TV correspondent slammed for his factual coverage of city’s soaring violence

A Fox correspondent has been slammed by Philadelphia lawmakers and local journalists for his coverage of the city’s violence that ‘broadcasts fear and trauma.’ 

Reporter Steve Keeley with Fox 29 is known for his extensive coverage of crimes, including homicides and thefts, in the city.  

But despite Philadelphia recording 15,227 cases of violent crimes in 2022, he has now been criticized by some who claim his reporting is harming ‘Black and brown people.’

Cherri Gregg, WHYY reporter, wrote on Facebook, said: ‘I rarely speak badly of news outlets – BUT Steve Keeley FOX 29’s coverage of crime- definitely makes me cringe. Crime coverage can be very harmful and scares people.

‘Our crime coverage must be community centered — otherwise it can be harmful, sensationalized and disproportionate to what is really happening. AND who gets harmed?? Black and brown people… Black communities and Black men.’ 

Keeley covers various topics on homicides, thefts and safety, but his reporting has been criticized by others who argue he is harming the ‘Black and brown people’

Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Jenice Armstrong also called out Keeley’s disturbing Twitter feed, according to Philadelphia Magazine.

Jamie Gauthier, Philadelphia councilwoman, called Keeley’s coverage ‘inhumane’

Keeley’s Twitter features videos of crime, press releases and photos of various incidents.

His latest tweet on Sunday revealed the identity of a man shot and killed in Deptford last week.

Jamie Gauthier, Philadelphia councilwoman, also criticized Keeley’s coverage of crime calling it ‘inhumane’ and not ‘helpful.’ 

‘It feels like a dog whistle to me. His coverage can be inhumane. His flavor isn’t helpful. In fact, it’s harmful,’ Gauthier told Philadelphia Magazine.

Insiders at Fox29 told the news outlet Keeley’s reporting has been an issue in the past. 

‘It’s embarrassing,’ the insider said.

Cherri Gregg, WHYY reporter, wrote on Facebook that Keeley’s crime coverage was ‘harmful’

Crime in the city is slightly down as of March 5 compared to the same time last year in the areas of homicides, robbery at gunpoint and aggravated assault with a gun, according to the Philadelphia Police Department

Researchers examined data from 2020 and 2021 in four major US cities, focusing on shootings involving nearly 130,000 men aged between 18 and 29 and compared them with combat-related deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan

Despite Keeley’s critics, there is no denying the crime wave that has rocked Philadelphia in the recent years.

Last year, Brandon del Pozo, a former New York City cop and now Brown University scholar, released a study declaring young men in Chicago and Philadelphia’s worst neighborhoods are more likely to be shot and killed than those who fought on the bloodiest front-lines in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The study released in December 2022 says gun deaths among young men in those city’s ghettos are worse than seen by troops deployed in America’s war on terror. 

Del Pozo, who started out in law enforcement patrolling streets in East Flatbush, Brooklyn, called his research an ‘urgent wake-up call’ for tackling gun crime and murder rates in the grittiest cities. 

Crime in the city is slightly down as of March 5 compared to the same time last year in the areas of homicides, robbery at gunpoint and aggravated assault with a gun, according to the Philadelphia Police Department. 

About 523 shooting incidents have been reported so far in 2023, with 695 recorded during the same time last year. 

The number of shooting victims is also down, with 268 reported compared to 359 last year. 

Gun deaths: 1.1 million in 30 years 

Guns have claimed more than 1.1 million lives in the US in the past 30 years, and the rising rate of deaths saw a sharp uptick of 20 percent during the Covid-19 pandemic, researchers say.

In one of the most comprehensive assessments of gun deaths in years, researchers from Emory University and Boston Children’s Hospital showed that 1,110,421 people were killed by firearms between 1990 and 2021.

Gun-related deaths started climbing steadily from 2005, but that upward trajectory has accelerated in recent years, including an uptick from 2019-2021, as Covid-19 led to lockdowns and economic turmoil.

Researchers built heat maps that showed how firearm deaths were clustered in the West of the country in the 1990s, but gradually spread across the nation, with noticeable spikes in southern states

‘Firearm fatalities accelerated dramatically during the Covid pandemic,’ said Eric Fleegler, a Harvard Medical School professor, a physician at Boston Children’s Hospital and co-author of the study.

‘Multiple potential factors have likely contributed to this, including severe economic distress, an erupting mental health crisis, and a significant uptick in the sale of firearms.’

Researchers have previously described the ‘panic buying’ of firearms during the pandemic. One study showed that between January 2020 and April 2021, some 5.1 million Americans became gun owners for the first time.

Using data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the researchers built heat maps that showed how firearm deaths were clustered in the West of the country in the 1990s.

But the rate of firearm deaths gradually increased across the nation, with noticeable spikes in southern states.

Chris Rees, an assistant professor of pediatrics and emergency medicine at Emory University School of Medicine, lamented reaching the ‘highest number of gun fatalities that have ever occurred in the US’ in 2021.

Young black men experience the highest rates of homicide gun deaths, at 142 per 100,000 for those in their early 20s. The highest gun suicide death rates are in white men in their early 80s, at 45 per 100,000, the researchers said.