{"id":843,"date":"2014-12-02T08:26:52","date_gmt":"2014-12-02T08:26:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.youthfacts.org\/?page_id=843"},"modified":"2015-08-16T03:24:09","modified_gmt":"2015-08-16T03:24:09","slug":"deadly-lessons-cnn-anderson-cooper-360-may-31-2007","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.youthfacts.org\/?page_id=843","title":{"rendered":"Deadly Lessons &#8211; CNN, Anderson Cooper 360, May 31, 2007"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3>&#8220;Deadly Lessons&#8221;\u00a0in lying:\u00a0CNN Anderson Cooper&#8217;s\u00a0&#8220;keeping it unreal&#8221; hate-piece on\u00a0Chicago youth<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cnn.com\/TRANSCRIPTS\/0706\/01\/acd.02.html\" target=\"_blank\">Anderson Cooper\u2019s June 1, 2007, CNN special <\/a>used the murders of 28 Chicago schoolkids in the last year to investigate why \u201cyouth violence is on the rise around the country.\u201d Cooper and his sources variously blamed the \u201cgrowing culture of violence, especially among young people\u201d and \u201ckids killing kids\u201d (which Cooper said is \u201chappening not just in Chicago, but all around the country\u201d) on<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>the proliferation of guns and gang,<\/li>\n<li>\u201ca generation that does not value life\u201d<\/li>\n<li>\u201ca general lack of respect for authority that is worse than it used to b,\u201d<\/li>\n<li>a new \u201cculture of violence\u201d of \u201cviolent video game and media culture\u201d (especially rap musicians)<\/li>\n<li>parents,especially fathers, who don\u2019t supervise their kids<\/li>\n<li>the closure of public housing and displacement of families was briefly mentioned<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Cooper interviewed CNN national correspondent and Chicago native Gary Tuchman, who is white, who said when he was growing up, he could walk to school in Chicago and feel safe. \u201cHow this city has changed,\u201d he said. \u201cTen years ago kids respected police.\u201d \u201cThis is not normal,\u201d Cooper repeatedly said of the murders of 28 public school students in the past year.<\/p>\n<p><b>Why this report is misleading:<\/b><\/p>\n<p>CNN&#8217;s story&#8217;s central claim is an alarmist hoax with racist overtones. In fact, Chicago school-age youth are safer from murder today than at any time in at least 40 years:<\/p>\n<table border=\"1\" width=\"560\" cellspacing=\"1\" cellpadding=\"1\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"63\"><span class=\"style17\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Years *<\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<td width=\"484\"><span class=\"style17\"><strong>Average number of murders per month of Chicago 5-17 year-olds, 1968-2007<\/strong><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span class=\"style17\">1968-69<\/span><\/td>\n<td><span class=\"style17\">5.0<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span class=\"style17\">1970-74<\/span><\/td>\n<td><span class=\"style17\">5.6<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span class=\"style17\">1975-79<\/span><\/td>\n<td><span class=\"style17\">5.3<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span class=\"style17\">1980-84<\/span><\/td>\n<td><span class=\"style17\">5.5<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span class=\"style17\">1985-89<\/span><\/td>\n<td><span class=\"style17\">5.5<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span class=\"style17\">1990-94<\/span><\/td>\n<td><span class=\"style17\">10.6<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span class=\"style17\">1995-99<\/span><\/td>\n<td><span class=\"style17\">7.4<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span class=\"style17\">2000-04<\/span><\/td>\n<td><span class=\"style17\">3.9<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span class=\"style17\">2005-06<\/span><\/td>\n<td><span class=\"style17\">3.5<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span class=\"style17\">2006-07<\/span><\/td>\n<td><span class=\"style17\">3.2<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><\/td>\n<td>Source; Figures for 1968-2004 are from the National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and <a href=\"http:\/\/wonder.cdc.gov\/cmf-icd10.html\">WISQARS<\/a>. Figures for 2005-06 and 2006-07 are from the <a href=\"http:\/\/egov.cityofchicago.org\/webportal\/COCWebPortal\/COC_EDITORIAL\/Murder2005.pdf\">Chicago Police Department<\/a><br \/>\n*Year by year tabulations below.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>That murder is a tragedy, and Chicago African Americans suffer high homicide rates, is not an excuse for the news media to dredge up the same old demagoguery that \u201csomething new is going on\u201d, and to blame easy scapegoats like young people, pop culture, disrespect for authority, and some new generational devaluation of life. If 28 murders of Chicagoans ages 10-17 in 2006-07 invokes horror, what about the 84 murdered in 1970? The 61 murdered in 1980 (see table of annual murders of Chicago school-age youths ages 5-17, 1968 to the present, below)? The 115 murdered in 1990? Historical figures on Chicago murders by age, which take five minutes of research to find on <a href=\"http:\/\/youthfacts.org\/wonder.cdc.gov\/cmf-icd10.html\" target=\"_blank\">Centers for Disease Control<\/a> websites, demolish the notion that youth today are uniquely violent.