Luthor Rex said:
. God, reporters suck at their jobs.
Maybe. If you consider a reporters job to convey facts devoid of any implied commentary, irrespective of the financial benefit of the particular news organization, then your statement is correct.
On the other hand, it makes a better "story" to have some girl brutally beaten without any apparent motive, and be in the hospital hanging on for dear life, and to paint the assailant as some psycho. It pulls the heart strings, and gets more comments, views, and ad clicks.
If they highlighted any thing the girl did (not that anything deserves a coma inducing beating) it would make the situation seem less like a senseless tragedy, and more like your every day run of the mill violence.
Not that I condone everyday run of the mill violence, it just seems that recently people are getting more and more de sensitized to it, so anything a "reporter" can do (e.g. leave out vital info) to make the "story" seem more compelling, the better.
And in this particular case, they can always claim they left out that bit of info out of respect for the victim.
All that being said, I hope the two who did this (the kid and the 13 y/o) get what's coming to them (whatever that may be), and the girl fully recovers.