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Crime Reporting: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO) — Transcript

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0:02foreign
0:04moving on our main story tonight
0:06concerns crime you know mcgruff's Kink
0:09it's genuinely impressive that this
0:10crime dog taught a whole generation how
0:12to be narx while simultaneously dressing
0:14like he's about to jerk it in the back
0:15of a movie theater specifically we're
0:18going to talk about how crime is covered
0:19by the news because the news loves
0:21covering crime sometimes seriously and
0:24sometimes like this let's get this
0:26straight from the start you're Nedra
0:28Brantley right I am is your name Mike no
0:32it's not this is what nidra's car looked
0:35like today
0:37Mike is a cheater who spray painted all
0:40over it cheater cheater Mike is a
0:43cheater Mike Mike Mike
0:47see what you've done I don't know who
0:49you are I don't know where you are but
0:52you may want to start changing your ways
0:57or changing your name yes
1:01on my TV all day every day in fact if
1:04you send NBC for Washington's Pat
1:06Collins to Ukraine I guarantee you it'll
1:09be sorted out tomorrow
1:12see what you've done now you've
1:15undoubtedly noticed that crime makes up
1:16a significant part of your local news's
1:19programming but the scale of that
1:20coverage has a real impact research has
1:23shown that viewing local TV news is
1:25related to increased fear of and concern
1:27about crime and the TV news viewers are
1:30also more likely to support tougher
1:32crime policies which does help explain
1:34why our perceptions of crime can sharply
1:37be at odds with the reality of it for
1:39over 30 years Gallup has asked Americans
1:41whether they think the US has more or
1:43less crime compared to the year before
1:45and in every year except for one the
1:48public has said that crime was increased
1:50even as the actual crime rate has
1:53plummeted now interestingly the one year
1:55that the majority said less was 2001
1:58famously a year where everything was
2:00super chill no drama just vibes
2:04the news leans hard on this could happen
2:06to you type of crime stories which are
2:08designed to pull you in with the latest
2:10version being this authorities continue
2:13to sound the alarm about the dangers of
2:15rainbow fentanyl another warning about
2:17rainbow fentanyl the deadly drug
2:19disguised as candy it is called rainbow
2:22fentanyl the colorful candy-like
2:25appearance is actually designed to
2:26appeal to young kids they're attractive
2:28they're colorful they look like candy
2:31this is every parent's worst nightmare
2:34especially in the month of October as
2:36Halloween fast approaches this is
2:38treacherous deception
2:40to Market rainbow Fentanyl
2:43like candy okay so first rainbow
2:46fentanyl sounds like they're talking of
2:48a very special episode of My Little Pony
2:50but second while the idea of rainbow
2:53fentanyl being made to Target kids
2:55sounds very scary experts on narcotics
2:57have pointed out that those pills are
2:58almost certainly colored just to
3:00differentiate products and it has
3:02nothing to do with marketing to kids at
3:04all period whatsoever which does make
3:07sense does it because kids and this is
3:08true are not an ideal customer base for
3:12expensive street drugs because even if
3:14dealers were targeting trick-or-treaters
3:16were they first ones on the house
3:18strategy where do you expect little Zeke
3:20to come up with the cash for the next
3:21one Sean's got his weekly allowance but
3:24he smacked his brother yesterday so
3:25that's that dollar gone and the rest of
3:27his net worth is tied up in Lego Store
3:29gift cards he is useless to dealers
3:31maybe check back in 10 years when he
3:33gets prescribed oxy after a lacrosse
3:34injury and look that is not to say that
3:38opioid addiction among young people
3:39isn't a real issue it obviously is but
3:42it doesn't help the conversation around
3:43that issue tough newscasters jumping on
3:45splashy your kids Halloween candy could
3:47be fentanyl stories that even in this
3:49report they half acknowledge his
3:51right at the very end police
3:53departments warning parents to check the
3:55candy their kids bring home from
3:57trick-or-treating we don't want to have
3:58kids who are taking pills that they
