Washington Post Coverage Bias

[Trancendental]

The fracas occurred near midnight on Aug. 6, and authorities said it involved as many as 70 people. It started at the Gallery Place Station and continued to the L'Enfant Plaza Station. There were arrests, and several people landed in the hospital. On deadline, The Post gathered enough information for a news brief in Saturday's paper, and a short story was quickly posted online.
Throughout Saturday, it was among the most-viewed stories on the Web site, signaling intense reader interest. But as the day wore on, some readers grew frustrated that there was nothing more.
...
When a story for Sunday's paper finally did appear, it offered little new. Promoted on the front page and tucked at the bottom of Sunday's Metro section, it didn't answer key questions: What caused the fighting? Were the people who were injured participants or bystanders? Was Metro beefing up security?
Why such thin coverage? Much of the explanation is that The Post responded with too little, too late.
...
Pierre also worried about hyping a story that involved race. Although The Post's coverage on and after Sunday did not specify the racial makeup of those involved, many readers assumed they were black and offered racially insensitive online comments. "So ghetto," read one. Another urged ending "all welfare benefits for parents whose little animals cause this type of mayhem."
When The Post finally produced a more substantive story for Monday's paper, Pierre believes it was given too much prominence, even though it included eyewitness descriptions of multiple fights and bedlam as people tried to escape the pandemonium. The Post "overplayed it," said Pierre. "It was a fight on the Metro. Kids get into fights."
The Post should always be sensitive to overplaying stories, especially if race is involved. But the problem here was that readers last weekend couldn't get news they desperately wanted about what police said was a massive brawl on the public transit system used daily by hundreds of thousands of people. The hedge against overplaying the story was to get to the bottom of it, and fast.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/13/AR2010081304465.html

I thought this was a rare and interesting inside look at how city newspapers choose stories. I think it's pathetic that TMZ and facebook have more money then god while the Washington Post can only afford one city writer and two interns. I also feel that city residents need to know about the dangers of riding the metro, no matter who started the fight.

The other day I saw some German lady sit down next to a mentally disturbed woman, and then proceed to get in an arguement when the mentally disturbed woman absolutely freaked out. People just don't know how close they are to getting hurt on the metro, in part because of media bias like that reported above.

 

[gargus]

[quote name='camoor']I thought this was a rare and interesting inside look at how city newspapers choose stories. I think it's pathetic that TMZ and facebook have more money then god while the Washington Post can only afford one city writer and two interns. I also feel that city residents need to know about the dangers of riding the metro, no matter who started the fight.

The other day I saw some German lady sit down next to a mentally disturbed woman, and then proceed to get in an arguement when the mentally disturbed woman absolutely freaked out. People just don't know how close they are to getting hurt on the metro, in part because of media bias like that reported above.[/QUOTE]

Well in fairness washingpost is a newspaper and facebook or whatever gets to billions of people allover the world to look at their website. The reason they probablly have more money is more people are willing to advertise with them at much higher rates because they know if you put a ad on facebook a couple million people will see it easily. Thats like saying a local chain of a couple restraunts isnt fair because they dont have as much money as mcdonalds, its about having the larger audience.

Its not really a news papers obligation to have constant updates to let citizens know about the dangers of the metro. If that were the case then they would be obligated to constantly letting citizens know of every single thing that could possibly be a danger. Everything is a danger when your talking about multiple people in the same place, not just transportation services.

So the german lady got in a argument with a mentally ill person? Now, whos fault is it? The mentally ill person for being messed up, or the german ladies fault for arguing and not just moving and not getting involved in it? Besides, you cant go anywhere without running the risk of being around someone else that could potentially cause harm. Get in a car and drive on the road and you run a risk of having a drunk driver cross your path, or some stupid kid texting on their phone while they are driving, or some guy who just worked like 17 hours and is driving home.

Far as I can tell the paper didnt do anything wrong according to that story, except maybe blow it out of proportion during the latter part.

 

[Trancendental]

[quote name='gargus']Far as I can tell the paper didnt do anything wrong according to that story, except maybe blow it out of proportion during the latter part.[/QUOTE]

This isn't an isolated incident.

From 2005 to 2009, crime on Metrorail tripled, even surpassing the number of incidents reported in the transit system's dimly lit and under-patrolled parking lots. In 2005, 334 crimes were reported on Metrorail. That figure steadily increased year after year. In 2006, it was 350; in 2007, 453; in 2008, 606. Last year, it was up to 975. The latest figures available show 410 crimes were reported on Metrorail in just the first four months of 2010, almost double the number recorded during the same period last year. And that doesn't include the 16-year-old boy beaten unconscious on a Red Line train in June over his Air Jordan shoes.
Last Friday's moving brawl involved at least 70 out-of-control youths who pummeled, kicked and beat people, knocking many to the ground.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/o...ds-to-Metrorail_s-woes-1008712-100300024.html

The daily free rags are doing a better job of reporting the overall story about a more dangerous metro then the Post. The Post can talk all they want about budget cuts, but that really is pathetic.

Post Chief Pierre says it's no big story because "kids get into fights". He neglects the fact that many of the perpetrators in this seventy person brawl were in their 20s and 30s. He neglects to acknowledge that in addition to violent fights, shootings, and stabbings there is also a large pickpocket and shoplifting problem in these areas that is not being reported. It's not being reported because it does not dovetail nicely with the PC agenda of the WP chiefs. That's bs.