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The way recent crimes in Oakland Chinatown has been covered by media (broadly-speaking) is partly bc of decline in local journalism, which has been happening for decades. My first journalism job was at the (now shuttered) Oakland Tribune; part of my beat was covering Chinatown.
I was hired in 2005, back when newsrooms were starting to shrink. My geographic beats included Chinatown, Lake Merritt, and Oakland Hills. Later, it included Asian American issues/communities. I was very lucky to have such focused beats.
This type of job, and the paper, no longer exist. Media conglomerates continued to buy out small, local newspapers (and they would often sell to other investors/companies). The companies did not care about journalism or the local communities.
I'm not saying I covered Chinatown stories every day, nor am I suggesting that I did a good job (I think I did pretty ok!). I'm just saying that there at least was a reporter there to cover stories more regularly, not just go to Chinatown, write about it, and then leave.
I will add that there was at least a handful of very dedicated Chinese-language media reporters (print and TV) who I would often run into in the community, and they also covered issues and events outside of Chinatown.
And basically, what I said about Chinatown is true of other neighborhoods that are now no longer being covered regularly bc of shrinking newsrooms. We have mostly regional newspapers now. Again, the reporters/photographers at places like East Bay Times are super talented.
I guess this is a tiny plea to pay attention to local reporting and news, and also, support the local outlets like East Bay Times, @Oaklandside, & @OaklandVoices, where I work, where we train community journalists.
