CRACK(ED) REPORTING

Reports, like your Oct 6 news brief, that discuss "crack babies"
out of context, mislead the public. Where drug-induced harm to the
unborn is concerned, fetal alcohol syndrome is far and away the most
serious issue, followed by tobacco's effects. Media emphasis on
smokeable cocaine distracts attention from a common, high-damage
problem in the mainstream (maternal alcohol use) to a rare,
lower-damage problem among a scapegoat class (crack mothers).

Without apologizing for their misleading coverage of crack (see the
1994 book "Cracked Coverage", Duke Univ. Press), major media outlets
have gone on to sensationalize methamphetamine in a recent barrage of
local and network-level TV reports. The cycle is predictable: new
drug, [sensationalized] reporting, harsher laws, big crackdown, to be
followed by an altered drug market, another new drug, more
[sensationalized] reporting, ad nauseum.

Hype yields great media drama but poor public policies -- like
Draconian crack laws and forthcoming meth laws that pack prisons with
non-violent offenders. Good reporting on drug issues addresses complex
facts that don't always tell a juicy or familiar story. Unexpected
facts, like alcohol being the greatest threat to the unborn, should be
explained. Such even-handedness is a lot to ask in our tabloid era of
Monica, Jerry Springer, and "Cops", but it's indispensable to civic
health.

Paul Bischke
St. Paul

Checked-by: Patrick Henry