4:01think is candy and is really not
4:04there have been no instances of that
4:06happening yeah of course not
4:09I'm so glad you taxed that disclaimer on
4:11at the end there though I'm sure that
4:12three second debunk red over the station
4:14logo is exactly what everyone's going to
4:15take away from that report and
4:17definitely not the image of little hulks
4:19sticking their hands into bowls of
4:21skittle-shaped smack but that instinct
4:24to run an eye-catching Crime Story
4:26without being skeptical of its sourcing
4:27is unfortunately incredibly common so
4:30given that tonight let's talk about
4:32crime reporting specifically the
4:34incentives driving the outlets that
4:36cover crime the flawed sources that they
4:37rely upon and the greater harm that it
4:39can do to all of us and let's start with
4:41the obvious here crime has always driven
4:44ratings The Mantra if it bleeds it leads
4:46has been around for decades but the
4:47philosophy really took hold around the
4:491970s when two local stations in
4:52Philadelphia pioneered the eyewitness
4:54and Action News format which leaned
4:56heavily on crime news as one anchor
4:58there explained crime was cheap to cover
5:00it was easy to cover the assignment desk
5:02said to the cameraman you shoot the
5:04scene you shoot the blood you shoot
5:05victims whatever they got and you can't
5:07do it in 20 seconds but that is not good
5:10the most meaningful stories are rarely
5:12the fastest or the cheapest and I'm not
5:15just saying that because I host very
5:16long news stories that are also
5:18expensive to produce the comedy show I'm
5:20saying it because it's true nonetheless
5:23those formats quickly spread to 200
5:25markets around the country and by the
5:271990s CNN even did a whole piece
5:30wondering if all that crime coverage was
5:32necessarily a good thing
5:34time news can look a lot like
5:36entertainment the dark black
5:39is crime coverage one Los Angeles
5:42station a study showed spent over half
5:44its newscasts on crime others came close
5:46I'm convinced that if you could get
5:50everyone who wanted to commit suicide to
5:52do it on in a public place where the
5:55media could be present we would have
5:57like a TV show called suicide today
6:01Wow way to bring down the room there
6:03buddy but no not to step on that man's
6:06creative Pursuits here there is already
6:07Prime Time programming where people kill
6:09themselves for our entertainment it's
6:11called Monday Night Football happy
6:13concussion season football fans it sure
6:15feels like this sport maybe shouldn't
6:17exist
6:19people have been raising the alarm about
6:21our obsession with crime news for a
6:23while now but it's clearly been hard for
6:25news outlets to give it up as they are
6:27constantly making space for stories
6:29about crimes be they major or incredibly
6:31minor often Illustrated with mug shots
6:33the new of Daily News even has mugshot
6:36galleries on their website right now
6:38with titles like criminally bad hair
6:40days and babes Behind Bars and it's fun
6:43isn't it it's fun because it's their
6:45worst day
6:46and the thing is the faces that get
6:48shown can compound existing inequities
6:50in our justice system a study a few
6:52years ago here in New York found that
6:54while around a quarter of the City's
6:56population is black black people made up
6:58for half of all arrests and three
7:00quarters of criminals shown on the news
7:03which is clearly going to distort public
7:05perception and while Outlets May justify
7:08reporting on Sensational arrest as part
7:10of the public interest far too often
7:12whether due to a lack of time or
7:13resources or even inclination they don't
7:16follow up on what the outcomes of those
7:18cases are which can seriously impact
7:20people's lives take DARS El Trotter he
7:23and his brother were accused of sexual
7:24assault in 2012 by a woman who not only
7:26recanted her accusations but pled guilty
7:28to filing a false police report the
7:31problem is their charges had already
7:33made the local news which then never got
7:35around to mentioning that the charges
7:37were dismissed and years later with
7:39uncorrected stories still sitting on new
7:41sites Darcel was having to make calls
7:43like these how you doing Jim my name is
7:46so we Trotter and it was an article
7:48regarding of a accused of being accused
