Digest 2/28/2022

How to (not) report on a crime wave, the media projects springing up around our thirst for gossip in These Times, and more.

THE CRIME WAVE

Read any newspaper (or Bari Weiss newsletter) and the headlines will tell you plainly: we’re in a crime wave, or, more precisely, “a tsunami of lethal violence,” as one expert put it in a quote for The Atlantic.

Here in New Orleans, where I live, the local newspaper The Times-Picayune has given breathless coverage to muggings, carjackings, and murders across the city in the last year. The coverage can seem near hysterical, suggesting that New Orleans is a city under siege by violent criminals. It’s no wonder that “Bring the National Guard for Mardi Gras” signs have been sprouting up in the city’s suburban enclaves. And yet, according to some conservative pundits, the mainstream media is neglecting to report on this recent “crime wave,” allegedly in service of #BLM protestors and the #DefundThePolice movement.

Violent crime is on the rise, especially gun-related crime. But how can journalists report on it in a way that drives better conversations about why and how violent crime occurs?

I don’t necessarily report on crime; as a freelancer, I report on how our criminal legal system responds to crime and those accused of committing it. New Orleans has long been considered the epicenter of mass incarceration, as it was once the most incarcerated city in the most incarcerated state in the most incarcerated country. Typically, my reporting has focused on the systems and practices — like over-policing or harsh sentencing — that have made this possible.

I have also documented how this status quo has begun to change incrementally through a number of criminal justice reforms. Major cities, including New Orleans, have elected progressive district attorneys, who are committed to less draconian prosecuting than their predecessors. There’s been an effort to decriminalize marijuana use and other minor drug offenses both at local and federal levels. And there’s been work to release people from jails and prisons, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic due to concerns over their health. But those who oppose criminal justice reform now blame these modest reforms for the uptick in violent crime… and that blame seeps into popular coverage.

Earlier this year, CNN published a story about the rise in carjackings across the country. They reported that the release of children from juvenile detention facilities, as well as adults from jails and prisons, is one factor in the crime’s rise. They quoted a police chief who said that “some were emboldened to be repeat offenders,” because of their release from jail. Yet the article gave no data to confirm that any person accused of carjacking was a repeat offender and, in fact, contradicted this point, noting that an arrest for carjacking was often the first point of contact with the criminal legal system for many of the teenagers accused of the crime. Instead, only flimsy anecdotal evidence was provided to support those conclusions, in addition to the speculation of one police chief of a mid-sized city. The coverage didn’t empower better conversation or better questions.

We know now that crime waves are as much about a rise in reporting crime as it is about a rise in crime itself. Or, as one study put it, “crime waves are always public phenomena.” Crime waves are as much media coverage as they are about the existence of crime. So, it is important to ask: what is the overall narrative of crime reporting in the aggregate? And what should our role as the media be in reporting on it?

THE GOSSIP RENAISSANCE

The Queen is maybe, possibly dead, at least according to Hollywood Unlocked’s Jason Lee. Julia Fox is penning essays and giving interviews on her brief soiree with Kanye. And Bennifer is back on. Clearly, there has never been a better time to gossip about celebrities.

The perverse media landscapes gives us a bounty of figures to gossip about: beyond the usual celebrities (actors, pop stars, daytime talk show hosts), there now exists a whole wide universe of reality TV show contestants, Instagram influencers (for the millennials), TikTok influencers (for Gen Z), and podcasts hosts (my preferred genre of celebrity gossip).

And media has risen to the challenge: accounts like Deux Moi provide a regular cycle of dubious celebrity claims. Podcasts like Who Weekly and newsletters like Hunter Harris’ regularly entertain with their comedic anthropology of celebrity happenings. And Gawker is back and better than ever, complete with a full beat, Teigen Tales, dedicated to the mundane misdeeds of Chrissy Teigen. I’d even argue that the more overtly cerebral shows like On The Media (or this Study Hall digest?) provide a good amount of media gossip for those who might not care to admit just how much they love to hear it.

But arguably, in my personal experience, it’s been more difficult to come by normal gossip, the kind that circulates in everyday lives outside of the realm of celebrity. Staying inside for two years because of a pandemic might be to blame. Thankfully, Defector Blog’s new podcast Normal Gossip is here to fill that gap. Each episode, hosted by Kelsey McKinney and produced by Alex Sujong Laughlin, brings on a guest to dissect a juicy piece of gossip from real life. My favorite episode follows a class of 15 sorority sisters and the handkerchief in which they embroider their initials…

One persistent question for McKinney throughout all episodes of Normal Gossip is where gossip ends and journalism begins: is reporting on a politician’s sex life any different than gossiping about an insane neighbor who lies about running a marathon? Why does gossip feel so good, yet get such a bad rap? And most importantly, what are gossiping best practices? For what it’s worth, they include: verifying your information, only sending voice notes or talking in person, and sharing with people outside of the circle of people impacted by the gossip.

EVERYTHING ELSE

by Study Hall’s editorial team

— An exploration of the murder of Slovak investigative journalist Ján Kuciak, who worked to expose corruption, and his fiancée four years ago, and the progress of the anti-corruption movement in Slovakia since.

— Jacobin publisher Bhaskar Sunkara has joined The Nation as its next president. Sunkara founded Jacobin in college, and has previously served as vice-chair of DSA. Sunkara’s time with Jacobin has included questions about the rates the outlet pays relative to its profit margin. Sunkara was accused in 2018 of reneging on a deal with British employees of struggling left-wing magazine The Tribune, promising them continued employment if they agreed to settle for only 70% of back wages owed to them — and then admitting he wouldn’t be bringing the staffers back after all.

— NY Mag asks why so many liberals are mad at David Leonhardt, writer of the NYT’s morning newsletter and proponent of the message that “the emergency phase of the COVID pandemic is over and that the persistent degree of anxiety and COVID-mitigation efforts in Blue America are not only ineffectual but doing more harm than good.” Pulitzer winner Ed Yong is quoted on responsible reporting in the pandemic, and notes the importance of emphasizing equity and access in vaccinations rather than individualizing blame, and warning against a tendency to “normalize” or lean overmuch on optimism.

— Among the proliferation of funds and groups to support in Ukraine, some more advisable than others, there’s a GoFundMe for Ukrainian media to “relocate, set-up back offices and continue their operations from neighboring countries” organized by a consortium of “The Fix , Are We Europe , Jnomics and Media Development Foundation , as well as multiple media partners from across Europe.”

— Corinne Colbert reports she was fired from her editor position at Athens News, owned by Adams Publishing Group, due to “violation of Adam’s Publishing Group’s social media policy”: social media posts that “[warned] readers about scams promoted in ads purchased at the national level.” Colber continued, “APG epitomizes EVERYTHING that is wrong in American journalism today. It’s run by people who do not understand—or do not care about—journalism. Instead of serving the public and renting readers’ attention to advertisers, APG serves money.”