On Friday, President Obama spoke in Chicago as a part of his post-State of the Union tour, pitching, among many things, a call to Congress to bring up votes aimed at stemming gun violence.
The speech took place at a school two miles from his own home and just slightly further away from a park where 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton was shot dead in January, a week after performing at Obama’s inauguration. As Obama’s speeches often do, this one sought to make the issue relatable, rather than to discuss specific policy. “Unfortunately, what happened to Hadiya is not unique,” Obama said. “It’s not unique to Chicago. It’s not unique to this country. Too many of our children are being taken away from us.”
Media stories of Hadiya’s death have done something similar, turning what’s usually statistics-based coverage into a narrative about a specific person. Even within Chicago, where everyone seems aware of the killing within city limits, there is a disconnect of impact. The wealthier North Side simply doesn’t experience the violence that occurs in the poorer, mostly minority South and West sides. Sure, everyone understands that high murder rates aren’t good, but unless it somehow connects with their lives, the engagement’s not quite there.
But in the days that followed her shooting, coverage of gun violence in Chicago has focused on the day-to-day of Hadiya’s case—the shooting to the funeral to the arrest to looking at how the White House would respond. Journalists should work to continue this sort of coverage, bringing out the human side to future homicide statistics. By making relatability a mission, journalists would be able to bring more of the public into the debate about what can be done to curb the shootings.
The media’s current default reporting focuses on statistics, rather than individuals. There was a lot of coverage of Chicago’s spike in murders last year, both locally and on a wider scale, especially as the number of homicides crept past the symbolic number of 500. By the end of 2012, the Chicago Police Department counted 506 homicides within city limits, the first time it crossed the threshold of 500 since 2008.
Much of the analysis that considered that rise was quite illuminating. For example, on January 29, the same day as Hadiya’s murder, The New York Times published a story analyzing the fact that, despite the city’s strict laws against guns, Chicago is flush with them because firearms pour in from neighboring communities and beyond.
But as great as some of that coverage was, human connections often were lacking. But news media has grasped the significance of Hadiya’s death, which both displayed how unremarkable and remarkable Chicago’s violence can be. From the day of her death through the funeral and even this weekend, family, friends, and supporters have regularly reminded people how relatable Hadiya is—a popular high school sophomore with a sweet smile. Such coverage has been coupled with a look at the systemic issues surrounding her death, including the gang that police say was behind the murder and the no-snitch code that makes convictions difficult.
I believe media should make an effort to invest resources to cover every victim of every murder with the care and attention given to Hadiya Pendleton. While this is easy to dismiss as an expensive pipe dream, there’s already been a move by several media outlets in Chicago to pursue it. DNAinfo.com Chicago, a new neighborhood news site for which I’m a frequent breaking news contributor, documented all the homicides in Chicago in 2012, often offering photos and stories to highlight each death. (Full disclosure: I did a large chunk of the reporting for the project.) And last month, the Sun-Times announced a partnership with Homicide Watch, the Washington DC-based murder-tracking site, to launch a similar site this winter. WBEZ, Chicago’s NPR affiliate, has a project tracking the homicides of young people that included a piece about Antonio Fenner, a well-liked 16 year old who was killed three days before Hadiya, but whose death received far less attention than did the pretty high school sophomore who died near the Obamas’ home.
I take issue with many things about this article.
I do not recommend media companies pick and choose which gun-violence victims they want to sell for stories. That is the gripe I've had with recent Pendleton coverage. Despite stats showing dozens of local children falling victim to gun violence, the lighter skinned, pretty smart girl who performed for Barack Obama became the most sell-able to the public. The lesson to be learned is that the coverage given to the Pendleton case should be extended to all cases--not just the ones with a pretty face.
I also disagree with your horrible generalizations about Chicago and its socio-demographics, which play into delusive stereotypes about the city's layout, and about poverty and crime in general. Putting aside the fact that boundaries are socially constructed, the so called "North Side" is NOT "wealthier" compared to the " poorer, mostly minority South and West sides" as you carelessly refer to them.
Chicago's so-called "West Side" IS on the North Side. Meanwhile, the gun violence and gang troubles on the "South Side" come primarily from specific neighborhoods that are riddled with gangs--specifically Englewood, Roseland and a couple others. Your statement inplies that ALL or even most of the South Side struggles with these issues when in fact, excluding the above neighborhoods, the South Side is perhaps just as middle class as the neighborhoods on the North Side, even excluding the West Side, while the North Side has just as many problematic spots and areas as the South, including Uptown and Rogers Park. The problem is that reports like this continue to blatantly ignore these truths in order to polarize the city and sell a tale--the problem I see with this article and with recent coverage of Hadiya Pendleton.
#1 Posted by Chicago Journalist, CJR on Wed 20 Feb 2013 at 01:19 PM
I should clarify that I agree that all violence cases should be covered like Pendleton's but that the media's recent handling of her story should not be applauded, because of the reasons why the media chose to cover it and ignore the others.
#2 Posted by Chicago Journalist, CJR on Wed 20 Feb 2013 at 01:27 PM