Race IDs in the newspaper

Race identification in the newspaper

Every few months we get calls from readers who insist that we’re withholding essential information when we fail to specify the race of a crime suspect. Two stories currently in the news, involving the slayings of two college women, have brought the debate to the forefront again. This from editor Ben Holden:

Effective about six months ago, we do not run the race of criminal suspects at large unless we believe the value of the description to the community outweighs the likelihood of prejudicial behavior toward innocent citizens. In general, we have instructed reporters and editors to omit race unless the description provides at least: (1) Some unique, immutable identifying characteristic (i.e., scars, tattoos, unusual height or weight); or (2) A "complete" description (which we define as approximate height, weight and race). Generally, this allows us to print most descriptions. Only the overly vague description – “white man in a blue pickup truck” or "black man wearing dark clothing" – will be disallowed.