Watch out for black women?

Here's an email I received during the 5pm news Tuesday night, followed by my response and his back to me. (Spelling and punctuation has not been changed.)

From: john (redacted)
Sent: Tuesday, November 03, 2009 5:14 PM
To: Phillip, Peggy
Subject: Beating At store Parking Lot
I am so sick of your liberal biased news. I never watch you anymore unless the channel happens to be on.You are so liberal and bias you do not report the news, your try and report your agenda. I know this because NEVER do you identify a suspect if he is black or Hispanic if it can be avoided. Case in point when you reproted about the elderly man being beaten I knew the suspect was a black female becasue you never mentioned a description of suspect. I changed to channel 9 and sure enoguh a complete description.No wonder you are rated last. Quick your liberal BS and be a news station . Report the facts even if they do not fit your policrics
SHAME ON YOU


My response was copied to the newsroom:

Mr. (redacted),
Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts. We report suspect descriptions when they can reasonably assist the police in finding persons responsible for crime. In this case, the description from police was vague--black woman, 150 pounds, 5-foot-six inches tall.

"Black" is the color of the words you are now reading but has also been used to describe people whose skin tones cover just about every racial and ethnic group in the world, including tanned white people. The media is often accused of withholding ethnicity and race from criminal suspect descriptions as some sort of cowardly act of political correctness. What may appear to be political correctness is our best effort to professionally and ethically report the truth.

Nonetheless, your opinion is important and I am sharing this with the appropriate news personnel.

Sincerely,Peggy Phillip
News Director

From: john (redacted)
Sent: Tuesday, November 03, 2009 6:49 PM
To: Phillip, Peggy
Subject: Thank you / Beating At store Parking Lot

I appreciate you responding. Does show consdieration. Most lberals do not answer as they are too self righteous and important for conservatives like me.Does not change the fact your news broadcasts have been neglect for some time.; You DO show a bias and you DO NOT report when a crime has been committed by a person of color. Yes you show after the fact with photos and desrciptions when some one has been arrested but no never ahead of their arrest. Yes I have to turn to other stations as Channel 9 that reported a description of woman and car. Some one watching your news cast would not have had that information. So you do get creds for answering me., Thak you. But you still fail, the "We are liberal and we will report the news as we see it not how it really is test"
Thanks
John

What do you think? Did I handle it properly? It's a rhetorical question but the topic of suspect descriptions should be addressed regularly in every newsroom.

I think I understand John's frustration. He's angry and I don't blame him. In this horrifying case, an 81-year-old man was beaten outside a grocery store while he waited for his wife to finish shopping. This happened in a part of Greater Kansas City (Prairie Village, KS) that used to be safe. Now, not so much.

We are in the information business. It's our job to report as fully and accurately as we know how. But what is "black?" What do you think when you hear that word as a descriptor?

Crimes against the innocent make us feel helpless and we want/need security and solutions. I get that. But demonizing every darker-skinned female of medium height and weight in the greater Kansas City area isn't the answer.