The relationship between crime and the media has never been great — and by “never been great” what we really mean is “news reporting about crime wildly misrepresents actual crime and disrupts the political process by misleading the general public, who, in turn, demand that elected officials act upon outrageously distorted beliefs about crime.”
Check out this nifty infographic by Infobia that explores this troubled relationship.
Copyright SimpliSafe Burglar Alarm Systems
Permission to distribute the image is implied by the provision of embedding code on Infobia’s website.
doubleyooteeeff
April 13, 2012
I agree that there’s a significant disparity between crime statistics and media coverage. The news and the politicians definitely benefit from playing on our fears. It’s a shame to see how blatantly dishonest and manipulative it is.
CrimeDime
April 14, 2012
Fear of crime is powerful stuff, and it’s hugely successful. They’ll keep doing it because it works.
arkansastruthseeker
July 11, 2012
Reblogged this on Upside Down.
sgcuomo
July 11, 2012
In Chicago, we’re having a few shootings every night, with a few murders every week (meanwhile, non-murder crimes are down 10%). I am well aware that the vast majority of Chicagoans are more likely to be robbed than to be shot, and that the media attention makes the shootings seem far more prominent than they are, but it would be difficult for a newspaper to NOT print about a shooting. People care more about shootings and murders, and when there is a shooting every single night, it’s doubtless going to get coverage every single day, and necessarily drown out coverage of other news.
So, until we don’t have a shooting every night, I don’t image we’ll ever see a more proportionate coverage.