7:51of sexual assault me my twin brothers
7:56no you guys never did that
7:59followers for drops yeah I mean that
8:02would have been nice yeah it would have
8:05been and if I could just talk to the gym
8:06there for a second hi Jim I don't know
8:08if that's uh short for James jimothy or
8:11Jim Iroquois but either way Jim your
8:13paper goofed you can't just report the
8:16start of a story and ignore the end
8:17imagine if the news hadn't covered the
8:19end of balloon boy oh well guess he's
8:22still up there the balloon has left my
8:23immediate line of vision so who really
8:25gives a
8:27so the news media can be overly reliant
8:29on eye-catching crime stories that are
8:31quick and easy to turn around and the
8:33speed with which the daily crime beat
8:35operates actually leads to one of the
8:37biggest issues in crime coverage which
8:39is that it often relies heavily on a
8:41single Source it is why if you watch the
8:43TV news for any length of time you will
8:45undoubtedly hear one particular phrase
8:48the Lovington police say they know who
8:51is responsible for a prank at a local
8:52Park police and Fairfield say an officer
8:55was attacked with bear spray policing no
8:57suspects are in custody police say
8:59police say police say police say
9:03yeah please say it's a phrase that you
9:06constantly hear from the mouths of news
9:08reporters it's right up there with this
9:09just in or back to you or I apologize
9:12for the accent I did on Cinco de Mayo
9:14and look there is obviously nothing
9:17wrong with calling the police to ask
9:19questions when you're working on a
9:20deadline you can't always reach arrested
9:22civilians or their attorneys who
9:23sometimes don't even want to talk with
9:25you anyway and please can be be easy to
9:28reach many larger departments have even
9:30set up robust media relations divisions
9:32the LA County Sheriff's department has
9:3442 people on its information Bureau at
9:36an annual cost of 4.8 million and the
9:39LAPD spends over 3 million for 25 people
9:42in similar units which is already a
9:44little telling because while a certain
9:45amount of spending is necessary you
9:48don't spend that much on PR if things
9:50are going great
9:51for context all those budgets combined
9:53equal just one month's salary for Ezra
9:55Miller's publicist they are so tired
9:58they need to sleep
10:01even smaller police departments can have
10:03public information officers or pios and
10:06as this one proudly knows his press
10:08releases can make it straight to air
10:10something major happens whether it's a
10:12shooting or some major car accident
10:14whatever it is you go back to your
10:16office you type up this long press
10:19release and you send it out to the
10:20public and all the news agencies within
10:23minutes you have reporters from all over
10:25the country calling you there's
10:26something strangely satisfying that when
10:29you put out that press release hours
10:31later you're watching the news and every
10:35station that's talking about your story
10:37is literally reading your press release
10:39word for word okay set aside the fact
10:42that everything about this man answers
10:43the question what if Fred Durst but
10:46worse that claimed that the police's
10:48version of events can be parroted
10:49verbatim in the Press is genuinely
10:51alarming although I cannot really fault
10:53him for being excited at seeing his work
10:55red word for word on TV ask my writers
10:57and they'll tell you they experience the
10:59exact same thrill whenever I read one of
11:01their little Jews jokes their parents
11:03couldn't be prouder and by the way hey
11:04Chrissy did you like hearing me say your
11:07McGruff dog jerking it joke I bet you
11:09did your college graduate
11:12but the fact reporters will Echo pios
11:15does explain certain things like the
11:17ubiquity of phrases like officer
11:19involved shooting you see it in police
11:21accounts all the time but it's a weird
11:23term for reporters to repeat because it
11:26deliberately emits crucial information
11:27about how the officer was involved if
11:30you went to someone's house for dinner
11:32and they said tonight there is a rat
11:34involved dinner you justifiably have
11:37some follow-up questions are we going to
11:39a Chuck E cheese is the chef being
11:40controlled by a tiny French rat under
