1980s was very violent and dirty. I was moved emotionally by the documentary. It is very sad these boys were convicted of rape and had to spend many years in prison until someone else finally confessed to the crime. It is also terrible the way the police acted to get the confessions on the night of the crime. It reminded me of the way police do things in China. Justice is not the highest priority of Chinese police — they want to finish the case quickly, and I guess NYC police are similar. Were the boys totally innocent? A gang of 25 teenagers who go into Central Park at night is probably going to do some bad things. I believe the 5 boys are innocent of rape but perhaps they did participate in the assault on the homeless man, or the man riding a bike, or the other jogger — the boys said they only watched the violence but who knows, maybe they don’t want to admit they did more than watch.

Mari

Absence of Malice details what can go wrong when a reporter becomes the story instead of reporting it. The protagonist commits two sins in the movie:

First, in reporting the story she becomes so enamoured with her subjects that she fell in love with him. This is unethical because in the course of reporting she lost sight of the story and her job. This immersion into the life of the subject clouds her and blinds her from making sound decision about Gallagher.

Second, because she is so imbued into the life of Gallagher that she is willing to disclose her sources and talk to Gallagher about the information that helps upend the case against him.

It is unfortunate because she was filled with passion and appeared to be a great reported that allowed her heart to lead the story rather the subject.

The Central Park Five argues convincingly that, as with so many other stories of innocent persons wrongly accused, these five men were presumed guilty very early on, and it was a theme in the narrative that could not be ignored. These young men seem to be guilty of their own realities, time served solely because they were the ones that the cops managed to grab out of the park that night for causing trouble or ‘wilding’. There was no physical evidence, only their own confessions. Confessions that were made after hours of intimidation and interrogations, all without lawyers present. The police turned the five of them against one another, making up accusations and evidence. The police coerced five confessions, each of them describing another persons actions, while carefully noting that they didn’t do anything themselves. Determining the real perpetrator was not the only inconsistency in their confessions; timelines, locations and various weapons made it obvious that these were not accurate details. The film constructs a visual timeline that illustrates the impossible confessions.

The film opens with images of Central Park, accompanied by the chilling confession of the real culprit, Matias Reyes. In the scene where Reyes states, “I’m the one that did this”, the documentary is establishing the five defendant’s innocence. As historian Craig Steven Wilder notes, “Their innocence never got the attention that their guilt did.” In that moment, and throughout the film, the grief for youth and innocence lost is almost unbearable.

Megan