by Samantha Michaels | Mother Jones
Monday, November 04, 2024
As Republicans and moderate Democrats alike use inflated crime rhetoric to whip up support for anti-progressive causes, the public’s fear of crime is growing — and that perception may not match reality. One reason for increasing public concerns about crime is “mean world syndrome,” says BMSG’s Pamela Mejia: When people consume a lot of news about crime, they become convinced the world around them is a dangerous place. This article, which explores fear-mongering in the Bay Area, also appeared in Oaklandside.
by Jodi Hill-Lilly and Chip Spinning | The Imprint
Monday, September 30, 2024
This opinion piece argues for shifting the narrative surrounding the child welfare system, asserting that media can play an important role in improving the system by focusing on solutions. The authors cite a study finding from Berkeley Media Studies Group that a majority of reporters cover the child welfare system solely through a crime lens, arguing that coverage of the child welfare system must focus on not just the aftermath of tragedies, but on ways child welfare systems are supporting the shift to a preventative approach.
by Ryan Fonseca | Los Angeles Times
Wednesday, August 21, 2024
By some key indicators, many communities are seeing crimes recede. Despite that, polling shows that people don’t feel safe. BMSG’s Director of Research & Associate Program Director Pamela Mejia explained that the reaction people have to perceived crime is often shaped through a cognitive bias known as “mean world syndrome.” “The more media that people consume that depicts the world as a violent place, the more likely people are to believe that the world around them is indeed a violent place,” Mejia said. To address this, Mejia asserts that responsible news coverage of crime should balance informing the public without sensationalism, avoid downplaying the very real toll and trauma of violence, and diversify the voices featured in crime reporting.
Healing Generations
Tuesday, July 09, 2024
In this episode of the Healing Generations podcast, BMSG’s Associate Program Director and Director of Research Pamela Mejia joins Maestras Debra Camarillo and Susanna Armijo to discuss how stories about communities of color — in media and beyond — often focus on problems, divorced from the context and the solutions. Where are there opportunities for more community members, for equity, for justice, for liberation, for joy, to be present in the conversation? Further, the Maestras discuss the commodification of communities of color, the issue with the anonymity of social media, and sitting “with, but not in” life’s challenges.
American Counseling Association
Monday, June 24, 2024
Immigrants, refugees and their families face many mental and physical health challenges as they create new homes for themselves in the U.S., and these challenges have not been widely studied or documented. American Counseling Association’s recent book “Counseling With Immigrants, Refugees and Their Families From Social Justice Perspectives” is a comprehensive resource for counselors who work with these populations, and it provides social justice and multicultural counseling competency frameworks to help them establish best practices for treatment. Counselors will also learn about the vast contributions immigrants and refugees make to this country and how to support their efforts to thrive against the odds. BMSG’s 2019 blog “How news coverage perpetuates harmful language about immigration” is listed as a helpful resource in this Q&A.
by Heather Gehlert | The Columbia Missourian
Wednesday, April 24, 2024
Tractor overturns are the leading cause of death on farms, but a rebate program for highly effective protective equipment, known as rollover protective structures (ROPS), is rarely mentioned in news coverage, according to research from BMSG. In this opinion piece, Heather Gehlert, BMSG’s Strategic Communication Director, elevates the issue for readers in Missouri, one of the states most affected by fatal overturns. She also discusses how farm safety is an equity issue, with smaller farms and those with less resources being more likely to rely on older tractors in need of retrofitting.
by Samantha Michaels | Mother Jones
Monday, March 18, 2024
Oakland District Attorney Pamela Price, one of the country’s most progressive district attorneys and the first Black woman to hold the position in Alameda County, has encountered extreme scrutiny since taking office in January 2023. Compared with traditional prosecutors, progressive DAs anecdotally appear to be held to a different standard in the press and on social media, says Pamela Mejia, BMSG’s Associate Program Director and Director of Research.
Over the past five years, polls show that Americans have grown more worried about crime, regardless of whether their cities have become more dangerous. Nationally, reported rates of violence “appear to be going down, but public perception is that people don’t feel safe and that data doesn’t necessarily feel meaningful for people,” says Mejia. She cited a phenomenon called the “mean world” syndrome: When people consume a lot of news about crime, they become convinced the world around them is a dangerous place. The fear creates a communications challenge for progressive DAs, says Mejia, because research shows that people process information differently when they’re afraid.
by Gigi Kellett | CounterPunch
Friday, January 19, 2024
This article from CounterPunch explains how today’s food industry has employed one of Big Tobacco’s strategies – called preemption – to stall legislative progress. By promoting weaker state public health laws to override stronger local laws, the food industry has been able to continue its racist marketing campaigns, targeting Black youth and other youth of color. The article also uplifts an analysis by Corporate Accountability, in collaboration with BMSG and other organizations, that found a disturbing correspondence between NRA campaign contributions and the propensity of those receiving them to oppose progressive policies, showcasing the deeply harmful effects of industry lobbying on public health.
by Mark Barna | Public Health Newswire
Tuesday, November 14, 2023
U.S. leaders continue to see value in declaring racism a public health crisis in their communities. Yet BMSG research, shared at the 2023 APHA annual gathering in Atlanta, found that media coverage of racism declarations largely ignored the work of community leaders who are often the impetus behind governments adopting the resolution. This framing has the potential of stunting community action: Local leaders following media coverage may not realize the extent that other community leaders play in doing the legwork to make declarations happen.
by Lori Dorfman | Berkeley Public Health
Thursday, October 05, 2023
Public health researchers and practitioners have long known that racism harms health. Now, a new website called Racism Harms Health shows how. The site, part of Berkeley Public Healths’ Anti-Racist Community for Justice and Social Transformative Change, compiles research data culled from more than 250 studies across the spectrum of American life — from workplaces and policing to education and housing.
