Criminal Behaviour. Wearing Masks. You Do the Math.

Update, May 7: The headline and intro paragraph to the article has been changed since the writing of this post. While the phrasing has been toned down, the message remains appalling. Further still, the fact they rephrased it but kept the direction of the story the same shows that they felt this was necessary to report even after flak to change it. Truly baffling decision.

I’m on vacation right now.

Well that’s not entirely true. I’m writing this while in Edinburgh, Scotland, but I’m doing online summer school classes that started the first day I got here. So I’m mostly on vacation. I mentioned in last week’s edition of The Catch that I’d be taking a break. That was, at least, until CTV decided to publish possibly the worst article I’ve seen this year (so far).

What I don’t mean, is in terms of vileness, like the latest reporting of the killing of Jordan Neely by big outlets like the New York Times. That’s obviously far worse. But in terms of target, writing and sourcing, this one is the most blatantly egregious.

For some reason, CTV News and reporter Shannon Paterson felt the need to shame those who still wear masks by openly associating the wearing of masks with criminality. Here’s the lede:

While mask wearing has all but disappeared at most Metro Vancouver shops and restaurants, security experts say there is one group that’s still consistently donning them: criminals.

Well that sure is a shock, criminals wear masks! Do you wear a mask? ARE YOU A CRIMINAL?

The lede is made infinitely worse by having one of the sources they interview contradict the lede within the piece that is presumably meant to support the lede. “‘It is certainly tougher now because so many people are wearing masks,’ said Michael Jagger with Provident Security.” So are criminals the only group consistently wearing masks? Or are criminals blending into a masked crowd? Which is it?

That’s only the beginning of the issues with this story. There are plenty of others. The only two sources are described as being “with” Provident Security in one case and Paladin Security in the other. James Blight was hired by Paladin to be their “expert” Director, while Michael Jagger is the founder and CEO of Provident. This is not mentioned in the piece. There are no statistics, no comments from store managers, customers, COVID experts… nothing.

So what are the “expert” comments? Blight said “I’m sure it’s to aid in their ability to do what they want to do” when “people who are up to no good” wear masks. He added that medical masks help obscure their identity “when they want to do something criminal.” There is no evidence cited to support these claims by either Blight or Paterson.

Then comes the most frustrating passage.

There is a separate criminal code charge for committing a crime while concealing ones identity.

“If you commit a crime while you’re disguised, it is worse on the eyes of the law than if you commit a crime when you’re not disguised. But because of the normalization of medical masks, I don’t think we are going to see that pursued by Crown,“ said Blight.

Put aside the fact that this quote is a visual train-wreck with no new information. What is the law? It’s not mentioned in the article. I found it easily though, Criminal Code (R.S.C., 1985, c. C-46) Section 351 (2): “Every person who, with intent to commit an indictable offence, has their face masked or coloured or is otherwise disguised is guilty of (a) an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than 10 years; or (b) an offence punishable on summary conviction.” Maybe when writing this, this citation could have served better than that mess of a quote.

This whole assertion that criminals are intentionally wearing masks to obscure their identity, by the way, is pure speculation. Neither Blight nor Paterson provide any evidence that mask-use is used disproportionately by criminals. In fact, the only mention of criminal behaviour by people wearing masks is an incident in Richmond where two men wearing masks attempted to steal bags from customers at a restaurant.

Note I said attempted. These men did not actually manage to steal anything. According to the Daily Hive: “Ultimately, the attempted messenger bag heist from this Richmond restaurant was unsuccessful.” This one failed incident, apparently, prompted CTV to publish a story immediately associating mask-wearing with criminal behaviour. Is this a joke?

Jagger’s comments, meanwhile, disregard the question of mask-wearing altogether. “[T]he behaviour that you’re looking for in a store or in a restaurant, with or without a mask- acting in a suspicious way, lingering around in a different way,” said Jagger.

The end of the article quickly shifts into tips to protect yourself from robbery and advising stores and restaurants to combat theft through customer service.

This story is almost the textbook definition of poor quality. The lede is contradicted by one of the sources, and the other source does not provide any evidence to support the claim. Not only that, but these two are representatives of private security companies. Their profit model relies on contracting out security services. By inferring a rise in criminal behaviour by those wearing masks, this article is actually serving to raise the perception that security is needed. Are motives of interviewees not even considered when writing this story?

It’s frankly a dangerously irresponsible move to associate mask-wearing with theft three years into this pandemic. Not only does it further stigmatize taking precautions to prevent plague, it adds into the panicked narrative about theft in stores. Recently, a man who assaulted a black woman for alleged theft from a TJ Maxx is framed as a “good samaritan” and a San Francisco security guard who shot a shoplifter dead will receive no charges from prosecutors. This is the climate in which this story is being released, claiming criminals are wearing masks and stealing from businesses. Tone-deaf to the point of intention.

This is genuinely the worst story I’ve seen. I’m now going to try and return to my vacation(ish). Hopefully I can wash out the terrible taste this article left in my mouth with some local Scottish whiskey. Maybe if I’m lucky I’ll blackout and wake up in a better world.