Sometimes a mugger's race does matter

Of all the headlines over the past 20 years, one is seared into my memory. After the Brixton riots, one tabloid encapsulated this complicated event with the banner, "Rampage of the Black Mob".

Few newspapers would be so inflammatory today, but the way they describe perpetrators of crime is still a sensitive issue for many black people. There has been some painful reading this week. Reports on the murder of Battersea estate agent Tim Robinson made immediate reference to the fact that his attackers were "young black men". Stories about the carjacking in Woolwich last Friday did the same. Some also made clear that in that case the victim was also black.

The rules on reporting and race are quite clear. Under the Press Complaints Commission's code, the media should avoid "prejudicial and pejorative reference to a person's race, colour (or) religion". It says reports should "avoid publishing details of a person's race, colour, religion ... unless these are directly relevant to the story".

When I trained as a journalist 20 years ago, this was interpreted to mean the colour of a suspect was mentioned only as part of a full description issued by the police. If adding a person's race to details of their clothing and other physical characteristics jogged the memory of potential witnesses, that was obviously appropriate. What is happening now clearly goes beyond that. A casual reference to "black attackers" or "black carjackers" or "black muggers" does not assist the police.

But one can no longer automatically condemn the practice of referring to race; for it is possible to argue - in perfectly good faith - that it is becoming unavoidable. In reporting crimes such as street robberies in London, the disproportionate involvement of black suspects has itself become an important part of the story. Even when an incident is reported in isolation, the fact that it fits a trend or is a further example of a disturbing phenomenon surely is relevant.

This doesn't mean newspapers should resort to lurid copy whenever a black suspect is involved. But it becomes more difficult to argue that race does not deserve a prominent mention in these stories, so long as the tone is appropriate. Every mention of a black suspect makes me uncomfortable, but that is something I'll have to get used to. Newspapers must be responsible. But it is not their job to sanitise the truth.

Director of the Centre for Journalism Studies, Cardiff University ">Privacy on parade
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