Dirt, theft and the homeless: how San Francisco became the scapegoat among US cities and why only it is criticized

San Francisco has a serious image problem, reports SFGATE.

Photo: Shutterstock

It's not just the conservative media that speak negatively about the city.

The New York Times, The Economist, and even British publications such as The Independent and Sunday Times have published recent articles on San Francisco, ranging from highly visible housing problems to shoplifting.

“Why San Francisco City Government Is So Ineffective,” reads the Economist headline.

“Crime in San Francisco is mostly legal,” reads another Daily Mail headline. Meanwhile, the New York Times just published a story saying that "shoplifting has gotten out of control in San Francisco, causing some chain stores to close."

Ian Davis, a professor of media studies at the University of California, Berkeley, said: “Yes, San Francisco's progressive image in the American consciousness makes it a prime target for conservative criticism. It often serves as a symbol of liberal or democratic politics."

Indeed, a cursory search of Fox News headlines over the past week reveals an obvious coverage bias.

"San Francisco Families No Longer 'Feel Safe' Hire Private Security Guards in Era of Rampant Crime," read one headline published last week. On the same day, an article was published on the media website: “San Francisco prosecutors have left the office of progressive District Attorney Chesa Boudin.”

Davis cited a 2019 Fox News article on the homelessness crisis as biased: “In the summer of 2019, Fox News embarked on an ambitious project to chronicle progressive homelessness policies in four West Coast cities: Seattle, San Francisco, Los... Angeles and Portland, Oregon,” reads a note at the top of the story.

“All fair criticisms of the failure of housing policy aside, the Fox article frames the issue as a failure of the Democrats and the progressive ideology that San Francisco has come to symbolize in the American imagination,” he said.

“Stories like this use the city as a symbol of progressive political failure,” he continued. -The city is a character in the story that confirms the correctness of conservative policies. The selective quotes also allow the reader to see the problem of homelessness through the eyes of those who are inconvenienced and uncomfortable by the "scary" people on the streets."

The problem of media bias is a historical issue.

Davis said that until the 1980s, "Americans lived in an environment with limited media choice" and that "it had its benefits because Americans were talking about the major issues we faced as a nation."

“Scientists and journalists can identify something like a single core public debate,” he explained.

But in today's media environment with a wide choice of media, a paradox has arisen.

“The diversity of viewpoints available should have been more democratic and empowering, but an environment of wide media choice has paradoxically allowed us to insulate ourselves from opposing views and information,” Davis said.

Twentieth-century journalists considered the news "a kind of school, offering information for the development of meaningful voting and self-government," he said, noting that "the 21st century has changed the role of news in public life."

“The metaphor of school has given way to another metaphor: church. Americans increasingly use news as a way to support a shared ideological belief, he said. — Conservatives look to Tucker Carlson to validate Nancy Pelosi's evil and worry about the dangers of "creeping socialism." MSNBC viewers are tuning in to find out if Trump will be charged for the Capitol riot after Biden is elected.”

“In many ways, our news choices are our worldview choices,” he continued. — Believers do not go to church to learn something new about what happened to Jesus. They participate in a community that shares common values.”

In an interview with SFGATE, Sam Singer, one of San Francisco's leading communications strategists, approached the issue of San Francisco's image from a PR perspective. A former journalist, Singer has worked with Chevron, Airbnb, Disney and the San Francisco Chronicle.

“Perception is reality,” he said.

Singer believes that San Francisco's image in the media and beyond "falls somewhere between The Wire (an American television police drama) and Squid Game" (a South Korean survival/action-adventure/thriller web series) and drama)".

“San Francisco has a deep and serious image and reputation problem,” he said. “In fact, I would say the city is in crisis mode.”

Singer said the publicized corruption concerns at the City Hall and the San Francisco Building Inspection Department are helping to bolster the city's reputation.

He noted what he called the city's reluctance to arrest and prosecute criminals, leading to viral videos of thieves fleeing Walgreens with their loot or breaking through Neiman-Marcus with stolen designer wallets.

Singer also said that the city's housing crisis, as evidenced by the apparent number of homeless people, makes San Francisco inhospitable for both tourists and locals.

“You're looking at a city that is beyond a pandemic, that is experiencing a pandemic of mental health, drug abuse, crime and corruption. And the city needs to start solving these problems, otherwise it will fall further and further behind,” he said.

Jennifer Friedenbach, executive director of the San Francisco Coalition on the Homeless, spoke out against Singer.

“Homelessness is not PR,” she said. - This is a problem of poverty. This is a racism problem. And this is a problem of disability and homophobia. These are huge systemic problems that need to be fixed.”

For Friedenbach, the question is not necessarily why San Francisco has such a serious problem of homelessness, but why such a wealthy city has such a serious level of poverty.

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While viral videos like the ones mentioned above rekindle perceptions of the rise in crime in San Francisco, that's not exactly what the crime statistics show.

At a July press conference, San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott noted that there are few cases of rape, robbery and theft in San Francisco.

The number of homicides and aggravated assaults was fairly stable between 2015 and 2021, but the number of victims of gun violence in 2021 almost doubled from the previous two years.

With regard to crimes related to cars, including burglaries and thefts, their number has increased compared to 2020. Scott also noted that the number of burglaries in general increased in 2020 and 2021.

“There’s a lot of misinformation in San Francisco,” Scott said. “But at the end of the day, we have to use this data to make decisions about our policies and our investments.”

Rising crime is not just a problem in San Francisco.

New York and Los Angeles, among others, also saw a spike in crime during the pandemic, according to local media and police reports.

But for many, the question still remains of how San Francisco is fixing its image.

As a public relations expert, Singer believes the city must first acknowledge its problems.

“Anyone in communications, PR, reputation management or crisis communications will not try to advise you to hide these problems,” he said. “You have a problem and you must act.”

He said he would ask the mayor to “declare a crisis not only on the streets of San Francisco, but also with regard to theft and petty crime.”

The city also needs to strengthen "accountability for the reporting of city agencies and nonprofits" and develop not only a more effective communications plan, but also an operational plan, Singer said.

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All major cities have problems, sometimes very noticeable ones.

But as those of us who live here know, these issues go far beyond PR. Whether San Francisco can correct its image to reflect the reality of life here, time will tell. The problem, Friedenbach noted, is entrenched.

“I think San Francisco is being used as a symbol of a progressive, left-wing city by conservative circles that are greatly exaggerating the situation here,” she said.

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