11:42his hats or are we going to be on an
11:44episode of Kitchen Nightmares all three
11:46are technically rat involved but some
11:48options are easier to live with than
11:50others
11:51and honestly police departments don't
11:53always need a Pio to push their
11:55narrative as Outlets will sometimes just
11:57grab from a law enforcement
11:59agency's social media for instance
12:01please love posting evidence from busts
12:04that they've conducted like this one
12:05which a Texas news station not only
12:07shared on their own Facebook page but
12:09even included on their evening broadcast
12:12a search warrant executed Monday has
12:14left three people behind bars the Tenaha
12:16police department has released
12:17information on the raid among the items
12:19seized were two pounds of marijuana
12:22illegally possessed prescription pills
12:24drug paraphernalia packaging materials
12:27guns and cash now if you don't really
12:30think about what you are looking at
12:31there I guess that seems like a story
12:33right but is it because as many quickly
12:36pointed out when you examine that photo
12:38you realize not only is that not a lot
12:40of drugs there is way less cash there
12:43than they are going out of their way to
12:45make it look most of those are singles
12:47that is 70 total one commenter on the
12:52Station's Post said sick this is play
12:54school's my first dealer set with
12:57another adding who was the drug dealer
12:58El Cheapo and that that speaks to the
13:02fact that there can be a gap sometimes
13:04small but sometimes massive between the
13:07story please are telling everyone and
13:09the story that actually happened because
13:10cop stories can for a lot of reasons
13:12turn out to be very wrong in ways both
13:15serious and Incredibly Petty take the
13:18trend of cops claiming mistreatment at
13:20the hands of fast food employees which
13:22local news can be only too happy to
13:24gobble right up there are possible hate
13:27crime against police is being
13:28investigated right now at a Shake Shack
13:31in downtown Manhattan sources tell CBS 2
13:34three officers became sick after having
13:37shakes from the restaurant tonight
13:39police suspect an employee may have
13:41contaminated the drinks with bleach the
13:44Leighton police Sergeant ordered a sub
13:46and a lemonade from this Subway but
13:49after taking a few sips of his drink he
13:51quickly found out he got much more than
13:54what he paid for he was having a hard
13:55time maintaining his body his body was
13:57jerking what caused those side effects
13:59police say turned out to be a double
14:01dose of illegal narcotics DJ a local law
14:04enforcement officer told Eyewitness News
14:07he suspects someone at McDonald's took a
14:10bite from his sandwich before he
14:13completed the sale tonight a McDonald's
14:15in Junction City is investigating after
14:17a police officer found insulting words
14:19written on his coffee the f word has
14:21been blurred out in this image of course
14:23but you can see the word Pig written
14:25right below it okay so there is a lot
14:27there but real quick there was no bleach
14:29in the shakes no drugs in the lemonade
14:31the cup with the sandwich later admitted
14:33he'd simply forgotten he took a bite
14:35from it and the one with the coffee
14:37admitted he'd written pig on his
14:39own cup which is a serious Act of
14:42self-loathing unless that is you are
14:44Miss Piggy in which case it's a sleigh
14:46out of the way boys she's got fashion to
14:48work and frog dick to slurp whose copy
14:51is that it's this pigs foreign
14:57problems with deferring to police
14:59because as many of you have undoubtedly
15:01been yelling at your TV like I am a
15:03wheel of fortune contestant who cannot
15:05solve the puzzle please lie and they lie
15:09a lot as you've seen on this show
15:10they've lied to get search warrants to
15:12conduct raids and to get confessions
15:14during interrogations and they even lie
15:16under oath so often in fact here in New
15:19York it came to be known as tested lying
15:22all of which should be more than enough
15:24for the word of the police to be treated
15:26with immense skepticism rather than
15:29repeated verbatim take the notorious
15:31press release the Minneapolis Police put
15:33out following the murder of George Floyd
15:35titled man dies after medical incident
