According to a four-year average of statistics from the New York City Police Department, African American suspects were arrested in 54 percent of murder cases, 55 percent of theft cases, and 49 percent of assaults, according to Media Matters, a media watchdog group.
But, from Aug. 18 through Dec. 31 of last year, the evening news programs for WCBS, WNBC, WABC, and WNYW identified Blacks as suspects in 68 percent of murder stories, 80 percent of stories about thefts, and 72 percent of stories about assaults.
Those numbers, tallied by Media Matters in a report being released today, show that local television stations in New York City are giving a distorted view of how frequently African Americans commit crimes, the group said. (Media Matters published a similar report last year.)
“The result of disproportionately showing African Americans committing crimes on TV screens is creating the false impression of who is committing crime,” Zac Petkanas, vice president of communications for Media Matters, said in an interview. “I think one is safe in saying it is not a good thing for one to be overrepresented in [the category of] committing more crimes than other races.”
Rashad Robinson, executive director of Color of Change, a civil right organization that analyzed the data compiled by Media Matters, said, the report revealed another problem with local television networks: “It’s not just that they’re overreporting Black crime — they’re underreporting White crime, they’re systematically underreporting White crime.”
These staggering numbers bring into question many things when it comes to looking at the news. Is the news painting an accurate picture of the city of New York? Can the public rely on what’s being reported these days in terms of accuracy?
Sources: capitalnewyork.com
