Opinion | On crime and the economy, Republicans dictate the media narrative
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Democrats tend to think of Republicans as messaging wizards, able to conjure controversies out of thin air and manipulate voters’ minds. While the GOP’s powers of mesmerism are drastically overstated, there are moments when they seem to easily persuade big news organizations to repeat their preferred narratives, after which public opinion follows along.
This is playing out on two important issues: crime and the economy.
Start with crime. Whenever something bad happens, such as an increase in homicides, the media tell us that it’s happening and also how to understand it: why it happened, what it means, who might be blamed.
As you probably know, homicides significantly increased when the pandemic began. Here are a few representative figures: In Jacksonville, Fla., there were 131 murders in 2019, which rose to 144 in 2020, then fell to 109 in 2021. In Fort Worth, there were 71 murders in 2019,…