Keeping It Covered

This conference discusses the responsibility of media when reporting on crime and the hidden purposes coverage may pursue. The interpretation of crime phenomenon by the press has become a two-edged sword for policymakers and the public. The return to democratic rule throughout the region has meant journalists can report on an endless number of topics extensively; dictatorships frequently were able to suppress the unwelcome news of social turmoil, such as crime, through censorship. However, the "cronica roja"--gripping bloodsoaked true crime tales--carried by many newspapers and magazines can and sometimes do transform individual crimes into misleading characterizations about the threats faced, and about the efficacy of the forces of order in meeting those threats. Crime news is a curious mirror of public mood, which it also helps to generate. Perceptions of threat to personal safety can influence our outlook on the rest of the world, our willingness to be open to others, and our ability to interact in ways that strengthen neighborhoods and communities. This lecture was read in the Conference: Convivencia y Seguridad Cuidadana en el Istmo Centroamericano y la Isla Española, San Salvador, El Salvador, in June of 1998. Even in countries where criminal violence has not reached alarming proportions, the perception of insecurity fanned by often sensationalized news coverage has brought with it questions about the efficacy of state efforts to provide for public safety. In the United States, as in many other countries in the Hemisphere, crime related stories make up the largest single news reporting category of newspapers. Does the crime phenomenon deserve the coverage it receives? What is its quality? Are hidden hands manipulating public insecurity for private purpose, be it profits and circulation, or political advantage? Is it the press' duty merely to report the news as it happens, or should it try to put it into context for readers, or even serve the public information strategies of law enforcement? To what extent does it "advertise disorder?" Does crime news generate fear and, in doing so, actually better prepare citizens to confront it? Does such news fit into the category covered by the public's right to know, ensuring access to information essential if "government by the governed" is to survive? Or is it merely a reflection of our own morbid, and sometimes hypocritical, curiosity? Can crime coverage actually help a society understand the underlying causes