Shooting Deaths Down!

Or up. Or whatever - it all depends on how you count it:

• “But shootings are up!”
  
  Every year, this comment propagates below articles covering Chicago violence. Sometimes it’s true. Sometimes it’s not. Sometimes it’s somehow both.
  
  Mostly it’s annoying.
  
  It’s annoying that people constantly add this to every single article that decides to use a different statistic, and it’s annoying that we (the press) cling to year-to-year changes as if two years can tell our readers everything they need to know.
  
  Two years of one statistic is nothing! We deserve more. Which is why, for the sake of my sanity (and yours too), I looked into twenty years of gun violence statistics in Chicago.
  
  You’re, uh, welcome. I guess…

Hey, you have our thanks. The entire article is lengthy for a CBS piece, but it takes a look at things from a perspective that most other media outlets won't. And it actually shows some hints of journalistic effort - something lacking in local reporting for years now. Instead of accepting what the Department and Rahm feed the media, the report delves into things mentioned here and at places like HeyJackass.com.

The statistic manipulation from "year-to-year" is something decried by many here, but we've used it time and time again for comedic relief. It's actually pleasant to read something that attempts to make sense of the nonsense put out for political purposes.