The astonishing lack of coverage comes at a time when rates of violent crime and homicides continue to rise in cities across the U.S.
Mainstream networks ABC, CBS and NBC largely ignored the Sunday shooting of a 21-year-old Marine caught in a crossfire in Times Square, dedicating almost no time covering the violent incident in their Monday morning and evening news reports.
According to an analysis by NewsBusters, CBS and NBC completely avoided the Sunday shooting of the man visiting the tourist hotpot with his family, while ABC dedicated a mere 20 seconds in its evening report.
In addition to the nearly non-existent coverage, the analysis also found the networks failed to mention that 23 people in New York City were shot in 19 different shootings over the weekend.
The lack of coverage comes as rates of violent crime and homicides continue to rise in cities across the U.S., especially in New York City where shooting incidents have increased 53.2% year-to-date, and murders have increased 13.3% year-to-date, according to NYPD crime data through the week ending June 20.
NYC TIMES SQUARE SHOOTING LEAVES TOURIST HOSPITALIZED, SUSPECTS AT LARGE
The violent crime spike has become a hot political topic amid support by some Democrats for movements aimed at defunding the police to instead invest in more social programs.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., appeared to cast doubt on the statistics showing a significant rise in crime across the country when she told fellow Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., in a recent Zoom meeting that concerns over the numbers amounted to "hysteria."
New York City mayoral candidates Curtis Sliwa, R-Staten Island, and Eric Adams, D-Brooklyn, have both vowed to tackle rising crime rates in the city. Neither of the men is a stranger to fighting crime, as Adams is a former police captain, and Sliwa is the founder of the Guardian Angels, a group formed in the 1970s to combat crime waves in the city that still operates today.