| It's not that the school shootings aren't horrible: Of course they are. But it's fair to say that any time a child is murdered, it's horrible. There were a total of 16 school-associated violent deaths the entire school year last year in America. By comparison, 16 children are killed by gunfire every two days in America, and 16 children die at the hands of their parents or guardians every three days in America. | If news audiences have little contact with young people, they are likely to believe that youths are dangerous threats, in part because there are so few other representations of youths in the news to the contrary. |
If news audiences are taking crime coverage at face value, they are accepting a serious distortion. They are likely to believe that most crime is extremely violent and that perpetrators are black and victims white. If news audiences have little contact with young people, they are likely to believe that youths are dangerous threats, in part because there are so few other representations of youths in the news to the contrary.
According to an ABC news poll, 76 percent of Americans report that they form their opinions about crime from what they see or read in the news. Since three-fourths of the public know about crime only through the news, these distortions are a perfect recipe for a misinformed public.
The problem is not that individual stories are wrong, but that the cumulative picture of youths and people of color is inaccurate. With so many people dependent on the news to tell them about crime, they can't make good decisions about how to prevent crime without a more accurate picture of who commits and who suffers from violence.
| Violence stories are easy to do and readily available, perfect for a deadline-driven newsroom. | Rather than informing citizens about their world, the news is reinforcing stereotypes that inhibit society's ability to respond effectively to the problem of crime, particularly juvenile crime. |
An important audience has internalized this distorted picture of crime, race and youth: journalists. After all, journalists consume more news than anyone. A quick trip to any newsroom makes that instantly clear: Twenty-four hours a day journalists are under pressure to be aware of current news or anything that might become news.To meet the pressure, news organizations stay tuned into each other, via the wire services, radio, print and TV, which are available in newsrooms overhead and in every direction. News organizations watch one another closely, and mimic one another's news.
Unfortunately, many of them are repeating a terrible distortion.
Violence stories are easy to do and readily available, perfect for a deadline-driven newsroom. They are often about life and death -- "good stories," full of drama and emotion -- that keep audiences attentive. All of these reasons contribute to the consistency of the findings in the studies of news.
Still, reporters must break through complacency and question their own news content and story selections. Audiences require a more complete accounting of what is happening to young people. Without print and broadcast journalists' better efforts, the public will never know enough about why violence happens, what is happening to prevent it, and what, as a society, we should do next.
Dorfman is director of the Berkeley Media Studies Group. Schiraldi is president of the Justice Policy Institute. They are co-authors of "Off Balance: Youth, Race and Crime in the News."
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