- Rep. Vitali calls for moratorium on drilling in our forests on the same day as Rendell's Budget Address
- We have to burn down the school to save it? The really nice school?
- Hey Ben: Questions about tax amnesty
- US Rep. John Murtha, June 17, 1932 – February 8, 2010
- Getting Real Answers from Gubernatorial Candidates
- It is always a good thing when our government works well
- Courtfighter: Delaware County Judge Maureen Fitzpatrick A Bigot? You Judge How Often Bigotry Occurs In Media, PA
- We'll Get You Ready for State Budget Release Tuesday
- ONE Praises U.S. Treasury Announcement to Work with International Partners to Relieve Haiti’s Debt
- A giant toxic monster is coming your way OR no rigs before regs!
How the Media can Help Lower the Murder Rate
Submitted by LarryWest on Wed, 08/01/2007 - 10:48am.
Wow, what a title, huh? The NEWS MEDIA lowering the murder rate? Frankly, this is the post I've wanted to write for a LONG time!
Today, there were ARRESTS made in the Killing of a 15-year-old for a Dirt Bike. The story got a lot of press immediately, and there was a large sense of outrage from the community about it. Again, no one was coming forward. Finally, someone saw 3 teenagers walking down the street with the bike covered.
What did this person do? THEY CALLED THE POLICE!
http://www.nbc10.com/news/13789091/d...l?dl=mainclick
Yes, someone in Philadelphia did the right thing and alerted the police of this, helping to get a 16-year-old killer off the streets! It shows that there are people, even young people, who are taking steps to make sure Philadelphia is safe for everyone. Insult to injury? "Adult Told Teens To Get 'Dead Kid's' Bike Out Of House"
Unfortunately, it seems this story is getting buried a bit. It's late night, 10PM+, and Fox 29 had this on about 20 minutes into their cast. CBS 3 had it on at about 5 minutes in, and only for 30 seconds. 6 ABC? Nothing.
NBC 10 did lead with it, so kudos to them!
I've seen some sincere passion from these TV reporters when it comes to these murders. Jim Garner of 6ABC always seems to be especially annoyed with them, and honestly, I doubt any of us can blame him. So just what can the media do to change this?
This story. THIS is what we want! We want people to come forward and give this information to the police! We need to start showing, and supporting, people who do come forward and the positive impact it has! It shouldn't be buried behind another murder; THIS IS FRONT PAGE NEWS! THIS IS RARE! IT'S INTERESTING! IT'S IMPORTANT!
It seems easy to me, really; If the news outlets focus more on the positives that are happening, if they show the same results they always say they want, we can see a reduction in violence! We will see more people come forward because we'll see that other people have and this can encourage more people to do just that.
If the media outlets really care about reducing this violence, I ask them to please start reporting more and more about people coming forward with information and have it lead.
If you are worried about
If you are worried about retribution, putting your face on the news might not be the most palatable idea.
Agreed, with caveat.
They should focus on the crime solving aspects and not the individual people. Dan is correct, however, the societal treatment of "snitches" and fear of retribution require much care in reporting on these issues.
I am working to elect Larry Farnese to the General Assembly. Unless otherwise expressly stated, this and every comment or blog I post on YPP and any action I take hereon is solely attributable to me and not Farnese or Friends of Farnese
Good timing
We've been kicking around this question for a few days now as we try to figure out where to go with thenextmayor.com once "the next mayor" becomes "the current mayor." Some of the concerns that we see with the media coverage of the murder rate is that all of the stories tend to be the same - whether they're done by print media and get on the front page or cover of the paper or by television news.
One of our partners in this project pointed out that the stories tend to follow the same formula: identify victim by age, race, sex and location, say "was killed in a hail of gunfire and becomes victim number XXX." Family of the victim tells reporters how good the kid/guy was and how he never hurt anyone. (More often than not, as the stats bear out, that's not necessarily true and it's those very family members whose abuse/neglect/poor example shaped that person into a not-so-good guy. But that's what we need to know more about.) Cops say that they have no suspects and that the victim had a record (or didn't). No one in the neighborhood wants to dime them out. It's possible... possible that a few days later an arrest is made but for the most part we never hear about that, nor do we get an in-depth, cradle-to-grave look at the perpatrator or an in-depth look at where he got his gun from, etc.
