Do you trust your newspaper?

by Craig Cantoni

The front-page headline in the April 8, 2002 edition of the Arizona Republic read, "Newspapers can't be trusted."  Well, it did not really say that, but if the Republic wanted to print a newsworthy and accurate story, that is how the headline would have read.  

The actual headline that day read, "Crimes against Latinos fall."  The accompanying Associated Press story implied that Latinos were victims of violent crimes at the hands of non-Latinos.  

Like much of what is written in newspapers nowadays, the story was misleading and left the reader with the wrong impression about Latino crime.  A more accurate story line and headline would have been as follows:  "Latino on Latino violent crime drops."

That angle would have been more accurate and informative because Latinos commit the vast majority of violent crimes against Latinos.  According to some estimates, over 90 percent of violent crimes against Latinos is committed by Latinos.  And much of the remaining 10 percent is committed by African Americans.

The Arizona Republic story was not misleading because it contained falsehoods.  It was misleading because it left out important facts.  Leaving out facts is not the same as lying, but the effect on the truth is the same.           

The fact is, much of Latino crime is fueled by the illicit drug trade and gang rivalry.  In Los Angeles alone, there are approximately 1,250 street gangs with about 150,000 gang members.  Many are illegal Hispanic aliens.

As reported in the book, "Coloring the News," there have been over seven thousand gang-related homicides in the City of Angels over the last 10 years.  The excellent and well-researched book also cited what happened when the Los Angeles Times published a series that linked Hispanic crime to illegal drugs and illegal immigration.  What happened was that the Los Angeles Times learned a lesson.

It learned that newspapers cannot report the truth anymore.  The series provoked an outcry from the Hispanic community and a backlash from the paper's Hispanic editorial and reporting staff.  As a result, subsequent stories on the problems were puff-pieces that obfuscated the truth.      

The New York Times also cannot be trusted to print all the news that is fit to print.  It published a story on Los Angeles street gangs that praised the family values of the Hispanic gang-bangers.  Now that is an interesting angle:  murder as a family value.  The paper should change the slogan on its masthead to this: "If we can't say something good about minorities, we make it up."

The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and Gannett, which owns the Arizona Republic, have a lot in common with other major newspaper publishers.  They have explicit or implicit quota systems in which reporters are expected to file glowing stories about favored racial and ethnic groups, and to downplay negative news about those groups.

This means that important stories are not covered.  For example, it is common knowledge within the public education establishment that there is a high level of racial animus between Hispanics and African Americans on high school campuses.  That story is ignored, but if there is one racial incident between an Anglo and a Hispanic student, it becomes front-page news.  

The reason for the racial double standard is that White racism conforms to media conventions, but minority racism, which is just as prevalent, if not more prevalent, falls outside of the standard script.  The convention is repeated in story after story, year after year, until, finally, it is believed by the unthinking masses.  Which proves what Stalin, Mao and Hitler knew:  Propaganda works if repeated often enough.      

In my hometown of Scottsdale, Arizona, another story is not covered -- namely, the large number of adolescent Mexican immigrants who cross the border illegally without their parents and are immediately "adopted" by gangs, which require the new members to commit felonies as an initiation rite.  I learned of the ritual in a meeting several years ago with Phoenix and Scottsdale police gang squad representatives.     

Incomplete, inaccurate and plain old lousy reporting would be tolerable if it was restricted to issues of race due to misguided political correctness.  But it is not restricted to race.  Sadly, such reporting is also the norm on social, economic, environmental and health issues.  The media convention is that industry and free markets are bad and that leftist advocacy groups and big government are good.  

Accordingly, as I have discovered over years of addressing various audiences on a variety of public policy issues, of guest lecturing at Arizona State University, and of writing op-eds and exchanging e-mails with readers, the general public only knows one side of complex issues of the day -- the side that the news media want them to know.  For instance, the general public now accepts the following as true:

- That global warming due to the burning of hydrocarbons is an established fact.
- That public education is underfunded.
- That public school teachers are helpless victims.
- That vouchers will destroy public education and only help the rich.
- That Native Americans respect the environment.
- That light rail is an effective way of reducing pollution and traffic.
- That growth controls work.
- That the air is getting dirtier.
- That gays and lesbians encounter rampant work place discrimination.
- That poverty and racism are increasing.
- That the U.S., unlike other countries, is racist and homophobic.
- That single-parent families are as good for children as two-parent families.
- That welfare does not fuel out-of-wedlock births.
- That out-of-wedlock births and single-parent families are not the primary causes of the so-called wage gap and poor academic achievement.
- That the economic benefits of third-world immigration outweigh the costs.
- That health insurance is less affordable and available because of corporate greed.
- That the wealthy do not pay a fair share of taxes.

The list of untruths conveyed by the mainstream media is endless, not only in newspapers but also on network news.  

One reason for the untruths is that journalists are overwhelmingly liberal Democrats, as verified by reputable surveys.  An equally important reason is that they fall for each other's propaganda.  Local reporters seem to believe what is reported in the New York Times, the Washington Post and on the PBS NewsHour.  They believe it because they all belong to the same insular guild and subscribe to the same journalistic conventions.  Outsiders need not apply.

Whatever the reason for the untrue and shoddy journalism, the mainstream media forget that they are in the trust business.  Without trust, they are out of business, especially if the public begins to see through their propaganda and realizes that the news is neither objective nor balanced.            

Which brings me to a closing question:  Do you trust your newspaper?
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Mr. Cantoni is an author, public speaker and consultant.  He can be reached at ccan2@aol.com. ; 

Last update: 4/9/2002; 5:22:34 PM.