Something I’ve noticed on television news is the huge amount of crime stories. The lead story, nine out of ten times, is about a crime, generally a shooting or a death in the local area. I wonder why this is such a prominent story throughout. Is it because people care about this the most? Is it because there are a lot of crimes occurring throughout the country? I did a little bit of research and I found that crime coverage is indeed higher than it has ever been before. However, despite the spike in coverage, crime in the USA is actually lower now than it ever has been before. So how does that work? Why is this type of coverage so high? I know I for one don’t like seeing it or reading about it. It’s mostly depressing. In fact, most people that I know don’t like crime stories.
My theory is that crime stories are simply easy to report and cover. I believe journalists have more pressure now more than ever to get stories in as soon as possible. Crime stories are easy because it’s as simple as following a police beat. Like that entertainment factor, it’s just another way to cut corner and make it appear that news is as relevant and rich as it use to be.
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