A home care worker was shot in Brooklyn yesterday. The home care worker was just going about her day, on a walk with her elderly patient. Two men nearby were in an argument, one pulled out a gun and started to shoot, and the home care worker got caught in the crossfire. That story was buried somewhere in the newspaper, around page 29 or so. The model's story, however, continues to be front page/page 2 news, with HUGE closeup pictures and more weird personal details we don't really need to know. (She lived in a high rise on 50th Street? Must be nice to have a rich daddy. I doubt she's "struggling" all that much.)

Sally, you are deliberately misrepresenting what I said. I am not blaming anything on minorities - rather I indicated that minority activists objected to the constant depiction of young black men as criminals on TV news, and that this in turn has resulted in a decline in crime coverage. This is true and factual.

Blaming lousy news reporting on minorities is classic Sterling. Nothing new about his point of view. Guys like him have been around for millenia; the working class bigot constantly squabbling with friends and family over the important issues of the day. But he's better realized by Carroll O'Connor on "All in the Family."

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Archie Bunker: If your spics and your spades want their rightful share of the American dream, let 'em get out there and hustle for it like I done.



Mike Stivic: So now you're going to tell me the black man has just as must chance as the white man to get a job?

Archie Bunker: More, he has more... I didn't have no million people marchin' and protestin' to get me my job.

Edith Bunker: No, his uncle got it for him.

Sterling! Dude! Where you been, buddy? Seriously. And BTW, I know a lot of cops, none of them drink Pabst.

I'll say again... she got her name in the paper because she got shot. She got her picture in the paper because she looks hot. To think that these considerations (as well as the race, sex, class, etc of victims and perps)doesn't enter into the equation is to deny the obvious.

For the link challenged, here is Max's previous comments:

"OK, not to be totally un-PC Holly, but these guys are a product of their culture (more likely Pakistan than India - look at the names- mainly variations on Muhammed etc not a whole lot of Raos or Patels- because the Indians are higher up the chain imigrant-wise, but thats another topic) and their culture does not take a very favorable view of young women out on their own, at night, drinking. They have not been assimilated to our liberal culture and proabbly feel these women are whores. Noit that that is any excuse, but I talk to these guys (I have been to the subcontinent a few times and like to see where they are from etc)and at times am falbergasted by what they say about women, jews, new york and America. And I doubt too many are reading the NYTimes. Just be very careful and try not to be alone late at night."

*COUGH* racist *COUGH*

gee max, i really hope you're not alluding to the south asian reaction to your racist comments a few weeks back...

http://www.gothamist.com/archives/2004/05/18/cab_driver_rapes_passenger_in_her_home.php

While I appreciate the comparison to Rush, you're wrong about a couple things. One, I think the media loves a pretty female victim, regardless of race - this is because good-looking people look better on TV and in photographs than non-good-looking people, and sell more papers.

Secondly - and I did try to blur this because it's an ugly fact - the majority of crimes committed by blacks are against other black people, and nearly all violent crimes against blacks are committed by blacks. So the media can't cover the one without the other - they can't report a black woman getting raped without describing the suspect. So it's not ME who equates victim and perp - it's people who are trying to spin race imagery who equate them.

Some crimes are so sensational that they can't be ignored, and make it into the papers. For instance, long-running serial rapists are usually reported on, but not one-time or less-tenured serial rapists. If you go back and view old newcasts from the 70s and 80s, or dig up archival copies of the Daily News or Post from that period, I think you'll be AMAZED at the amount of crime coverage. Or pick up the Jersey Journal, which to my knowledge still runs an often-harrowing police blotter column for the towns and cities in Hudson County, right across the river. The column reports every significant police dispatch event.

Sterling, your concept of "short term memory" has one fatal flaw. Who is the victim. Who is the suspect.

9 times out of 10, if the suspect is African America, Hispanic or generall not caucasian the news reports are all over it.

If the victim is young, white and a woman the media is also all over that.

The bias does exist. But you are blurring the lines in effort to equalize victim and suspect when that is not the case at all. Nice try though. Reading your posts is like reading Rush Limbaugh. Only without the AM static.

Always appreciate the Sterling. Funny how people freak when given a different point of view.

Bec: When I was growing up the most common words on the TV news were "Police are looking for a young black male between [height range] tall, [weight range] pounds." At the same time the video would show a perfectly average young black man who could've been any one of 50,000 guys in New York. Activists complained that this was causing people to connote young black men with criminality - and newsroom editors in New York and elsewhere said, "You're right. We're going to cut down on this sort of reporting." And they did.

The only thing that annoyed me here in this thread is that it is yet another example of the short memories of people who bitch about racial conspiracies. Minority crimes are under-reported, not because there's some secret plot by white people, but because that under-reporting was deliberately sought out by minority activist groups 15-20 years ago.

No one made that point, which is a valid and important one. Now you shush.

Sterling: How is adding more rhetoric to an already dead argument helping a situation that obviously frustrates you? Making generalizations and assumptions about people who YOU claim do nothing but make generalizations and assumptions doesn't help your case. "...because you're all complaining." No we're not. So shush.

being a vigilante didnt help bernie goetz's run for mayor but oprah wont stop asking charlize theron about how she shot her step dad. also 50 cent turned his lead poisoning into street cred. i guess it depends on who it is but getting shot or shooting someone can be a springboard to fame and fortune. just look at patt tillman.

Well, sorry Ron, but I just checked the site for the first time today. And Commentbot - for what possible reason could my comments be considered "unacceptable"? Because I accurately depicted racial sensationalism in NYC? Jody started the race-baiting at 9:12am. I'm just calling it for what it is: the usual damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don't nonsense.

sterling, no ones complaining but you now. we're over it

Do Sterlings's rants fall into unacceptable comment policy?

You know, it used to be that NYC crime coverage made up a much bigger portion of the TV news, and a somewhat larger portion of the print news. And do you know who complained about that? Do you remember who said that thorough crime coverage made minorities look bad? Yes, that's right - it was minority activist groups.

So now the news media gets the perfect story from their perspective: white victim, white attacker - "Who can possible complain if we cover this?" But the joke's on them, because you're all complaining. Now if it had been a white victim/black attacker, then people would be complaining that the newspapers were demonizing blacks. If it had been a black victim/white attacker, then there'd be protests at City Hall because a WHOLE DAY HAS GONE BY, and the attacker has not yet been apprehended and it's gotta be racist cops hiding the attacker in a PBA hall and drinking Pabst with him.

The reason it's getting coverage is because it will sell papers and keep asses on the couch, that's all.

If she did stage the thing, which, of course, she didn't: wouldn't that be the best. Law and Order. Ever.

chung-chung!

Well, Baby Jessica graduated from high school this week. Not sure if the publicity helped, but getting out of that well was pretty key...

so on a different note...i was thinking wouldn't it be interesting to track the career of some of these unfortunate victims, who fortunately survived and see if the publicity helped their careers at all. no, i'm not suggesting she staged the thing, but certainly all that attention can only help. remember those miners stuck in a hole several years ago, or people lost at sea, or apollo 13, or...

I saw coverage of Monica Meadows' shooting last night on NBC's 11:00 news. Pretty stupid of NBC to fill in the story by saying where she lived and even showing her "luxury apartment building in Chelsea."