Kansas City Star Runs Flak For Reporters Drunken Son

-By Warner Todd Huston

It’s always sad when the son of someone famous gets tangled up with the law. But even if sad, it is one ting that newspapers love because it gives them something salacious to excite their readers. Naturally, the first paragraph nearly always includes the name of the troubled scion as well as the name of his famous father or mother, especially if they are politicians.

But the Kansas City Star recently bucked this top-of-the-story outing of the parents of a troublemaker with the Sept. 11 tale of a young man that tangled with the Kansas City Police Chief at a KC Irish Fest event. According to the Chief this young man was incensed that the Chief was saving a spot near a band stage for a handicapped boy. The young man got so angry he dumped his beer all over the chief.

The Kansas City Star gave us all sorts of details, of course. It told us of the pithy line that the Chief says he delivered to the drunken man as he arrested him and detailed the scene as the beer was thrown. There was only one thing that got short shrift in the story: the name of the beer throwing young man.

In fact, this young fellow’s name is buried all the way in the last paragraph. It turns out that the young man’s name was Jesse H. Rizzo of Warrensburg, MO. Was Rizzo the son of a famous singer or actor? Was he the son of a local or national politician? Nope. It turns out that Rizzo is the son of a reporter at the Kansas City Star.

And that will tell you why the troublemaker’s name didn’t lead the story like it would have if the boy was the son of a politician and why the name was buried in the last paragraph. Just a bit of a double standard there.
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Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer, has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and is featured on many websites such as NewsBusters.org, RightWingNews.com, CanadaFreePress.com, StoptheACLU.com, TheRealityCheck.org, RedState.com, Human Events Magazine, AmericanDailyReview.com, and the New Media Journal, among many, many others. Additionally, he has been a frequent guest on talk-radio programs to discuss his opinion editorials and current events and is currently the co-host of “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Conservatism” heard on BlogTalkRadio. Warner is also the editor of the Cook County Page for RedCounty.com.

He has also written for several history magazines and appears in the new book “Americans on Politics, Policy and Pop Culture” which can be purchased on amazon.com. He is also the owner and operator of PubliusForum.com. Feel free to contact him with any comments or questions : EMAIL Warner Todd Huston

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