15:39during police interaction what you may
15:41not know is it was picked up almost word
15:43for word by local news the next morning
15:46we do begin this morning with the
15:48developing news a man is dead after what
15:50police are calling a medical distress
15:52after being handcuffed officers were
15:55responding to a forgery in progress it
15:57happened on the 3700 block of Chicago
15:59Avenue South when they arrived officers
16:02found a man they believed to be the
16:03suspect sitting inside a car they
16:06apparently told him to get out he
16:08resisted officers eventually got him
16:10handcuffed which is when he appeared to
16:12have the medical issue the suspect was
16:15taken to the hospital where he died a
16:17short time later now obviously that is a
16:20hugely self-serving statement from the
16:22police because by saying George Floyd
16:23died because of medical distress their
16:26role was completely erased his medical
16:28distress and I'm using the biggest air
16:31quotes humanly possible here was the
16:33result of an officer pressing his knee
16:35into his neck for nine minutes repeating
16:38that claim by the police is an act of
16:40malpractice against a Walter Cronkite
16:41saying JFK died of a headache today sure
16:45it's not technically wrong but it's the
16:47understatement of the century
16:50the point is it was only after the
16:52release of cell phone footage recorded
16:53by a brave 17 year old girl that that
16:55police narrative fell apart otherwise
16:58that press release might well
17:00have been the version of events that
17:02everybody heard and that's not a one-off
17:05an investigation last year of police
17:06killings in California found at least a
17:09dozen examples of initial police
17:10statements misrepresenting events with
17:13reports citing vague medical emergencies
17:15without disclosing that officers had
17:18caused the emergencies through their use
17:20of force and in most instances media
17:23Outlets repeated the police version of
17:25events with little skepticism which
17:27clearly isn't good there is a time and a
17:30place for media Outlets to operate
17:31without skepticism and we all know it's
17:33the cover of Health magazines not an
17:36ounce of critical thinking on this
17:38extremely Real cover that includes the
17:40headlines lose nine waist inches in 21
17:42days and news a potato a day UPS weight
17:46loss by 340 that is Rock Solid science
17:50presumably
17:52and there are times where the trust that
17:54reporters place in some police sources
17:56have been particularly egregious just
17:58take what happened in Chicago after the
18:00police shot teenager laquan McDonald 16
18:03times in their initial coverage multiple
18:05local Outlets featured interviews with
18:07one particular person on the scene whose
18:09version of events heavily favored the
18:11police I don't know what his mental
18:14state was but he wasn't dropping the
18:16knife and he was coming at the officer
18:18you obviously aren't going to sit down
18:20and have a cup of coffee with them uh he
18:22is a very serious threat to the officers
18:26and he leaves them no choice at that
18:29point but to defend themselves well
18:31that's a very detailed picture painted
18:33by Palm Beach Potato Head there but a
18:35few things that you should know first
18:37while he sounds like an eyewitness he
18:39was not there for the incident second
18:41videotape later revealed that that story
18:43he was telling was complete horseshit
18:45please shot McDonald's when he was
18:47walking away from them but finally
18:49reporters should have known to take
18:51anything that guy said with a massive
18:53grain of salt because Pat Camden was the
18:55spokesperson for the Chicago Fraternal
18:57Order of Police which functions as part
18:59police Union part's special interest
19:01Lobby group his only agenda was to
19:04protect cops and it was way too easy for
19:07this little mustachioed weirdo to hear
19:09that there was a shooting drive to the
19:10scene jump in front of cameras and grab
19:13control of the narrative and camder did
19:15this a lot one analysis found that in a
19:18four-year time span he provided an
19:19initial version of events for 35 police
19:22shootings and in 15 cases crucial
19:25aspects of his statements were later
19:27proved to be false or misleading which
19:29is just wild if you get caught cheating
