Yes, an autistic student was removed from Navarro College after he hugged and kissed a stranger by accident – but that’s where the media stopped caring about the truth, according to a local journalist.
Neal White, the editor and general manager of Waxahachie Newspapers, gave a tongue lashing to mostly broadcast outlets that ran with the story without providing any context for 20-year-old Brian Ferguson’s removal or asking followup questions:
Even when provided with all the facts, none of those outlets, most of them being broadcast outlets, made any effort to set the record straight. It appears the truth got in the way of sensationalism.
Ferguson is still in school and taking job training at the local high school, rather than Navarro; the independent school districts run his special-needs program at Navarro; “the college stated very clearly the student is welcome back on campus” (he was never arrested); and his mother confirms that Ferguson – 6-foot-5 with no sign of autism “until he speaks” – has had “similar incidents” with other females, which is why he gets instruction in “social interaction skills.”
White reveals that the female who came forward to criticize how Ferguson was treated had received “death threats on social media” following the initial broadcast. He says media outlets put Ferguson’s special-needs program “in jeopardy” by running a slanted story, and compares his own young staff favorably:
We, as professionals in our field, have a responsibility to get it right.
This week, that is exactly what your hometown news team did, and in doing so, set an example we wished our colleagues in the broadcast media would follow.
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