So, I think the furore surrounding this story is kind of bullshit. It's one story abt the DTES & Chinatown. It's not the ONLY story. Yes, graffiti = a trivial concern compared to the opioid catastrophe. But all sorts of deadly/serious topics (Covid) are circled by trivial stories https://twitter.com/jmackie_mackie/status/1353453247105667072

Was the story untrue? Did it mislead? Only if you think every story abt the DTES/Chinatown is required to capture the full gamut of their experience. It's a dangerous path to think that journalism must always be intersectional, that every story must demonstrate alliance

I say this as someone whose guiding journalism principle (I think) is to speak truth to power...but sometimes it isn't clearcut, unless you deliberately ignore some truths or perspectives. And this yarn's perspective abt tagging/graffiti isn't exactly an outlier/Karenistic view

It's not, particularly, my view. But I certainly won't be joining in the pile on, either

I would say, however, that the best thing for reporting on the DTES and Chinatown is that some folk are throwing time and resources at it. The best reporting usually comes from people who know a beat best