Murder made for prime time
Last week I posted a note about the disproportionate news coverage generated by a murder in the Lower East Side. This week's Village Voice chronicles the story behind the story of how a seemingly unexceptional murder became front page news around the country.
Race is undeniably part of the duFresne story. The randomness and location of the crime are linked to race, because white women are so rarely killed and the Seventh Precinct is gentrifying. If skin color didn't figure into how papers handled duFresne's killing—and there were plenty of color-blind reasons to work this story—maybe it should have had a place in the stories themselves. A simple reference to how rare black-on-white crime is would acknowledge the racial dynamic inherent in the facts. "More—not less—information is really important," says McBride.
posted by Jeremy Del Rio @ 2/09/2005 01:51:00 PM
1 Comments:
Yeah, that was a good article by the Voice. I like the fact that they mentioned that it's not just a matter of overt racisim, but that also the mentality of the press is complicit with regard to what crimes get showcased the most. I dare to say that many in America will not watch the news with discernment, and they'll continue to draw their conclusions about people of color based on what they continue to see and read.
José
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