ABC7 Unbelievably Used A Picture Of McDonald's For Laquan McDonald Broadcast
By Rachel Cromidas in News on Feb 26, 2016 7:04PM
As the case against the Chicago police officer who shot black teenager Laquan McDonald 16 times in 2014 moves forward, a local news channel made an ill-advised graphics choice on its latest broadcast on the story.
McDonald's shooting death and the subsequent release of a video of his shooting over a year later have sparked a firestorm of protests and brought national scrutiny on Chicago's policing practices. Jason Van Dyke, the officer who shot him, is now in court facing six counts of first degree murder charges. The folks at ABC7, a local news affiliate, hopefully know this story has nothing to do with McDonald's (the popular fast food franchise )—but nonetheless, the company's logo appeared in a recent newscast about McDonald (the shooting victim).
"This morning, the case involving Laquan McDonald goes to court," anchor Terrell Brown told viewers as a McDonald's restaurant sign flashed above him. "The officer Jason Van Dyke shot him 16 times, killing him in 2014."
Holy shit. This is a thing that actually happened on TV. https://t.co/h1JqYE2x0a
— Andrew Kirell (@AndrewKirell) February 26, 2016
ABC7 Did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the unfortunate bit of word association.
Perhaps ironically, there is another major fast food chain that features in the story of McDonald's shooting. Surveillance footage from a Burger King near the site where McDonald was gunned down has been under scrutiny because some employees have charged that Chicago police officers deleted footage after the shooting. But this graphics mistake doesn't look like a simple mix up between the Big Mac and the Whopper, (the Burger King footage controversy has been mostly out of the news since December).
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