Comments on Obsolete: Crime stat porn and thoughts connected.

Meanwhile, the police with nothing better to do ov...

2008-07-19T13:26:00.000+01:00

Meanwhile, the police with nothing better to do over react in telling a 15 year old girl to pick up a piece of litter, and cause an over reaction by members of the public which leads to violent disorder and arrests for assault...

They've quickly tried to do the same with youth al...

2008-07-19T12:10:00.000+01:00

They've quickly tried to do the same with youth alcohol consumption figures. It seems we are unable in this country of simply accepting, within reason, a study's findings.

There are a couple of techniques the media use to ...

2008-07-19T10:46:00.000+01:00

There are a couple of techniques the media use to make figures look more shocking.

The first is to lump two things together in the format "X or Y: n incidents". If X is nowhere near equivalent to Y in severity, but happens much more often, it creates a far worse impression than reality. People interpret it as the worst scenaro in all cases. For example: "killed or injured", "overweight or obese", "raped or sexually assaulted" etc.

The second, related, technique is to use vague words instead of specific ones because the vague words encapsulate a very broad spectrum of events and make things appear worse than they are. 'Paedophile' is much better for the papers than child abuser as it includes people with unwelcome desires who would not harm anyone as well as actual abusers. Incidents of 'knife crime' or 'gun crime' can include incidents of ownership or carrying a weapon even if no one is attacked, but will be interpreted as the number of stabbings or shootings.