Newspaper Coverage of African American Civil Disorders : A Content Analysis

Newspaper Coverage of African American Civil Disorders : A Content Analysis

&nbsp;&nbsp;Media coverage of African Americans in both routine and civil disorder situations has been criticized in the study. Historically, the former has been limited and the latter has been establishment-oriented and failed to delve into issues behind such disorders. The study examined American newspaper coverage of the Los Angeles and related riots. It found some differences in coverage by newspaper, these differences are likely result of geographical location of the papers.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;For the four newspapers together, it found that coverage was considerable. Also, it found that topics such as the actual riot and law enforcement and government received the most coverage, while the cause of the riots received the least. The enhanced coverage of less favored groups during extremist behavior and the lack of coverage of causes is possibly the result of news values such as timeliness and proximity and routines of news production such as deadlines.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;But ideological factors may also be responsible. While news values and routines might dictate the focus on event coverage which in turn implies individual blame, the status quo orientation of the press may make it avoid the issue stories because such stories are more likely to assign system blame.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;It is clear that the results of the analysis supports and likely to prolong the lingering arguments that manifest or latent journalistic discrimination against racial minorities remains.