19:32at one Casino they ban you from every
19:35casino this guy pedals brought it to the
19:37Press 15 times and yet somehow his
19:40picture wasn't pinned behind every news
19:41desk in the country with the warning do
19:43not ask this man about anything
19:47so so so often it seems like news
19:50outlets will be serving their
19:52communities much better if they weren't
19:54quite so trusting when it came to what
19:55police tell them and to see a lot of
19:57what I've talked about tonight in one
19:58place just take what happened in
20:00Brookside Alabama where a few years ago
20:02local news was excitedly reporting on a
20:05new initiative from their Police
20:06Department which police said was getting
20:09Real Results we tell you stories all the
20:12time about crime going up but we got
20:14some good news the town of Brookside
20:16says they're seeing crime go down
20:18Brookside is not a big town but it's
20:20narcotics interdiction team they've been
20:22busy another drug bust this weekend on
20:25i-22 the Brookside police have been so
20:27busy our number one goal is to not
20:29prosecute people it's to save lives
20:32that's why we got into this we want to
20:33save lives we want to keep our citizens
20:35safe we want to keep people who are
20:37coming to Brookside safe and enjoy our
20:39town all that coverage is just so weird
20:42it's part local news fluff part
20:44propaganda and something bordering on a
20:46tourism ad from officer Teddy Rock's
20:48been there but think about it it's a bit
20:50strange that one Tiny Town in Alabama
20:52had suddenly become a hotbed for drug
20:55smuggling right well it turns out yes
20:57and I will say to its Credit One local
21:00station did dig a Little Deeper airing a
21:02report about the fact that a weird
21:04amount of drivers were questioning the
21:05tickets written by that Police
21:07Department a story incidentally that led
21:09that department to tell employees that
21:11anyone talking to that reporter would be
21:14fired but it wasn't until two years
21:16later that an in-depth investigation
21:18from al.com revealed what had actually
21:20been happening and that is that
21:21Brookside a town of just 1200 people was
21:25having its finances rocket fueled by
21:27tickets and aggressive policing with
21:29traffic tickets being issued at
21:31a truly ridiculous rate
21:33Brookside dragged so many people into
21:34court that police had to direct traffic
21:36on court days money from fines and
21:39forfeitures soared more than 600 percent
21:41to the point where it made up half the
21:43town budget it's true it got to the
21:46point where the police department was
21:47taking in 487 dollars for every man
21:50woman and child and spending it on among
21:53other things a SWAT team a jail a fleet
21:56of unmarked cars and two drug sniffing
21:58dogs one of which they named and this is
22:00true K-9 cash here is that dog and I
22:04will say he does look like a canine
22:06cache and that's not a compliment bad
22:08dog
22:09but the point is what was actually
22:12happening in Brookside turned out to be
22:14a pretty Far Cry from the initial
22:15coverage of hey great news this small
22:17town police force is apparently Miami
22:19Vice all of a sudden anyway no further
22:21questions
22:22and the thing is by presenting police
22:24uncritically you're not just helping
22:26them Dodge accountability you're giving
22:28them a huge lobbying platform right now
22:31you don't have to look far to find cops
22:33on TV suggesting that the fix for any
22:34Rising crime is to undo the criminal
22:37justice reforms of the past few years
22:39and to give them more money and this can
22:42get Real Results even the current
22:44rainbow fentanyl scare started with a
22:47DEA press release which happened to drop
22:50just as Congress was in the midst of
22:52budget negotiations everyone picked up
22:54that story and what do you know last
22:56week Chuck Schumer announced his
22:57intention to allocate nearly 300 million
23:00more dollars to law enforcement so that
23:02they can fight the scourge of rainbow
23:04Fentanyl and look I'm not saying all
23:07crime reporting is bad there are some
23:08incredible coverage out there we feature
23:10it on this show all the time and a lot
23:13of what I told you tonight came from
23:15great investigative reporting but the
23:17daily crime beat whether from lack of
