A radio station in Baltimore faced criticism for the way it chose to report on an event of several kids using a closed city swimming pool. Baltimore, like many places around the country and the world, is experiencing a heat wave right now.
Several children chose to cool off by hopping a fence and swimming in one of several of the city's pools that is closed this summer for renovation.
WBAL NewsRadio shared a clip of several Black children using the pool, and then took a tone that made them sound like adult criminals instead of simply kids needing a place to cool off.
People were incensed at the tone of the piece.
WBAL reported:
“Several children were caught breaking into one of the many Baltimore City pools that remain closed with their gates chained."
"The break-in was caught on Monday."
"Footage details the children breaking in, setting up ‘camp’, and entering the water along with a scooter.”
After much backlash, someone at the radio station must have realized the report hadn't gone well.
They published a quick backpedal as follow-up.
People still responded to the piece, angry at the tone of the news report.
Some were sure of the real crime happening.
Others were a bit more sarcastic.
Many people pointed out it's the hottest part of the year and multiple public pools are closed.
Others talked about how they used to hop fences and use closed pools, back in the day.
Some said they would still do the same as the kids in this heat.
However, some were concerned with the green color of the water.
Which lead to the truth being posted as a follow-up.
The pool is closed because it's unsafe or under renovation.
The city of Baltimore has a parks and recreation department that oversees 23 public pools.