Burgemeester staat op het punt de Nationale Garde in te zetten. Intussen blijkt uit onderzoek 'In print and on screen, news outlets bombard the public with images of young Latino and black men committing acts of violence, even though the crime rate for both groups is receding, a media think tank says'
De reputatie die op deze manier onterecht wordt opgebouwd, heeft soms heel
nadelige gevolgen. In Cincinnati werd een ongewapende zwarte jongen in een
donkere steeg hartstikke dood geschoten. Zie hier nietszeggende beelden
(de enige die door de politie zijn vrijgegeven) van de moordpartij. 'The
rioting was sparked by the killing of Timothy Thomas, 19, who was shot while
fleeing a white police officer. He was the fourth black man killed by police
since November.' In een ander MSNBC-artikel
staat: 'Thomas was the 15th young black man to be shot to death by Cincinnati
police since 1995. Cijfers: 'Homicide coverage on network news increased 473 percent from 1990 to 1998, while homicides decreased 32.9 percent during that time, the report said. While homicides committed by youth declined by 68 percent from 1993 to 1999, 62 percent of the public reported they believed youth crime was on the rise.'
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Het publiek
wordt vals voorgelicht door de media: terwijl criminaliteitscijfers voor
latino's en zwarten lager worden, stijgt de aandacht voor uitingen van geweld
door deze groepen. 'Murder coverage is up, even though murders are down.
[...] The report [Off Balance: Youth, Race and Crime in the News] also said
black people too often are portrayed as perpetrators and are underrepresented
as victims.' 
No white suspects
were fatally shot during the same period.' Over het media rapport: 'a study
of Indianapolis newspapers found that if a suspect in a violent crime was
black, the average article length was longer. Also, newspapers rarely reported
violent crime when the suspect was white, the study said. The report drew
support from civil rights groups that have long argued that media coverage
is unfair.' 
60 Minutes