23:19resources lack of scrutiny or lack of
23:22follow-through for far too often takes
23:24place at their word and not as an
23:26interest group who should be treated as
23:28such so what should happen here well the
23:31police could change the ways that they
23:33both behave and communicate but given
23:35that that's not going to be happening
23:36anytime soon it unfortunately falls to
23:38the rest of us for news outlets they
23:40could try and snap out of their
23:42automatic deference to police which is
23:44actually possible just watch what
23:46happened when a political web series
23:47from the hill invited on a public
23:49defender to discuss the case of Jalen
23:51Walker who was killed by police after
23:53fleeing a traffic stop watch her push
23:55back when the host seems a little too
23:57eager to accept the police line there's
24:00no world no traffic infraction the
24:02punishment is deaf not a one never so
24:05there's no reason why eight officers
24:06should choose to go and shoot him to
24:08death I guess I just don't have a lot of
24:10sympathy in this particular case
24:11although I do it you don't have a lot of
24:13sympathy in this case where he was shot
24:1560 times after after leading the police
24:17on a high-speed chase and returning fire
24:20first of all let me just say this the
24:22police no let's less because too often
24:24media reports on what are police stories
24:26as though it is the ultimate truth we
24:27see too many too many discrepancies for
24:30us to consent consistently lean on what
24:32the police say is the truth that's what
24:33we know I agree police say which has not
24:35yet been substantiated or corroborated
24:37they say they believe that one bullet
24:39might have come from the window they say
24:40that that's what they say their argument
24:42is right who knows if that's exactly but
24:43what I do know is that they shot this
24:45boy 60 times for a traffic infraction I
24:47know that yeah so
24:49all right we'll have our Rising panel
24:51join us next
24:55tell us and to watch Baby Ryan Seacrest
24:57trying to wrap up the segment after
24:59getting his ass abs he handed to him
25:02but while it's incredible to watch him
25:04in real time backtrack from but I don't
25:06have a lot of sympathy to oh absolutely
25:08I agree who knows what is true it should
25:10not be incumbent on that woman to walk
25:13him to that point she can't be on every
25:15local new set she has a life to live
25:19and there are small changes that might
25:21help reorient all of our thinking some
25:23experts have suggested that rather than
25:25going with police say Outlets should
25:27consider going with police claim instead
25:29which seems like a good start and to be
25:31fair some Outlets are looking at other
25:33changes some like the USA Today Network
25:35have stopped publishing mugshot
25:37galleries saying they feed into negative
25:39stereotypes and are of limited news
25:41value which they are and the Arizona
25:44Republic has pledge that it will follow
25:45any case that it covers to its
25:47conclusion in courts or otherwise which
25:49hopefully will save people like Darcel
25:51Trotter from having to make phone calls
25:53like the incredibly restrained one that
25:55you saw him make earlier but the larger
25:58cultural change might be for Outlets to
26:00fundamentally reconsider whether the
26:01crimes they're covering are actually
26:03newsworthy because the truth is not all
26:06crimes are and crime is only one small
26:09slice of the much bigger picture that
26:11they could be painting of what is
26:12happening in communities the fact is
26:14because crime news is pumped at US 24 7
26:17the way it's reported it is deeply
26:20linked with how it's both perceived by
26:22the public and prosecuted by the state
26:25and look we've said before local news is
26:28incredibly important which is why it is
26:30so critical that it is done well so to
26:32the outlets who do put an undue amount
26:35of weight on police statements and
26:37prioritize Sensational crime coverage
26:39over more complete pictures of Public
26:41Safety if I may I would like to throw it
26:43over to one of your own
26:45see what you've done I don't know who
26:48you are I don't know where you are but
26:51you may want to start changing your ways
26:54exactly

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