<\/p>\n<p>The \u201csomething new\u201d is that young people of all colors are dramatically less violent than past generations. In fact, in 2002 through 2004, the murder rate among Chicago youth (as among black youth nationwide) dropped to its lowest level since the mid-1960s. Even if the FBI-reported murder arrest rate among black youth in 2005 (12.7 per 100,000 age 10-17) doubled, it would not approach the level of 1970 (29.5), when commentators on CNN\u2019s show were claiming life was safe and serene. All violent crime among black youth has dropped to its lowest level in 35 years (and we have to wonder whether pre-1970 crime statistics are reliable).<\/p>\n<p>As for Gary Tuchman, whose fantasies about the past are frightening in a major news reporter and whom Cooper didn\u2019t even pretend to keep honest, the notion that kids were safer and more respectful 10 or 20 or 35 years ago (when the murder rate among youth was two to three times what it is in the mid-2000s) is delusional. <strong>A decade earlier, police and public health records show, Chicago youths were two to three times more likely to be murdered than in 2007&#8211;an obvious fact that takes a few minutes of research to ascertain<\/strong>. CNN bills itself as the nation&#8217;s premier news station but does not make even rudimentary efforts at accuracy. Clearly, Tuchman, who is white, either misremembers the past or is misled by the fact that white Chicagoans have always been just one-seventh as likely to be murdered than blacks. Why do the media report random musings as solid fact and ignore their own journalists\u2019 code of ethics to check facts carefully and subject sources\u2019 statements to scrutiny?<\/p>\n<p>Cooper was quick to challenge those who cited the proliferation of guns as a major cause, pointing out that not all of the murders involved guns. Such skeptical questioning is part of good reporting. However, Cooper did not question those who claimed black youth today are more violent, or who blamed moral failings, even though easily available evidence strongly contradicts sources&#8217; claims that Chicago was a peaceful paradise before today&#8217;s young people arrived; quite the opposite.<\/p>\n<p>In its eagerness to frame violence as a \u201cyouth\u201d problem, CNN failed to report the fact that the <a href=\"%2Ehttp:\/\/egov.cityofchicago.org\/webportal\/COCWebPortal\/COC_EDITORIAL\/DV4Q06.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">Chicago Police Department<\/a> received 204,000 reports of domestic violence in 2006, including 51,607 cases of domestic battery&#8230;150 every day. Nearly all domestic violence involves adults, the large majority over age 30. Further, middle-aged adults show by far the fastest increase in violent crime and other felonies. But the news media remain fixated that violence can be reported in only one rigid way, as youth, as rising, and as caused by some new younger, generation cultural horror. By indulging cheap, easy evasions, the news media obscure real issues affecting young people and contribute to their endangerment.<\/p>\n<p>CNN\u2019s special demonstrates yet again that America\u2019s news media are simply not up to the challenge of covering a serious social problem and cannot be regarded as a source of factual information. Despite constant claims of \u201ckeeping them honest,\u201d Cooper and CNN reporters provided no context, failed to challenge sources, recycled the same myths and cliches about \u201cyouth violence\u201d the media have repeated over the last two decades, and spread panic while butchering basic facts. Nowhere does CNN demand that those who claim violence among teens is rising prove it by producing comprehensive figures for all age groups.<\/p>\n<p><strong>2005, 2006, and 2007 represent some of the LOWEST years for murder of Chicago youth in 40 years<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Annual murders of Chicago school-age youth ages 5-17, 1968 &#8211; 2006\/07<\/p>\n<table border=\"1\" width=\"200\" cellspacing=\"1\" cellpadding=\"1\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>Year<\/td>\n<td>Murders<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span class=\"style12\">1968<\/span><\/td>\n<td>50<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span class=\"style12\">1969<\/span><\/td>\n<td>69<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span class=\"style12\">1970<\/span><\/td>\n<td>86<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span class=\"style12\">1971<\/span><\/td>\n<td>73<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span class=\"style12\">1972<\/span><\/td>\n<td>66<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span class=\"style12\">1973<\/span><\/td>\n<td>53<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span class=\"style12\">1974<\/span><\/td>\n<td>58<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span