Tabloid sensationalism

     To the editor:
      Your lead article in the Nevada section of the April 6 paper is a very good example of the type of irresponsible journalism that caused me to give up journalism as a career some 25 years ago.
      A headline screams, "Crime wave strikes near UNLV," and below that is a box with conflicting statistics showing crime has actually dropped considerably in the area, with the exception of homicide -- which is conveniently left out of the box. Then a long-winded article lists all the homicides in the area, together with the usual "how does it make you feel" two-paragraph interviews with area residents, of course leaving out the interviewer's lead-on.
      ("Are you aware that there is considerable gang activity in the area? Did you know there were eight or nine homicides within a few blocks of your home last year? Did you hear about the gun battle with police that left several people, including a police officer, seriously wounded? How does this make you feel?") This is standard interview technique as taught in high schools and journalism school.
      The first paragraph, of course, states that gang activity has increased, yet somehow several types of crime that normally increase with gang activity have dropped remarkably: Stolen vehicles, down 45 percent; burglary, down 38 percent; larceny, down 21 percent. The only significant increase I see is in assaults and robberies, but of course only the percentages are published, not the raw numbers -- unless that is the scale at the bottom of the graph (not identified) which means that there were only 10 more robberies in the area over the course of the year, and maybe 30 more assaults, as opposed to a drastic reduction in combined larcenies and stolen vehicles: more than 200.
      Which, of course, only shows that I can read the statistics any way I want, as you have. However, where is the crime wave that is screamed about in 48-point type?
      In addition, few of the crimes reported in the full article are gang-related types of crimes: Five out of eight of the crimes listed are not gang-related as they are described.
      Some restraint is necessary in a community newspaper. Unless you really want to compete with the Star, the National Enquirer and other supermarket tabloids, please check to see that your facts agree with your screaming headlines and the conclusions you are trying to foist off on your readers.
     JIM GODING
     Las Vegas