[Wamvan] Help with article research for sexual assault rates for Vancouver?

Tue Jun 7 14:22:50 PDT 2011

Hi again; 

Sunday is best for me, if possible. 

k 

----- Original Message -----
From: "Joanna Chiu" <chiu.joanna5 at gmail.com> 
To: wamvan at lists.resist.ca 
Cc: "Katie Raso" <kar4 at sfu.ca>, "Katie Nordgren" <tweak23 at gmail.com> 
Sent: Tuesday, 7 June, 2011 14:16:38 
Subject: Re: [Wamvan] Help with article research for sexual assault rates for Vancouver? 

That's fabulous! 

Thanks for the replies, Katie and Jenny. Would you like to set up a time to meet in person to decide on the focus of the article, where we'd like to pitch it, and divvy up writing/research responsibilities? We could probably get the article ready pretty quickly with three of us working together. 

Natalie, and everyone else on this list, are you interested in contributing as well? 

This week, I'm free on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday to meet up. I'm open to talking on skype as well if it won't be possible to match up our schedules, but talking in person would probably be better. 

Joanna 

On Tue, Jun 7, 2011 at 2:25 PM, Jenny Tsundu < jenny.tsundu at gmail.com > wrote: 

Hi Joanna, and fellow WAM! members- 

Sounds like this could be a really interesting and important story. I'd love to help anyone look into this. 

For those of you who don't know me yet, my name is Jenny and I've been the coordinator of the Investigative Team at the Ubyssey (UBC's student paper) for the past year. Joanna actually helped me get my start in journalism in my first year at UBC, when she was coordinator of the Investigative Team, and I was a member. 

I was at the WAM! Conference in March, and have been following these threads with great interest for the past few months. I'm nowhere near as familiar with some of these issues as some of you are though, and would love to collaborate with anyone else on this story! 

Cheers, 
Jenny 

On Tue, Jun 7, 2011 at 12:28 PM, Joanna Chiu < chiu.joanna5 at gmail.com > wrote: 

<blockquote>
Is anyone interested in writing this article or co-authoring it with me? I'm already behind on a couple of stories, and I won't be able to get this out in a timely manner on my own. 

If you are interested in writing the article youself, I could help with research, pitching, and getting interviews. 

Let me know! 

Joanna 

On Tue, Jun 7, 2011 at 10:18 AM, Natalie Hill < nhill10 at gmail.com > wrote: 

<blockquote>

Here is a story CBC did when the 2009 crime stats were released (in January 2010). They actually reference the spike in sexual assaults in the lead. I found print coverage of this story to be better this way, while TV and radio coverage was abysmal (mostly about how "all violent crime was down"). Unable to find any of the latter at this time. 

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2010/01/20/bc-vancouver-2009-crime-statistics.html 

I've also attached the document from the VPD website on 2010 crime stats (released earlier this year). Interestingly, when you look up the press release and document for the 2009 crime rates on the VPD website (the report that shows a 20% increase), it comes up in illegible internet-coding mumble jumble (or at least it is for me on this computer). Not formulating a conspiracy theory about it or anything.... just sayin'. 

Here is a link to another release/report they did sexual assaults specifically, September 2010: 
http://vpdreleases.icontext.com/2010/09/27/sexual-assault-statistics-report/ . Report in full is also attached. This report attempts to accurately reflect actually occurring rates of sexual assault (rather than just the reported ones) - I don't understand how this is impossible. It also gives a summary of very small increases in sexual assault from 2008 to 2010 (it says the "bottom line: up 6%/9%"), but if you read the report in full, sexual assaults went up 40%, even 50% in some areas of Vancouver (DTES and Kits/Fairview respectively). 

It would be Interesting to find out how many sexual offences are hidden by being lumped into the category of the more "serious" offence (like robbery or murder). From what I understand rapes and sexual assaults often go unrecorded when police and the legal system put another crime as priority. 

On Wed, Jun 1, 2011 at 3:43 AM, Joanna Chiu < chiu.joanna5 at gmail.com > wrote: 

<blockquote>

Hi everyone, 

I've heard that the latest crime report shows that rates of sexual assault in Vancouver have increased more than 20% but after Googling, I can't find any articles on the subject. Has anyone seen anything on the rise in sexual assault in Vancouver? 

Someone has also mentioned to me that the media has downplayed the rise in sexual assault by reporting that "major crimes" have gone down in Vancouver (not counting rape as a major crime). Any examples of particularly bad media coverage? 

I'm hoping to write a media critique. 

Thanks! 

Joanna 

-- 

Joanna Chiu 

Freelance Writer 
joannachiu.com 
twitter.com/joannachiu 

Organizer, WAM! Vancouver 
wamvancouver.wordpress.com 
twitter.com/wamvancity 

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_______________________________________________ 
Wamvan mailing list 
Wamvan at lists.resist.ca 
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</blockquote>

-- 

Joanna Chiu 

Freelance Writer 
joannachiu.com 
twitter.com/joannachiu 

Organizer, WAM! Vancouver 
wamvancouver.wordpress.com 
twitter.com/wamvancity 

_______________________________________________ 
Wamvan mailing list 
Wamvan at lists.resist.ca 
https://lists.resist.ca/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/wamvan 

</blockquote>

-- 
Jenny Tsundu 

_______________________________________________ 
Wamvan mailing list 
Wamvan at lists.resist.ca 
https://lists.resist.ca/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/wamvan 

</blockquote>

-- 

Joanna Chiu 

Freelance Writer 
joannachiu.com 
twitter.com/joannachiu 

Organizer, WAM! Vancouver 
wamvancouver.wordpress.com 
twitter.com/wamvancity 

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