Report Claims NY Stations Biased in Crime Reporting
/
A group that calls themselves ColorOfChange released a report titled NOT TO BE TRUSTED.
They say the report shows dangerous Levels of Inaccuracy in TV Crime Reporting in NYC, a report detailing how local news coverage in New York City distorts the picture of criminal justice, and the negative impacts this inaccurate imagery has on Black communities.
“Over the course of our study we found that the four major network affiliates in New York City consistently over report that Black people are involved in murder, assault and theft- and that is without factoring in the equally outrageous over-targeting of Black people by police,” said Rashad Robinson, Executive Director of ColorOfChange. “Not only are these stations over-reporting Black crime, they’re systematically under-reporting white crime. Local news in New York City has failed the most basic responsibility of journalism: to report the news accurately.”
ColorofChange issued a “report card” for their findings that showed that WNYW/FOX5 scored a “B,” WCBS and WNBC each scored a “D,” and WABC actually scored an “F”.
The report says that on average, 51% of the people the NYPD arrest for murder, assault and theft are Black, according to NYPD crime data from 2010-2013.
75% of the people newscasters present as perpetrators of those crimes in New York City are Black, exaggerating the image of Black people as criminals by 24 percentage points. For WABC, it’s 82%.
ColorofChange.org says that they have reached out to all four local news stations over the past few months and is committed to working with them to ensure that the local news in New York City is reported accurately.
