Shoplifting Is Big News; Stealing Millions From Workers Is Not

[tenderfoot]

An alleged “crime surge” at Walgreens drugstores in San Francisco was a hot topic for Bay Area news outlets in the early months of 2021. When Lyanne Melendez, a reporter for the ABC-owned KGO-TV in San Francisco, tweeted out a cellphone video of a brazen shoplifter, it elevated this narrative into a nationwide story. The video purports to show a man apparently filling a garbage bag with items before riding a bicycle out of the store, as two people, one of whom seems to be a store security guard, record him.

FAIR identified 309 published pieces on the 21-second video, using a combination of Nexis and Google advanced search to find every article published by a news outlet, from the video’s publication on June 14 to July 12—a 28-day timeframe.

[snip]

Compare this to another Walgreens-related theft story: the November settlement of a wage theft and labor law violation class-action lawsuit against Walgreens, filed by employees in California for $4.5 million.

A multimillion-dollar settlement coming after a two-year legal struggle, this should have been a national news story, not to mention a major topic in local California outlets. But FAIR was unable to find a single general news outlet that covered the settlement, looking from November 2020 to July 2021, using the same search parameters as the aforementioned shoplifting video.

[snip]

Obviously, the shoplifting video is supposed to represent multiple examples of retail theft, to boost awareness about shoplifting as a larger issue. But the wage theft settlement is also one example of a widespread issue: Employers stealing from their workers is a $15 billion a year problem that gets little attention.

San Francisco is a city that falls far short in caring for the homeless population, with pervasive poverty, particularly among people of color. In that context, to treat an individual stealing a few hundred dollars from a corporation worth $150 billion as infinitely more newsworthy than that same company stealing millions from its employees is to enlist the media on the well-funded side of the class war.

https://fair.org/home/shoplifting-is-big-news-stealing-millions-from-workers-is-not/

[cinematicdiversions]

1. San Francisco is a city that falls far short in caring for the homeless population?

Bullshit. San Francisco does a lot for its homeless population. Most of whom come to San Francisco because it is so homeless friendly.

News with video always gets more coverage than news without video. This is clear.

And last the crime surge is not "alleged" it is quite real.

Try being honest and reality based you might find your arguments to be more persuasive.

[tenderfoot]

2. Most of whom come to San Francisco because it is so homeless friendly.

Oh? Where do they get the funds to get there?

[former9thward]

4. Seriously?

It costs very little to make a marginal move in this country.

[tenderfoot]

5. LOL

I'm saving what little I have to move San Francisco because they'll let me leach the system and be homeless!

[former9thward]

6. Wow, you are really out of touch...

[tenderfoot]

8. And you don't seem to care that Walgreen's rips off its own employees which the OP is about.

[leftstreet]

3. DURec

[JI7]

7. Fuck these "shoplifters" (more like organized crime)

A hardworking employee was shot and killed at a rite aid by some of these thugs .

These aren't people stealing a few food items becsuse they are hungry with no money. These are criminals who should be in prison.

What does one have to do with the other. It might make sense to compare if it was employees stealing but it wasn't.

They steal from small business also. The 7-11s are often owned and run by immigrants who work there 6-7 days a week just trying to get by.

[Devil Child]

9. Damn good post JI7

Was at the local pharmacy the other day and overhearing the staff discuss shoplifting being rampant at the store. Seems there is a drastic increase in casual theft of small items too. They specifically mentioned tubs of ice-cream being a favorite.

The self-checkout now has security cameras at multiple angles with a little vidscreen showing your mugshot while you pay.

Stuff that was not there before covid’s arrival.

[Elessar Zappa]

10. It's just interesting what the media chooses to cover.

Both are legitimate problems but only one gets covered.

[JI7]

12. Becsuse of the video. The wealthy assholes that have been caught

on video doing things like being racist have also been shown by the media and some have ended uo losing their job.

[Elessar Zappa]

11. For the most part,

the media always covers the problems experienced by employers while ignoring problems that employees deal with.

[JI7]

13. But it's mostly the employees at these places that have to deal with shitty

shoplifters. And one recently got shot and killed.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

14. K&R. Wage theft, cop IPV, sexual assaults...some crimes are more criminal than others.