Action

Something had started to change, as the sudden departures suggest.

Municipal judge resigns, and cases are moved.

City manager resigns.

Police chief resigns.

Whatever happened next—whether police were caught in cross-fire from a source unconnected with demonstrators, or whether it was something else—media attention has shifted predictably.

No matter that it's still unclear what happened in Ferguson on February 12, Fox can be relied upon to provide a story line.

Not that I choose to tune in, but on the 13th Clever Sister and I had stopped by a certain fast-food chain for a cheap, refillable drink. It happens the patrons were mostly black, and the screen was tuned to "news."

What we saw is so routine for Fox, it inspired no comment from Media Matters or any other source I've tried. What I had hoped to find was a screen shot of this setup—

On the right (of the split screen): Fox personalities
On the left: scary demonstrators, beating jungle drums.

Actually, to the left was a woman, possibly middle-aged, marking time on a conga as her fellow demonstrators chanted. There was no hint of menace—aside from the group's exercising free speech while black. If jungle drums pounded, the other side of the screen was there to reassure, with its pretty blonde ladies and those concerned white guys who seem to know all the answers.

Here's a different screen shot from Media Matters on the 12th. It serves its purpose of suggesting the menacing ones mobilized against "the good guys," though the looming shadowy figures are presumably police—

One interesting thing, we were almost on our way out of the unnamed fast-food place when a hippyish white guy of about 60 appeared, along with the (black) manager. Their voices were low, but we saw the customer gesturing to the TV, apparently asking for a change of channel.