Deaths of Latinos at the Hands of Police - Less Coverage

[mx27]

www.latimes.com/local/crime/la-me-0718-latino-police-20150718-story.html#page=1

[heyjude]

Very interesting read. Thanks for sharing.

[sfy]

I would love to know how the media decides when to give attention and when not to give attention. I've never heard about either case detailed here.

[mx27]

Jul 18, 2015 14:54:32 GMT -5 sfy said:

I would love to know how the media decides when to give attention and when not to give attention. I've never heard about either case detailed here.

good question.

I imagine they cover stories that emphasize existing stereotypes - it's easy to do and has worked this long, so why change?!

Black people - any and all criminal activity, negative police interaction, and entertainment

Hispanic/Latino people - immigration

Asian people - who?

White people - girl missing, politics, great white hope stories, some negative coverage (for balance, of course)

Everyone else - irrelevant

[cookiemdough]

I also tend to think it takes one big story to take hold and then the entire issue gets more coverage.

[mx27]

Jul 18, 2015 18:36:51 GMT -5 letsgetweird said:

A few months ago, I drove by what I thought was a car accident. On the side of the highway a man's body was laying on the ground.

Turns out a cop shot the unarmed Hispanic man (also had his hands behind his head) and he died. It was a big local story but unfortunately didn't get much national coverage.

I drove by shortly after it happened. Paramedics were standing several feet away from him when I drove by, not treating him.

If anyone wants to watch the dash cam video, here's the link:

thescoopblog.dallasnews.com/2015/05/tarrant-county-grand-jury-declined-to-indict-in-grapevine-police-involved-shooting-of-mexican-immigrant.html/

Of course, the cop was not charged.

thank you for sharing. 

unsurprisingly, I had not heard of this.

these fuckers (the crazy cops who kill) are a threat to all.

[mx27]

Jul 19, 2015 1:15:27 GMT -5 1234FIF! said:

I mean there are how many police departments/law enforcement offices across the U.S.? I don't know one national news outlet tuned into every one of them looking for shenanigans. The resources just do not exist to do that. The reason stories get lift is social media, protests, vocal family members etc. surface them for national media, it's not that people/"media" don't care.

I'm not going to accuse people of not caring, but there is definitely an agenda (not just with police brutality).  I agree the resources don't exist to cover every single story, I'm just wondering why they cover the same story for most groups.  It's like each group is treated like a homogenous caricature (or they just don't exist in the media at all).   

What about all of those times when police shootings occur against black people, and then some idiot tries to deflect with "well, what about black on black crime?" then someone in the black community says, we've been complaining/demonstrating about that forever, but it's not covered. 

I'm sure people of most communities would say the same thing.

Or, more positive stories (meaning more emphasis on these, especially stories involving positive cross-racial/cross-cultural interactions).  Those probably don't sell as well.

[mx27]

Jul 19, 2015 10:32:32 GMT -5 1234FIF! said:

Jul 19, 2015 10:01:04 GMT -5 mx27 said:

I'm not going to accuse people of not caring, but there is definitely an agenda (not just with police brutality).  I agree the resources don't exist to cover every single story, I'm just wondering why they cover the same story for most groups.  It's like each group is treated like a homogenous caricature (or they just don't exist in the media at all).   

What about all of those times when police shootings occur against black people, and then some idiot tries to deflect with "well, what about black on black crime?" then someone in the black community says, we've been complaining/demonstrating about that forever, but it's not covered. 

I'm sure people of most communities would say the same thing.

Or, more positive stories (meaning more emphasis on these, especially stories involving positive cross-racial/cross-cultural interactions).  Those probably don't sell as well.

There is no agenda. I sit in three news meetings every day. There is no agenda. Stop it. 

And those stories are covered, that's why you know about them. Also, those good news stories are done too, maybe you don't read/watch/hear them. 

As for the stereotype narrative, the same kinds of people who post on FB also work for media. It's not like newsrooms happen to be filled with all the great thinkers, these are just people, too. It's hard to write/report on what you don't know or think is a problem and very often people assume because no one they know is talking about something, it must not be a "thing," but that is changing as non-legacy organizations run by minorities spring up, black twitter is forcing conversations and so on. Thank goodness. But ignorance doesn't stop at the newsroom door. 

I appreciate your perspective and am not discounting your experience. 

[ttt]

I think there is also a tendency in the media to want to fit things into a narrative (and maybe this is a general human tendency too), whether consciously or unconsciously. So the people who are picking which stories to cover tend to choose things that fit into a narrative that's already been established, and that's why you see so many of the same patterns. Tension between the police and African-Americans, Latinos and immigration issues, Donald Trump is crazy, etc. - stories that don't fit this or that go against it may not get covered.

Individual media outlets have their own particular narratives too - just look at what Fox News decides to cover and not cover and how that fits into the pre-determined story that they want to tell about, say, Obamacare.