Oliver Darcy: “The crime panic is nothing new for right-wing media. For years, it has been a reliable theme, a steady drumbeat of doom that portrays America’s cities as collapsing under the weight of lawlessness. A poll conducted by Gallup last year found that 64 percent of Americans believed that crime in the U.S. had increased over the past year, including 90 percent of Republicans.”
“In reality, violent crime has been trending downward nationally, and major metros like Los Angeles and New York are far safer than the nightly monologues would suggest. But accuracy isn’t the point. The target audience for this narrative largely doesn’t live in these cities, doesn’t visit them, and is primed to accept the caricature over the facts.”
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