More unsubstantiated fear mongering from WFMY's Geary

GREENSBORO, NC -- Shortly after arriving at WFMY in 2011, reporter Mark Geary made a big splash by "reporting" on wilding mobs in downtown Greensboro and by "reporting," I mean fabricating. Geary wrote:

"Every weekend in July, Greensboro police have battled large, flash-mob beatings and vandalism."

That was untrue—not just unsubstantiated, which it was, but refuted by police as wrong. A police spokesperson told the News & Record:

"[A]ny reports of “flash mob attacks” in Greensboro are 'absolutely inaccurate.'"

It even prompted the City of Greensboro to stop communication with WFMY until they had a meeting to express their displeasure with WFMY's propensity for "creating storylines." WFMY never corrected the story, however, and it incited a number of racist and hysterical reader reactions (since deleted by WFMY but excerpted here.)

Geary is at it once again, ginning up xenophobia and inflaming paranoia with more untruths. This time Geary is reporting that the two Iranian brothers arrested for growing pot and mushrooms in their home were also "using hazardous devices." From that nugget, it is a short hop to the paranoid suspicion of neighbors Geary promotes, leading him to advise such absurdities as to be most suspicions of neighbors who don't appear to be doing anything. Seriously. What are the signs you should be worried about a neighbor? According to Geary, one sign your neighbors may be up to no good is the appearance of complete normalcy. "No signs" are a signal to worry, says Geary. If neighbors appear suspicious, worry; and if they don't appear suspicious, worry too.

There is a problem however (beyond the promotion of hysterical paranoia over reason): Geary has, once again, fabricated his premise. Nobody has made the claim that the brothers were, as Geary wrote, "using hazardous devices." They haven't been charged with anything like that and nobody, other than Geary, has publicly made that claim. Geary doesn't attribute that claim to any source*, but truth be damned, he has some fear to stoke. Greensboro deserves better.

* In the most recent version of the story, Geary attributes that claim to "law enforcement."