The public, those watching television and reading the paper, get the who and what but they never get the why. And when they do, it's so infrequent that it's difficult to compare those "why's" over a large sample of people or to have those "why's" sufficiently pounded into people's heads that they begin to deman action from their state and local legislators.
Anyway, Larry's point is well taken. Put yourself in the brain of someone who doesn't devote any more time thinking about Philadelphia's crime issue than the few seconds just after seeing a headline or tv news story about it. It seems pretty clear that the coverage being given to this problem, while it serves to continue reminding everyone that there is a problem, does not give a hint about why there is a problem and what options there are to fix it. Of course, there is a fine line to be walked since the media isn't necessarily in the advocacy game but maybe there are just a few more facts that could be reported with each story that will lead people to make their own conclusions without overtly advocating for any specific positions.
Does anyone else have any more thoughts about what the media could do about this? Feel free to post here or over at thenextmayor.com blog where I'll soon be cross-posting this comment.
how to report on crime: don't report on crime
Dan, the thing I would like to see the most, and where you could fill a huge gap, is to not to report on crime. I think you know where I am going with this.
We all know it doesn't happen in a vacuum, but, how about what the every day life is like for people where crime is occurring? Off the top of my head, you could spend eons on time on how hard it is for someone to even get a job once they have any sort of criminal record at all. Or, on the deprivation that an amazingly high amount of Philly kids grow up in? Etc. Etc. Etc.
But, this isn't something that can be accomplished with a few more facts in a normal story about crime. It needs a fundamental decsion to report on everything that is happening where crime is occurring. Ray asked something the other day along the lines of "How many Philadelphian's die because of lack of health care each year?" I bet it is at least close to the 400 people who are murdered... Etc. etc. etc. For people in the region to start getting it about crime, we need media who will ignore crime as any type of independent occurrence.
If the nextmayor and the DN took this up (and generally the DN coverage is better than the Inq.), they would provide a huge public service.
The Media Are In the Advocacy Business
The media are in the advocacy business. Indeed, they are the most visible advocates in just about any city just about any time. To deny this is false modesty.
For decades, the media have advocated the position that crime is a major problem. They have advocated that we need tougher sentences. Today the state spends about $800 million a year jailing Philadelphians and about $1.3 billion a year educating Philadelphians in grades through high school.
As Dan U-A says, we can use advocacy on the number of Philadelphians who die from poor health care and other forms of poverty. We can use advocacy on reducing the city's sky-high poverty rate and creating jobs and services for those who need them most.
The media do a great job in advocating for the Chamber of Commerce agenda of more business subsidies and lower business taxes. It would be wonderful if they could also do a great job pushing job creation and service creation and opportunity creation for the bast majority of Philadelphia that urgently needs help to make ends meet.
The successor site to the Next Mayor has an opportunity to get facts out that challenge the prevailing view of what is important to the future of the city. Heopfully, it will choose to view the city's future through the lives of the entire city, and not just the economic elite and the elite in terms of their means and abilities to communicate with others.
A little off mark...
The person in the story I pointed out never had his identity given. All I could tell was that it was, most likely, a teenager and nothing more. This person did the right thing and didn't give up his anonymity. The main thing I am asking the media to do is focus more on the people who ARE coming forward and push that instead of just simply, as Dan Pohlig, going along the same formula we have now in reporting.
At the same time, as great a it would be to see more stories about the day-to-day lives of those living in these areas, we do get them and they seem to act more as fodder instead of anything else. Not that I'm dismissing the idea at all; to the contrary, some of the great reports in history are about what else lies in the areas where crime and war take place. If these stories are done, that MUST strive to make an impact, otherwise they're worthless.
More than anything, since we are all complaining that no one is coming forward and "Stop Snich'in " is the problem, we need to show that not everyone thinks that and there are people brave enough to do the right thing. I'm sure if we start showing the positive effects going on in this, we will see more and more positive results.