Thread by @ScottHech

This is important. A Washington Post journalist published a rare, thoughtful, & nuanced analysis of crime data & how outsized media sensationalism drives public opinion. Not facts. For this, he’s become a rightwing punching bag. I try my best to explain: washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/…

The piece starts out w/ an anecdote of a Fox reporter approaching NY Rep. Jerry Nadler. The reporter’s brother was tragically shot & killed in June. Asked about the “crime crisis.” Nadler did not immediately respond. Fox made a stink. WaPo rightfully suggests it’s complicated

The reporter Gianno Caldwell is a rightwing propagandist. And he’s also a surviving family member of a brother who was shot. Can’t come close to imagining. Truly sorry. But he’s using that loss to misinform, drive anger, & push for more of the same policies that enabled the loss.

Washington Post reporter Philip Bump (@pbump) then continues his nuanced look at crime, media, & perception by offering a clear assessment of what crime data doesn’t tell us. It’s a lot. Crime is hyper local. Data is hampered by inconsistent reporting. So we’re left w/ anecdotes.

Important to note that reporter doesn’t deny crime has seen increases cross country, while acknowledging by how much & relative to what is largely unknown. What he’s looking at is the outsized disproportionate focus on it. And notable lack of attention on failures of policing.

The @washingtonpost reporter notes—aptly & accurately—that w/ little reliable data nationally & in many local jurisdictions, the public is left to the devices of local & national media, prone to sensationalism. Anecdote of rare outlier cases replace data & *become* reality.

What also gets lost in convos on crime data is that A) Any crime increases are happening despite investing more in policing than any society in history of world & B) All data about alternatives to criminalization—inc. Bail reform—points to extraordinary success. We don’t hear it.

Media sensationalism is widespread. Not just rightwing outlets. All outlets: NYT, CNN, NPR, & in the reporter, Philip Bump’s own Washington Post. A problem. Even worse: How rightwing outlets like FoxNews are able to seize on crime confusion for political gain. What it looks like:

Look at this graph. The difference in mentions of “crime” as a pressing issue before and after Biden was elected as compared to other outlets—who also critically are covering crime at outsized rates, driven both by real relative increases, but also police & prosecutor influence.

Brief interlude to say it’s not just GOP who uses media to instill an inaccurate sense of quality & quantity of crime. Bloomberg did a masterful analysis of actual gun violence in NYC compared to reporting on it after NYC mayor started his propaganda campaign. It’s crazy. Look:

I was impressed that the Washington Post identified the impact of outsized & overblown news coverage on crime—and only certain kinds of crime—on peoples outsized fear & *perceptions of their own vulnerability to crime, *even where they perceived their own communities to be safe.

Also critical to note *who* the Fox reporter was asking about about the “crime crisis.” A Congressman from NY. Why wasn’t this Fox Reporter asking lawmakers from the 8 GOP states that top the list of most murders in country: thirdway.org/report/the-red…

The Washington Post identifies why it’s so easy for opponents of bail reform & other modest changes that have seen extraordinary success to win the public perception battle simply by using a handful of outlier cases of violence. Fear sells. Fear works. Way more than data. Facts.

In places like Chicago where the Fox reporters brother was killed, the most policed neighborhoods are those w/ the least resources & most violence then & now. What we’re actually starting to see make a real difference are alternatives like violence interruption. A model.

The article closes off by suggesting Nadler did nothing wrong by taking a beat & not immediately responding to Fox’s simplistic, loaded, & perhaps (understandably so) emotional—given his brother’s death—question. It’s complicated. And we need a media willing to grapple w/ nuance.

FoxNews is weaponizing tragedy—here a reporter’s own brother—to push to double down on the very same investments that failed his brother. It’s the definition of insanity. FoxNews should be directing their anger toward police. And if they truly care about safety focus on facts.

Instead, Fox & all of their most virulent rightwing, racist, fascist opponents of truth, are attacking a data journalist on his suggestion that shoving a mic in the face of lawmakers w/ “CRIME CRISIS” is unhelpful to finding solutions. Here’s De Santis’s chief of propaganda:

I’m going to end this thread with some resources for those actual curious about crime data & responsible reporting. Starting with this: Center for Just Journalism guide for reporters reporting on crime stats: justjournalism.org/media/download…

Here is a Bloomberg piece—hardly a “leftist” or progressive outlet—on the truth about crime & how media is playing a role in actually undermining safety by amplifying police talking points. bloomberg.com/graphics/2022-…

Here is a commentary by a public defender in Chicago. Who cares deeply about increasing public health and safety. And why media fearmongering & simplicity is hurting her city & leading to more deaths. teenvogue.com/story/rising-c…

Just to give you a sense of where fear and anger over alternatives to policing everywhere but also in Illinois/Chicago is coming from. It’s not data or facts. It’s fake newspapers conjured up by right wing for-profits

Lastly—for now. Survivors of crime are not the monolith Fox wants you to believe. Not only surviving family members use their tragedies & platforms to incite anger & more hyper policing that so clearly failed them & their families. rrstar.com/story/opinion/…

Read Philip Bump’s (@pbump) piece for yourselves. We need more journalism like this. Especially if we want to minimize the likelihood of tragedies like the killing of Fox News reporter Gianno Caldwell’s brother. I mean that in the best faith imaginable. washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/…