Thursday, September 15, 2011

Finally, the LA Times Finds a Context, in Which It Can Report on Race and Crime

By Nicholas Stix

Because most murder victims in Los Angeles are Hispanic or black, the Los Angeles Times is now reporting their race, front and center, in its Homicide Report, but not the race, as reported by witnesses, of the killers.

Thus, we learn that murder victim Daniel Cruz, 60, was “a Latino male,” and Ron Hayden, 61, was a black male.

Were the Times to do real reporting, readers would learn that virtually every Hispanic or black murder victim was killed by a Hispanic or black, but that’s the last thing the times wants to report on, any more than it wants to report on how the group most victimized by black criminals is not blacks, but whites.

[Thanks to reader-researcher RC, for this find.]

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Since the Menendez and Simpson trials, I've studied the history of the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office and kept up with LA crime in general. There is an old saying that for a murder trial to receive coverage in Los Angeles, either the victim or the suspect has to be rich, a celebrity, or very good looking.

Needless to say, most murder trials in LA are not covered by the Los Angeles Times. If the defendant is a serial killer there will be some coverage.

When District Attorney Steve Cooley's record in "big" trials is discussed, the ones I have seen mentioned are Robert Blake, race car driver Mickey Thompson (the victim), and Phil Spector.

The trial of Conrad Murray for manslaughter in Michael Jackson's death is going to be big. This has a celebrity victim.

David In TN