A site that I thought was excellent in this area is shutting down. The site is http://www.newswatch.org/. The archives should be there for a few days at least. Check it out before it’s gone completely and, if you have a chance, post your opinion of it here.
I have seen two other sites on this subject: Brill’s Content and Romenesko’s MediaNews. I’d like to ask Dopers if they can recommend any others.
You could try the Columbia Journalism Review online at:
When I was in J-school, I had a subscription. The online edition seems to cover media and public policy issues.
Damn! :mad: That looks like a really good site, too!
For example, I read an interesting article correcting a misconception that the New York Times published about crime in the U.S. versus crime in the U.K. Contrary to popular belief Britain, despite it’s extremely tough gun laws, has a higher crime rate than America. (I’ll bet the NRA has a copy of that article framed on their wall!) And apparently, English criminals go unpunished more often than American ones do. Maybe I shouldn’t bitch about America’s system so much.
Anyway, I hope they find a way to bring this site back, it looks like a place I would have liked.
Diceman - crime rate and gun control stance aren’t entirely related. I’d like to see the comparison of “gun crime” statistics between the US and UK before declaring that gun control doesn’t work here.
To be precise, the U.S. is higher in some things and the U.K. is higher in others. In 1996, the figures were as follows:
(Rates are per 100,000 residents. Figures for the U.K. are actually only for England and Wales.)
Murder
(U.S.) 7.41 (U.K.) 1.31
Rape
(U.S.) 70.79 (U.K.) 21.77
Robbery
(U.S.) 202.44 (U.K.) 142.35
Assault
(U.S.) 388.19 (U.K.) 439.60
Burglary
(U.S.) 942.95 (U.K.) 2239.15
Motor Vehicle Theft
(U.S.) 525.93 (U.K.) 948.83
Thanks, WendellWagner. I had heard that Britain has a higher, or faster-growing, crime rate than the US, but it’s interesting to see that it’s mostly in terms of crimes against property rather than against the person (assaults excepting).
Britain has since 1996 passed the U.S. in terms of robbery too, apparently. It would be interesting to see a unified account of the differences in crime rates in the U.S. and the U.K. I suspect that the higher murder rate in the U.S. has to do with the availability of guns mostly. People in the U.S. are no more violent; they’ve just got easier access to guns when they get violent.
On the other hand, I suspect the higher assault rate in the U.K. has to do with the greater toleration of being “drunk and rowdy”. That was my observation when I lived in the U.K. from 1987 to 1990, anyway.
But why did the crime rate rise in the U.K. during the '90’s while it fell in the U.S.? The economy was generally rising in both countries, I think.
Does anyone have a theory that they can back up with some solid general statistics, rather than just a few anecdotes or random statistics?
My understanding is that the U.K. had a much lower murder rate than the U.S. even before their gun bans…just social differences I guess.
Anyway, we’re already talking about this kinda thing in a few other threads, so I’ll leave it off here.
In what other thread is this difference between the U.S. and the U.K. specifically discussed?