Reading Eagle’s coverage of young man's death is disgraceful

By Steve Reinbrecht

I'm sorry to ask you to imagine something horrible for a moment. Imagine that a 20-year-old Wyomissing High School graduate, a former field hockey player, was found dead at 8 a.m. in a West Reading alley after being shot about five hours earlier.

Do you think the Reading Eagle, Berks County's primary news-gathering institution, would cover the story? What page do you think the editors would run it on?

Do you remember the stories about Saxxon Lee Hopkins a year ago? The Exeter High School graduate, a football player, was found dead about 8 a.m. in a breezeway in Reading after he was shot about 3:30 on a Monday morning. Really.

What could be more horrible for a community to suffer than the murder of a 20-year-old man?

But a year later, the Reading Eagle has barely covered it. The story about Hopkins' death was published June 2, 2014, on Page B3. The next day, a story with little new ran on Page B2. On July 13, his name was listed in a Page B1 wrap-up of city homicides.

Since then, the Eagle newsroom has given no more attention to Saxxon Hopkins. Ignoring Hopkins’ death leaves the Reading Eagle open to charges of insensitivity at best and a “no human involved” mentality at worst.

In 2013, the Eagle proudly organized a Crime Summit, to which the ex-governor came. The event was so important and secret that reporters weren't allowed to know even who was in the closed meetings, much less cover the discussion.

But in Hopkins' case the award-winning pseudo-newspaper provides the most tepid, meager, formulaic coverage of -- a murder! -- the most horrible of crimes! -- the loss of a young man by violence! -- one of 11 homicides in Berks last year.

The problem of marginalizing the deaths of young men of color is not just Berks’, of course. But it is something that good journalism can address and help solve. The Eagle's current attitude mirrors the racism of America's bad old days.

“Homicide had ravaged the country’s black population for a century or more," writes Los Angeles Times reporter Jill Leovy in Ghettocide. [Her 2015 book about crime in Los Angeles is available at a Berks library near you.]

"But it [homicide of black people] was at best a curiosity to the mainstream. The raw agony it visited on thousands of ordinary people was mostly invisible. The consequences were only superficially discussed, the costs seldom tallied.

“Very few murders were covered in the media. Television stations covered more than the papers, but without any particularly particular consistency, and many, many deaths received no mention by any media outlet, especially if the victims were black. It rankled deeply. … ‘Nothing on the news!’ a mother cried, weeping, at the site of a journalist the day after her son was murdered. ‘Please write about it! Please!’ "

On July 15, 2009, Hopkins's mom ran a “Happy 16th Birthday” wish for him in the Eagle.

On July 15, 2014, his parents ran a “Happy 21st Birthday” wish for him in the newspaper, five weeks after he was killed.

Hopkins left behind his parents, a daughter, five brothers and four grandparents.

Friends left obituary messages, which I've edited lightly:

"I remember when Saxxon first came to Northeast Middle School; he was a cool friend to have. I remember the last time I saw him in ... summer school. Every time I look at my diploma it reminds me of Saxxon because me and him went through summer school together in order for us to graduate ... . Prayers to his family and friends."

"I knew this young man several years ago. ... Some people don't know the level of their potential. Hope that whoever is responsible is prosecuted to the fullest extent. Very sad to see something like this."

"Yes, I knew him and all the three families who are in mourning over this. My three grandchildren are cousins to Saxxon. My prayers and heartfelt thoughts and love are with everyone. Very very sad."

The Reading Eagle editors might say, "The police say they have nothing to report."

Would the public accept that response from the police in the death of my hypothetical Wyomissing woman? Isn't it the job of the newspaper to challenge the police on such a refusal to provide information about such an atrocity? I think it is, no matter the truth. And there are always other sources.

In any case, I truly have no doubt the Reading Police Department works hard on every serious crime. Reading Chief Bill Heim recently answered my inquiry saying, " This case is being investigated. There is no media update at this point." But I lack the juice of a reporter from the mighty Eagle.

The Reading Eagle published stories about people on Death Row for murder. It compares the numbers of homicides in Reading and Berks from year to year. 

What is the attitude of the people in the newsroom who decide what to shine the light on? Is the attitude, just let the police do their jobs? We’re not going to look at crime very hard because advertisers don’t like that sort of content? That no humans are involved?

We know about Saxxon's death. Neighbors found his body in a breezeway in the 1100 block of Mulberry Street near Robeson Street. Hopkins was shot several times in the "upper torso." Residents had heard gunshots about 3:30 a.m. but did not see anything.

I want to know more about his life. I want what I think is a too-comfortable public to see something about the loss and grief such atrocities create. Berks needs better journalism.