On this episode of Paper Trail Paul and Reggie talk about the evolution of the crime reporter in newsrooms and how newsrooms have shucked their editorial responsibilities when covering individual crimes. Paul discusses the “backfire effect” that can occur when readers are exposed to something several times over. And both hosts talk about the misleading coverage over crime that would make it appear as if crime is up when in fact the crime rate (albeit mostly measured by murders per 100,000 people) is at a 27 year low from 27% in 1990 to around 10% in 2017. As well the murder rate is projected to drop by 2.5% in 2017 as compared to 2016 per the Brennan Center for Justice. So how do you cover crime in the future? They get into that as well.
To cap the show Paul and Reggie dive into their new segment “Uncovered” where they talk about something they did not cover that week but found interesting or noteworthy nonetheless.
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