NBC News interrupted State of Affairs last night with an urgent update, featuring Brian Williams's very concerned-looking face.  The Grand Jury in Ferguson, Williams "reported," "has failed to come up with an indictment" against police officer Darren Wilson.

Has failed?

Williams's overwrought interpretation – he stressed the word failed – proved characteristic of how the media treated yesterday's much-hyped Grand Jury decision in Missouri.  USA Today, for example, framed the decision with this passage:

Brown's lifeless and bleeding body lay for more than four hours in a Ferguson residential street after the shooting, prompting dismay and anger as a crowd gathered. Protests turned into rioting and looting the following night, and police responded with armored vehicles and tear gas, triggering a nationwide debate over police tactics.

And NPR (emphasis added):

Wilson, who is white, shot and killed Brown, who was unarmed and black, in an Aug. 9 incident that has stoked anger and debate in Ferguson and beyond.

The putative journalists in the room with prosecuting attorney Robert McCulloch behaved little better.  McCulloch, who stated early on that specifics on the breakdown of the Grand Jury were entirely off-limits, received no fewer than three questions on how individual members voted and what races they were.  He had to beat down the activist reporters' needling each time.

Then there was this gem:

Oh for heaven's sake: "Journalist" yells "Will you rest well tonight?" as McCulloch ends press conference. #FergusonDecision

— Michelle Malkin (@michellemalkin) November 25, 2014

Strangely, there were a lot of British accents in the room.  As one wag on Twitter put it, there were more foreign reporters present than black ones.

A final note: leave it to race-healing president Barack Obama to insert himself into the controversy at the most worthless possible time.  If Obama wanted to quell riots, the time to do it was several hours before the decision – not when all the news agencies' split-screens show buildings on fire to the accompaniment of Obama's sonorous voice.  Then again, perhaps our president imagines that car-tipping rioters will check their smartphones (doubtless pre-configured to Obama's comments) mid-chaos and suddenly see the error of their ways.

Obama on #FergusonDecision: "People WHO ARE RIOTING RIGHT NOW, turn on your TVs and listen to me telling you to stop rioting." #genius

— Drew Belsky (@DJB627) November 25, 2014

Drew Belsky is American Thinker's deputy editor.  Contact him at drew@americanthinker.com, and follow him on Twitter @DJB627.