Opinion - CL is hyping crime

During his successful mayoral campaign in 2009, Kasim Reed proposed hiring 750 new police officers and opening community centers he dubbed “centers of hope” to discourage Atlanta’s youth from committing crime. The next mayor, Reed insisted, had to “turn the tide” on the city’s crime “crisis.”

Atlanta’s news media feeds this crisis narrative. For example, Creative Loafing’s June 17 cover story on Atlanta gangs (“Gang Mentality”) offered this frightening statistic: The number of gangs identified by Atlanta Police has nearly tripled in recent years.

However, the story never mentioned this important statistic: Crime in Atlanta declined 12 percent last year.

There were 25 percent fewer murders, 18 percent fewer robberies, and 12 percent fewer aggravated assaults in 2009 than in 2008. According to Atlanta Police Department crime reports, auto thefts and burglaries decreased 12 and 14 percent, respectively, last year.

The facts suggest the “tide” of crime has already turned, but CL’s crime coverage doesn’t reflect this. Creative Loafing seems to have adopted an “if it bleeds, it leads” philosophy that offers fear without broader, factual context.

CL is far from alone here. A 2001 Berkeley Media Studies Groups report on media coverage of crime found a 32.9 percent national decrease in homicides during the 1990s coincided with a 473 percent increase in media coverage of murders.

Scaring Atlanta’s residents has serious costs. An environment of fear encourages extreme measures on the part of police. Two well-publicized examples were last year’s Atlanta Eagle Raid and the 2007 shooting death of 92-year-old Kathryn Johnston. A less-well-known fact: APD’s own crime reports show 262 unfounded arrests during the first three months of the year.

And consider for a moment the most extreme case of a paranoid overreaction to crime in Atlanta — the deadly 1906 Atlanta race riots. They were sparked by several false media reports of rape.

Because the mayor has to put taxpayer money where his mouth is, the $559 million city budget approved last week sets aside funds for 100 additional police officers — money the city might be spending on other priorities, for example the community centers the mayor himself believes help keep young people out of trouble in the first place.

By failing to provide proper context with its crime coverage, the local news media is being irresponsible. It also belittles the wonderful work of an understaffed APD and tarnishes the reputation of the city and its residents.

Donovan X. Ramsey is a senior at Morehouse College. He worked on Lisa Borders’ mayoral campaign staff.