13 Mar 2024 2:06 am
Question -- when is the race of the perpetrator of a crime relevant to a media story?.
A domestic dispute in which a man shoots his wife? Probably not.
A carjacker successfully steals a car, then is caught by police? Again, maybe not..
A black man shoots up a subway shouting hate against whites, Jews, and Hispanics? Looks like race could be important to the media reporting.
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A comparison of black-on-white and black-on-black violent crime statistics? In that case, race obviously would be a central theme. And on it goes. Among editorial decisions made in newsrooms around the country -- when is race relevant to a news story?
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The May 25, 2020 death of George Floyd for which white cop Derek Chauvin was convicted of murder demands racial identification if one subscribes to the promoted narrative. That narrative says that the compelling photo of Chavin pinning Floyd to the pavement proves that white cops are racist and that they routinely kill black men. That was the narrative, and race, whether justified or not, became a central theme, which had widespread public repercussions -- including riots..
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Immediately following Floyd’s death, there was a change in media reporting on race and crime, according to a 2022 article by The Washington Free Beacon. Reviewing nearly 1,100 homicide articles in various cities between 2019 and 2021, the Beacon found prior to Floyd’s death, newspapers would report the race of a white perpetrator in 13 percent of the stories, compared to telling the race of black perpetrators 7 percent of the time. That’s about a 2-to-1 ratio. But after May 2020, that ratio rose to 7-to-1, with racial identity of whites reported 28 percent of the time, blacks 4 percent.
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...Not even a month had passed since Floyd’s death when some newspapers announced they would no longer publish mug shots of alleged perpetrators.For instance, The Orlando Sentinel and the South Florida Sun Sentinel, jointly owned by Tribune Publishing, each stated: "We’ve come to realize that without context, the [mugshot] galleries have little journalistic value and may have reinforced negative stereotypes.”
A domestic dispute in which a man shoots his wife? Probably not.
A carjacker successfully steals a car, then is caught by police? Again, maybe not..
A black man shoots up a subway shouting hate against whites, Jews, and Hispanics? Looks like race could be important to the media reporting.
.
A comparison of black-on-white and black-on-black violent crime statistics? In that case, race obviously would be a central theme. And on it goes. Among editorial decisions made in newsrooms around the country -- when is race relevant to a news story?
.
The May 25, 2020 death of George Floyd for which white cop Derek Chauvin was convicted of murder demands racial identification if one subscribes to the promoted narrative. That narrative says that the compelling photo of Chavin pinning Floyd to the pavement proves that white cops are racist and that they routinely kill black men. That was the narrative, and race, whether justified or not, became a central theme, which had widespread public repercussions -- including riots..
.
Immediately following Floyd’s death, there was a change in media reporting on race and crime, according to a 2022 article by The Washington Free Beacon. Reviewing nearly 1,100 homicide articles in various cities between 2019 and 2021, the Beacon found prior to Floyd’s death, newspapers would report the race of a white perpetrator in 13 percent of the stories, compared to telling the race of black perpetrators 7 percent of the time. That’s about a 2-to-1 ratio. But after May 2020, that ratio rose to 7-to-1, with racial identity of whites reported 28 percent of the time, blacks 4 percent.
.
...Not even a month had passed since Floyd’s death when some newspapers announced they would no longer publish mug shots of alleged perpetrators.For instance, The Orlando Sentinel and the South Florida Sun Sentinel, jointly owned by Tribune Publishing, each stated: "We’ve come to realize that without context, the [mugshot] galleries have little journalistic value and may have reinforced negative stereotypes.”