class=\"style12\">1975<\/span><\/td>\n<td>51<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span class=\"style12\">1976<\/span><\/td>\n<td>65<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span class=\"style12\">1977<\/span><\/td>\n<td>78<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span class=\"style12\">1978<\/span><\/td>\n<td>63<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span class=\"style12\">1979<\/span><\/td>\n<td>60<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span class=\"style12\">1980<\/span><\/td>\n<td>61<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span class=\"style12\">1981<\/span><\/td>\n<td>76<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span class=\"style12\">1982<\/span><\/td>\n<td>63<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span class=\"style12\">1983<\/span><\/td>\n<td>51<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span class=\"style12\">1984<\/span><\/td>\n<td>77<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span class=\"style12\">1985<\/span><\/td>\n<td>49<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span class=\"style12\">1986<\/span><\/td>\n<td>71<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span class=\"style12\">1987<\/span><\/td>\n<td>56<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span class=\"style12\">1988<\/span><\/td>\n<td>65<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span class=\"style12\">1989<\/span><\/td>\n<td>91<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span class=\"style12\">1990<\/span><\/td>\n<td>115<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span class=\"style12\">1991<\/span><\/td>\n<td>112<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span class=\"style12\">1992<\/span><\/td>\n<td>123<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span class=\"style12\">1993<\/span><\/td>\n<td>136<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span class=\"style12\">1994<\/span><\/td>\n<td>152<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span class=\"style12\">1995<\/span><\/td>\n<td>115<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span class=\"style12\">1996<\/span><\/td>\n<td>98<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span class=\"style12\">1997<\/span><\/td>\n<td>82<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span class=\"style12\">1998<\/span><\/td>\n<td>80<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span class=\"style12\">1999<\/span><\/td>\n<td>67<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span class=\"style12\">2000<\/span><\/td>\n<td>50<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span class=\"style12\">2001<\/span><\/td>\n<td>55<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span class=\"style12\">2002<\/span><\/td>\n<td>49<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span class=\"style12\">2003<\/span><\/td>\n<td>47<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span class=\"style12\">2004<\/span><\/td>\n<td>35<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span class=\"style12\">2005<\/span><\/td>\n<td>42<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span class=\"style12\">2006-07<\/span><\/td>\n<td><span class=\"style12\">not reported yet<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span class=\"style12\">9\/1\/2006 &#8211; 7\/19\/2007<\/span><\/td>\n<td>32<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>Sources: National Center for Health Statistics; CDC, <a href=\"http:\/\/wonder.cdc.gov\/cmf-icd10.html\" target=\"_blank\">WISQARS<\/a>; <a href=\"http:\/\/egov.cityofchicago.org\/webportal\/COCWebPortal\/COC_EDITORIAL\/Murder2005.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">Chicago Police Department<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Deadly Lessons&#8221;\u00a0in lying:\u00a0CNN Anderson Cooper&#8217;s\u00a0&#8220;keeping it unreal&#8221; hate-piece on\u00a0Chicago youth Anderson Cooper\u2019s June 1, 2007, CNN special used the murders of 28 Chicago schoolkids in the last year to investigate why \u201cyouth violence is on the rise around the country.\u201d Cooper and his sources variously blamed the \u201cgrowing culture of violence, especially among young people\u201d [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-843","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.youthfacts.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/843","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.youthfacts.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.youthfacts.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.youthfacts.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.youthfacts.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=843"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.youthfacts.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/843\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85055,"href":"https:\/\/www.youthfacts.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/843\/revisions\/85055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.youthfacts.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}