Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by nemothekid 1474 days ago
It's strange that crime is simultaneously all the media ever talks about while also being elephant the media ignores. San Francisco is constantly lambasted mad max where the walgreens owner is being shaken down by the local crime syndicate but it's somehow an open secret that you only read about in top secret government files.
3 comments
abxytg 1474 days ago
The answer is easy. Crime is down and so not oft reported in articles like this. VC funded articles and social movements are loudly screaming about it. VC / billionaire fanboys are happy to pick up the slack in the comment section.
link
diogenescynic 1474 days ago
Media isn't monolithic. Local media tends to ignore or downplay crime--I think in part because the writers are either insulated from it or have their own political biases. National media plays up the crime because they like to use SF as a whipping horse to say "see don't be like SF or your city will have full blown anarchy". SF is actually a huge anchor on national progressives because republicans can always point to SF and show how poorly policies have played out. If SF was as clean/safe as Copenhagen, it'd be a lot harder to make that argument. SF progressives are a different breed altogether though--it's all about scolding people and identity politics to distract from meaningful policies like universal healthcare, elder/child-care, etc.
link
nemothekid 1473 days ago
Your reasoning for local media to downplay crime is much weaker than your reasoning for national media to play it up.

>it's all about scolding people and identity politics to distract from meaningful policies like universal healthcare, elder/child-care, etc.

You've described national politics in the united states; it's not unique to SF liberals at all.

link
Gigachad 1474 days ago
It's both. Some media spends every minute talking about it and some will completely ignore the topic even when its central to the topic being discussed. Also with social media, most people are seeing this themselves and bypassing commercial news.
link
nemothekid 1473 days ago
It can't be both; crime cannot simultaneously be up and down.
link
Gigachad 1473 days ago
Reporting of crime can be. Some news ignores it while some news overhypes it.
link