With that in mind, I am including a new feature on CHOTR, Top 5 "Southeast DC" mentions in the News. Every now and then I am going to do a Google News search on the term "Southeast DC" and see what pops up and share the top 5 headlines (sorted by relevance). Perhaps we can encourage reporters and news agencies to dig a little deeper and learn more about our communities, like the geography.
DECEMBER 24TH:
Future road closures in Southeast D.C.
Washington Post - Ovetta Wiggins - 17 hours ago
Single lanes will be closed temporarily along a 1 1/2 -mile stretch of Pennsylvania Avenue in Southeast Washington as crews begin work ...
Teen's decomposed body found in southeast DC
WTOP - 19 hours ago
... and discovered the remains of 16-year-old Deonte Payton of Frederick Douglass Place in southeast DC Officials say Payton suffered a gunshot wound. ...
Two suspects wanted in DC shooting
WTOP - Dec 22, 2009
Alston was shot in Southeast DC on December 1. Three other arrests have been made in the case, including the arrest of a DC Police officer who has been ...
Driver Hits, Kills Woman at Bus Stop
MyFox Washington DC - Dec 22, 2009
... a driver who may have been high on drugs hopped a curb and hit an innocent woman waiting at a bus stop on Tuesday night in Southeast DC, killing her. ...
Two Shot in Southeast DC
MyFox Washington DC - Dec 1, 2009
By MYFOXDC STAFF/myfoxdc WASHINGTON, DC - DC Police are investigating after they say two people were shot in what was an apparent carjacking attempt in ...
7 Comments:
No matter how many times I see it still never ceases to amaze me how overwelmingly negative the coverage of River East (masquereding as Southeast) is. You would think at some point someone would want to report something different, would realize there has to be other things to cover. Oh well...I think I know what I am going to ask Santa for next year. :)
In case you haven't figured out that is my #2 River East pet peeve. :)
Merry Christmas!
crime in dc is always reported by quadrant on the news.
how many people that live in the district have you met that think SE is synonymous with River East?
i've never met anyone.
people in the burbs, sure. but they hardly know crap about DC anyway.
if you're trying to brand and market dc neighborhoods east of the anacostia as unique, why do you lump them all together as "river east"?
why not simply state which neighborhood you are talking about? and add a photo to give a visual?
Crime in DC is not "always" reported as quadrant in the news. You are far more likely to see a neighborhood name for a non River-East neighborhood than you will in Wards 7 and 8. Those of us who live in these communities have complained about this for quite some time.
"River East" is a term coined by some residents of Wards 7 and 8 to describe Wards 7 and 8 instead of using "East of the River". The reason for this is because there is a feelign that the term "East of the River" for whatever reason and regardless how unfair "East of the River" just has a bad conotation to it and residents were looking for an alternative. You can read more about that on this blog or other River East blogs.
In terms of "lumping them all in together" I think you are mistaken. This blog as many of the other River East (Ward 7 and 8 ) blogs have really gone out of their way to really identify and bring attention that these are neighborhoods within their Wards (hence the name Congress Heights on the Rise). :) The fact of the matter is that there is somewhat of a common goal shared by Wards 7 and 8 and not just geographically so when it is relevant we do use the term "River East" but not to mask or cover our community names. Anyone will tell you The Advoc8te is a big advocate of requesting (and yes demanding) that media coverage of our communities stop using the overly broad (and at times frankly incorrect) term of "Southeast" or "East of the River" and would please apply a little bit more specificity when reporting the news here, especailly in reporting more diverse news in our communities.
As you can see from the top 5 news reports that I included in this post - 4 dealt with crime related issues and not one single news article had any specific geographic information included in the post. Not a Ward name, not a neighborhood name - just "Southeast' and frankly we are sick and tired of it.
The point of the feature is to hopefully encourage those that report the news (and who read this blog) to start identfiying our communities correctly and including them in their news reports. Like you said, we would like to see a neighborhood name and a photo to get a visual - no more with this blanket "Southeast" label. We are sick and tired of seeing the news reported in this incomplete way.
I hope I was able to answer your questions.
One more thing...
"how many people that live in the district have you met that think SE is synonymous with River East?
i've never met anyone."
A LOT. Way too many in fact. We have had to had a few local news stations correct their articles because of that. Not to mention confusion on neihghborhoods themselves. I can't even count how many times I have had to explain to someone ( including folks who live in DC) that Anacostia is a NEIGHBORHOOD in Ward 8 and is not the name of the entire Ward. Heck - Fox 5 in a news report stated that Congress Heights was located in Anacostia (of course we let them know the mistake and had them change that).
I moved to Congress Heights a little over two years ago. Like many folks who live in this area I never noticed the imbalanced and frankly at times inaccurate news reports. To be honest, why would I? I didn't live here so why would I notice? It wasn't until I moved here and started reading all these articles and watching all these news reports that I really began to realize how different the news is reported "East of the River". Almost all of my friends who are new arrivals to the community notice it to. I have to admit, before I moved here I was one of those ignorant people that assumed that Anacostia was the name of the whole Ward. It wasn't until I was considering a move to Congress Heights that I finally did some research - which by the way was hard. I could find almost no information online about my neighborhood. Everything I found centered on "Southeast" or "Anacostia" or "East of the River". That is what we are hoping to change by having these blogs and encouraging people who cover news here, to provide more specific information so that people can finally begin to understand that these are neighborhoods and communities made up of residents, families and good people. They are more than a quadrant or a blurb on the evening news.
There has definetly been some progress but there is still a long way to go.
And I am super glad that you left a comment. :) Dialogue leads to understanding and that is always good.:)
I hope you continue to read the blog and leave comments.
-The Advoc8te
The Advoc8te said...
And I am super glad that you left a comment. :) Dialogue leads to understanding and that is always good.:)
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amen.
thanks for your answers.
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