| cause of death | dead men | dead women |
| homicide | 8,242 | 1,531 |
| suicide | 10,764 | 2,641 |
| Source: NCHS Vital Statistics System, via WISQARS | ||
Fear of crime and violence against women are major U.S. public concerns. Statistics on deaths from homicide and suicide provide some critical perspective on those concerns. In the U.S. in 2010, more prime-age men and women killed themselves than were killed by another. Far more men died from both homicide and suicide than did women.
Murder makes for a much more sensational news story than suicide. Even more newsworthy is the murder of a women, especially a young, white attractive woman. Most newsworthy of all is such a woman murdered by a man with whom she had a sexual connection, especially if he is black. In the news business, the O.J. Simpson case was the Superbowl of news stories.
The Internet has vastly improved possibilities for persons to be well-informed. The Internet hasn’t changed, however, the fundamentals of the news business.
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