JR on the N&R's decision on playing up the murder of a white woman in New Irving Park: "We gave the story that kind of prominence because it occurred in a region of the city where violent crime is rare, and homicides rarer still. This doesn't appear to be the 'typical' homicide involving two drunks or a drug deal gone bad, which makes it even more rare. All of those factors make this news."

I've been critical the media's missing white women fetish, but I think he's got a point...up to a point.

What if every murder made the A1 centerpiece? What if every victim became a big story? Would that desensitize people? Overstate even a serious violent-crime problem?

Comments

[Fred Gregory]

Ed,

There were two separate shootings reported in the N&R on Wednesday 1/16/08. One at a sports bar with two victims ( B2). Another apparent drug robbery with one victim. ( B5 ). No point just an observation.

We are not Balamore, yet but you asked 4 questions in the last graph of this post. How about answering them.

Thanks

Fred Gregory

[Jerimee]

The explanation seems to confirm the original criticism: wealthy peoples' lives are more valuable and thus more newsworthy than those of trashy people on the other side of town.

And then, since the fourth estate has confirmed the fact that homicides in violent areas aren't as big a deal as those in wealthy areas, law enforcement can maybe justify doing less to curb violence in those areas where safety is most needed.

Isn't there an organization in the Triad that does a vigil for every homicide? Far from desensitizing folks, doesn't this emphasize that every life is valuable, and every murder an urgent problem?

Sorry for bad spelling and grammar...

[Ed Cone]

I missed the part where he says wealthy people's lives are more valuable. I thought the argument was that wealthy people get murdered in their homes much less frequently, and that things that happen rarely are more newsy than things that happen frequently. "Man bites dog" would be a related journalistic cliche.

[Jerimee]

Ok I hear what you're saying. And you're right, he said that the murders of wealthy people was worth more public attention than those of other folks. I'm saying that it's not a far leap from worth more public attention to worth more period.

Regarding things being newsy, the weather, the DOW, and the custody of Brittany Spears's children change everyday, and everyday they get reported on.

[nickgso]

Ed,

I want to weigh in on this one as well. I concur with your questions and wondered the same thing myself. I bet next up we will hear about a forum in Irving Park dragging in GPD and others to address the neighborhoods concerns. Do we do this with all murders? The answer is clearly no. And while i am at it i am curious to your thoughts on something. When Council Woman T D.B Small had the controversy about the traffic stop which ultimately was a he said/she said type thing, the media foks (blogs,Rhino, N&R) all beat up on her for abuse of power. Yet on the other hand, Sandra Anderson Groat places a call to 911 and is rude,(a call that we all could hear) throws out that she is the Mayor pro tem, demanding service, yet these same media folks change the story around making her the victim of the frustrating process to get a police officer. (Ahearn just recently brought this point of view back up in a recent article) This too me is a huge double standard which ulimately ties back to your post. How can we move beyond the "race" issue as Mike Barber was quoted as saying recently when we continue to have issues like the ones above. Your thoughts??

[Nick]

Silence by all ??

[Ed Cone]

Sorry, meant to get back to this. There are important differences in the two situations -- yes, both involved alleged weight-throwing by elected officials with public safety officials -- but one was in response to being stopped for an alleged violation, and the other was in response to lack of action in reporting a problem. Not defending any bad behavior here, but the differences seem relevant to me.

I see race and class issues playing out more clearly in the tacit acceptance of crime as long as it is confined to certain neighborhoods.

[Rcoh101]

Gotta agree with Ed on this one, Nick. One was weight-throwing in an attempt to get a cop not to do his job, the other an attempt to get a cop to do her job.