What would Captain Renault do?

Is the media institutionally racist is the title of a poll on the BBC website, attached to a story about the London police chief aplogizing for his comments that the murders of two girls got a lot of media attention in part because they're white.

These online polls are usually unscientific, but often interesting--in this case, about 63% of respondents are answering 'yes'.

You could write an entire dissertation about how the day's--or week's--big story is 'decided' upon. I do think the race and sex of story's subject, as well as that of the journalists involved, plays a role. But so too does the perceived 'buzzworthiness' of a story, in addition to factors like what actually happened, to whom, and when, whether there's good art/tape, and whether it sheds light on a broader issue, especially governmental failing.

In the end, there won't ever be an objective arbiter of how much journalistic ink or tape a story 'deserves'. Racism and bias and ignorance does play a role, but no more so--and probably less so given the open nature of most newsrooms--than any other field of human endeavor, including policing.

I don't really disagree with the chief; I just feel like there are so many seemingly non-germane and non-rational factors that influence how news stories are played that to express shock! and outrage! that the front page isn't necessarily what it 'ought' to be and to point the finger at racism is a bit futile. After all, does it make any sense that a murder that happens on Tuesday gets much more attention than one that happens on Saturday?

I'd rather spend the time and energy making sure the cops aren't institutionally racist in how they treat suspects and investigate cases, regardless of how the process is covered in the press.

Uncredited photo of London Metropolitan Police chief Sir Ian Blair from BBC website.