LA homicides in 2007
Posted on August 12, 2007 by Melissa Worden
Los Angeles has endured it’s share of violence. Seriously, it’s a tough city whose paper has to devote a daily blog to homicides, which is turning out to be an effective way of presenting their story that’s too big to fit in print.
The list represents an effort to provide comprehensive coverage of all homicides that occur in Los Angeles County. Overwhelmed by the sheer volume, the Los Angeles Times, like other major media organizations, covers only a fraction of the more than 1,000 murders in Los Angeles County each year. Many violent deaths become, in essence, private homicides — catastrophic on a small scale, invisible on a broader one.
Recently, they added an interactive map to better visually tell the story. The Baltimore Sun put together a similar map last month, but the Times’ version shows what you can do by adding more resources to the presentation.
The Times has integrated theirs with a bar graphic, photos, reader comments, a list of the deceased, and a search box. This is really impressive. I particularly like the photos and ability to leave comments. The editors have taken a stat-heavy, impersonal presentation (the map alone) and instantly have created an emotional link with the reader.
Here’s a sample comment posted by J.Henn that illustrates best what I mean:
Being a former LAPD officer I’ve been to more homicide scenes than I care to count. But seeing all these PEOPLE murdered is quite shocking,all these lives taken in a few short weeks. All these victims families devastated, in the blink of an eye. GOD bless the Victims and their Loved ones, and take vengeance on the ignorant murderers.
Another thing I like about this interactive: Readers can access the information in many ways, without the whole package seeming too repetitive. You can sort by date and then filter that information by age/ethnicity/gender/etc. Or you can search on your own. Once you get your data, you can click on the map and get the information. Or you can click on the name from a list.
Credits: Jill Leovy, a crime reporter for the Los Angeles Times, writes the blog. I don’t know if she created the interactive, too. No credits are listed on that page.
Tags: mapping, reader interaction, multimedia samples
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