Complaints about biased reporting
I posted earlier about Luis Ramirez' murder. Besides the legal ruling, I am also horrified at how the AP story speaks of Ramirez repeatedly as "the immigrant," reducing him to this one label (which is often used in a derogatory way in the U.S.). Using this label instead of his name or even calling him "the man" obscures his humanity and his identity as a person who was murdered. It distracts from the facts of the case and instead refocuses the reader's attention on Ramirez' immigration status, a peripheral detail to this horrifying crime. I was similarly horrified by th use of language around the two women attacked and killed (respectively) by the so-called Craigslist killer, Phil Markoff. This article from the Boston Herald refers to the victims as "an exotic dancer" and "a hooker" exclusively. Again, using these titles exclusively (and ever using the word "hooker") implicitly devalues these people as humans who have been victims of violence and instead focuses the reader on their jobs in the sex industry. The same thing happened in the Duke rape case, when the survivor was repeatedly called a stripper and her other identities (mother, student) were effectively erased. It sends a coded message that violence against some women (e.g., "hookers") is acceptable or maybe just a little less severe than if the victims were, say, nuns or young, white, full-time mothers. Reporters must learn that the labels they use and the framing of their stories have tremendous power over the way news is perceived. I hope responsible journalists will work to improve this in the future.
