Crime Pays, for news writers at least.

I thought that the most interesting part of this reading on crime reporting was the "Why report crime?" section.  It was nice to have a more in-depth explanation about why crime is reported, beyond the normal adage "If it bleeds, it leads".  While crime is often grim, people do need to be aware of what is happening around them.

I thought it was also informative how the author of the article broke down the types of crime reports into types such as new, unusual, or significant.  Crime it's self is not very significant, since there are many minor laws people break on a daily basis, often without even realizing they are doing so.  Understanding what crime stories are worth writing is more important than how well the actual article is written.