WHAT DO
THE FACTS
S AY?
Numerous articles published in the last few years raised alarms about a sharp increase
in homicides in large U.S. metropolitan areas. But homicide rates in any city can vary
sharply from year to year simply because homicide is a fairly rare crime. As a result,
drawing conclusions about the entire country requires aggregating data across a large
number of cities. What does the comparison of Chicago with the 50 largest cities say
about the media’s coverage of violent crime?A Nationwide Murder Epidemic?
Source: “Daily Chart: Murder Rates in 50 American Cities,” The Economist, February 7, 2017, http://www.economist.com/blogs/
graphicdetail/2017/02/daily-chart-3 (accessed 2/3/18).1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 16
0
20
40
60
80
Homicides 100
per
100,000
peopleLow and stable Low and rising High and stable High and risingAverage of 50 citiesChicago, IL- Does the data on homicide rates across the 50 largest U.S. cities confirm or
dispute the conclusion of a sharp increase in homicides in recent years? - One of the principle arguments in this chapter about media coverage is that
there is a tendency to describe everything as a major crisis—in this case, to focus
on increased homicide rates in a small number of cities, but ignore the fact that
homicide rates have been stable or declining in most cities. Why is it so hard for
reporters to provide the whole picture to their audiences?
Think about it
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