Although newspapers have been struggling to maintain reporting muscle, crime and criminal justice content continues to be a staple of local coverage, according to a study commissioned by the Center on Media, Crime and Justice (CMCJ) at John Jay College.
But the study, which examined six representative dailies around the U.S. over a four-week period in March 2014, also found that despite efforts to get beyond a “just-the-facts” account of crime news, in-depth or enterprise reporting was rare.
The limitations of coverage were acknowledged by several of the editors and journalism educators who participated in the study.
Michigan journalist and educator Bonnie Bucqueroux told the researchers that in-depth reporting has been rare in crime and justice coverage, even when more newsrooms had more resources.
“We have never done a good job of putting crime in broader context,” said Bucqueroux, who teaches journalism at Michigan State University and runs a local news website. “What we typically get is the police version of an event. I think it’s a box that the traditional media have always been in; it’s difficult and time-consuming to dig out alternative sources.”
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