Cyclist Doored, Killed by Truck in Midtown

Cyclist Doored, Killed by Truck in Midtown: Here is the wire report:

FINAL UPDATE,RESP-4 REPORTS A CYCLIST TRAVELING NORTH BOUND 6 AVE BTWN 36 & 37 ST WERE A RED PICK UP TRUCK WAS PARKED BY THE HYDRANT WHEN THE PASSENGER OPENED THE DOOR AND STRUCK THE CYCLIST . THE CYCLIST WAS STRUCK BY A PASSING BOX TRUCK.THE CYCLIST WAS TAKEN TO BELLVUE HOSPITAL {DOA} ..SIGNS & MARKING IN GOOD WORKING ORDER..PER OP-26

And here is how it was reported in the Daily News. Note the number of steps taken, and not taken, by the cyclist to put himself in mortal danger — starting with the headline.

Bicyclist killed after falling in front of truck
 
A 63-year-old man bicycling in midtown Manhattan Wednesday morning hit a car door and flipped into the street before he was run over and killed by a box truck, police said.

The man, whose identity wasn’t immediately released, was not wearing a helmet, a police source said.

It’s as if every action — hitting the door, flipping into the street — was initiated by the cyclist, who wasn’t even wearing a helmet. The drivers of the vehicles, meanwhile, are never mentioned in the story. In fact, the article makes it seem as if there were no drivers.

The Ace Hardware truck that hit the man stayed at the scene. [Perspective is why blogging rules. There’s an outlook, a framework through which we all view the occurrences in our lives. Shift the framework and our perspective changes, and so does the way we record the account of a given moment. Because of human nature, all the major papers report news from a similar perspective (in order to become a reporter, editor, etc. requires certain qualities which are self selecting for a given viewpoint.)]
Source: StreetsBlog