Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via AP
Two Killings in Manhattan a Day Apart, and the Gap in The New York Times’ Coverage of Them Might as Well Be Measured in Light-Years
One day after UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was gunned down in Midtown Manhattan on Dec. 4, a group of men stabbed two migrants in Lower Manhattan, one of them fatally. Before the attack, they reportedly asked their victims if they spoke English.
More than a month later, The New York Times has not run a single story about the latter killing. Meanwhile, the Times has published more than 100 stories about Thompson, his suspected killer Luigi Mangione, and related matters such as the reactions to the killing and corporate security.
Seventeen-year-old Yeremi Colino was on John Street at about 7:40 p.m. on Dec. 5, a little more than four miles from where Thompson was gunned down. Police say Colino and an 18-year-old were approached by three men in their 20s who asked the teenagers if they spoke English, after which the men attacked them before fleeing west
Both teens were taken to Bellevue Hospital, where Colino was pronounced dead. The other victim, who said he believes he was stabbed with a screwdriver, is in stable condition. Police recovered a knife at the scene.
The suspects remain at large. Again, the men who stabbed a teenager to death are still on the loose.
The Times did not respond to a request for comment.
While Thompson’s death might be expected to yield sensationalistic headlines given its nature, that his murder garnered dozens of articles while Colino’s death – which may very well be a hate crime – has not received a single mention defies belief. Indeed, it has not even appeared in a news brief alongside other stories.
To be clear, the Times is not the only major news outlet to ignore or give scant acknowledgment of Colino’s death. But this is the New York Times, which has a dedicated “New York” section. Even the Murdoch-owned New York Post covered what it called the “vicious” killing, and on the night it happened.
The day before Colino was attacked, the Times ran an op-ed by Pulitzer Prize winner Viet Thanh Nguyen titled, “To Save Refugees and Migrants Is to Save Ourselves.” In it, he discusses how Americans’ fear of migrants renders the country unable to forge a sensible and humane immigration policy.
“This heart of darkness inside refugee and migrant phobia distorts any discussion
That is certainly true. But to begin addressing this ugliness, acknowledging when it arises goes a long way. The paper of record reporting on a teenager’s death and the killers who remain at large would be a step in the right direction. Even just one measly story on it would be infinitely better than inexplicably ignoring it any longer.