A Massive Fail on Crime Reporting by “The New York Times,” NPR
Sensational stories about a “spike” in murders offer a model of how not to cover criminal justice.
Hasnain says:
“This routine source bias in criminal justice reporting must stop. It leads to the false conception that police are the only experts on crime and ignores the critical perspectives such as those of public defenders, social workers, and individuals and communities directly impacted by the criminal legal system. It also presents a singular, skewed interpretation of the news, imbuing coverage with a pro-police bias—an assumption that police solve crime and make the public safer.
Every time there is a “rise in homicides,” instead of journalists using the occasion to question the efficacy of policing, police are allowed to use their failures to demand more resources, more funding, more support.”
Posted on 2021-10-06T20:38:05+0000