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In The Hoop
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2002

Welcome to In The Hoop, Indianz.Com's occasional column about assorted Indian issues.

Frenzy Over D.C.-area Sniper
Has the sniper who has killed three people and wounded 10 others in the Washington, D.C., area been caught? According to the mainstream media, yes.

"The Beltway Sniper's three-week murder spree may be over," FOX News proclaimed.

"A rifle capable of firing the type of bullets used in the Washington-area sniper attacks was found in the car where two men linked to the case were arrested overnight," MSNBC said.

"'The right kind of rifle' was taken from their car, one source close to the investigation said," The Washington Post reported.

But appearances aren't always be what they seem, and jumping to conclusions seems to be a hallmark in this ongoing frenzy. According to an alert viewer of FOX News, the cable station last night said a man wanted in the investigation was "Native American" of "Spanish" extraction.

The viewer, incensed by a characterization lacking backup evidence, called up the station to complain. After informing a producer about the potential for negative effects on Native Americans, including hostility and racial profiling, FOX News stopped making the claim.

Indian ties to the case aren't over, it seems. Early this morning, the United Press International first "broke" the story that a message conveyed to the sniper referred to an "old fable" about a rabbit being caught in a noose he laid for a duck.

"The story 'The Rabbit, the Otter, and Duck Hunting' revolves around a boastful little rabbit that lassos a hapless duck, but the duck eventually triumphantly escapes from the snare and gets the best of his foe, and the rabbit ends up eating his own fur for perpetuity," the 3:54 AM report said.

The Associated Press expanded on the story later this afternoon, linking the tale to "an ancient story, passed down through generations of Cherokee Indians." Tera Shows, a spokesperson for the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, even provided some commentary about the tradition.

"It does look like (the sniper) maybe is the rabbit," Shows told the AP.

The real rabbit, though, might be the media for playing up racial angles in the case. On October 15, some news organizations said an "olive-skinned" man was seen fleeing the scene of a sniper attack. It was a less than obvious attempt to link the attacks to men of Middle Eastern or Arab origin -- and therefore terrorism.

But The Washington Post didn't report the identity angle. An editor told The Washington City Paper the tidbit wasn't seen as "accurate" at the time. "For all those critics whining about the media's handling of the sniper story, there you have it: an honest-to-goodness instance of restraint," the alternative weekly concluded.

The person who made the "olive-skinned" claim later turned out to less than truthful, according to The Washington Times. The man's indictment made big news but the media that bit the carrot were less than forthcoming about correcting their earlier reliance on it.

The worst offenders seem to be the cable and television networks who have trotted out any number of former law enforcement, analysts, psychics and other alleged experts to talk about the sniper. The Baltimore Sun, whose reporting on the case is almost unparalleled for quality of information without resorting to speculation, compiled some key quotes to document the phenomenon.

In Your Hoop
Should the police have hired Indian trackers to find the sniper? Email In the Hoop and let us know.