Douglasville Patch launched in 2010 and focuses on countywide news and extensive crime coverage.

The other is that competitive organizational pressures in the news business are responsible for the waxing and waning of crime coverage.

And not just crime coverage.

A review of crime coverage seemed to indicate that journalists' frustration has translated into fewer articles on crimes.

Excessive crime coverage, he added, gives viewers a warped view of reality, making them distrustful, fearful of society, and dulled to violence.

A suburban Grosse Pointe matron suggests an innovation in crime coverage.

"More and more the private press is throwing itself into sports and crime coverage," Mr. Karimou said resignedly.

The two other victims worked with magazines specializing in sensational crime coverage.

"But we've been on an orgy of crime coverage for years now in this city."

For the final article, Mr. Dyer wrote about race relations among his co-workers and their perceptions of how race affected the crime coverage.