The portrayal of race and crime on television network news

Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, Dec, 2003 by Travis L. Dixon, Cristina L. Azocar, Michael Casas

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Critics and scholars have suggested that local news programming misrepresents crime as rampant and people of color as criminals (Dixon & Linz, 2000a, 2000b; Entman, 1992, 1994; Entman & Rojecki, 2000; Gilliam, Iyengar, Simon, & Wright, 1996; Romer, Jamieson, & de Coteau, 1998). Several studies have concluded that exposure to this distorted portrayal of crime and race on local news reinforces the stereotype that people of color have a propensity towards violence and criminal behavior (Gilens, 1999; Gilliam & Iyengar, 1998; Gilliam et al., 1996; Johnson, Adams, Hall, & Ashburn, 1997; Oliver & Fonash, 2002; Peffley, Shields, & Williams, 1996). The bulk of this prior research found that African Americans are most likely to be linked with criminality and that coverage of African American law-breaking is most likely to affect viewers' notions regarding social policy (Gilliam & Iyengar, 1998; Valentino, 1999). Although this past work appears to offer empirical support for the notion that African Americans are unduly associated with criminality on local news programs, very little research has been done on the extent to which similar portrayals may or may not occur on network news. A number of prior studies have dealt with the extent to which network news links race to social policies such as welfare (Gilens, 1996; Iyengar, 1991). However, there has been a dearth of attention paid to whether network news overrepresents African Americans as criminals while underrepresenting them in more sympathetic roles such as victims and officers. This study is an attempt to address this issue.

A content analysis was designed to ascertain whether television network news programs present crime in such a way as to perpetuate misrepresentations or distortions of African Americans' propensity towards criminality in society. A random sample of four years of network programming is drawn and three indices of law-breaking portrayals are utilized in order to investigate this issue. Below, the literature dealing with prior studies of law-breaking and race on local news is reviewed. Afterwards, the prior work that has addressed network news and racial depictions is discussed. Following this, the potential psychological impact of race and crime portrayals featured on network news is outlined. This discussion is followed by an overview of the indices used in the current investigation. Finally, the research questions addressed by this study are presented.

Prior Studies of Local News Programs and Race

Recently, a number of studies have been conducted that investigate the role of local news programming in portraying people of color as criminals (Dixon & Linz, 2000a, 2000b; Entman, 1992; Romer et al., 1998). For example, Dixon and Linz (2000a) found that African Americans were twice as likely as whites to be portrayed as perpetrators of crime on local television news. Furthermore, African Americans were more likely to appear as perpetrators than as officers on the news while the opposite was true of Whites. In addition, African Americans were overrepresented as perpetrators on local news in comparison to crime reports. Entman's (1992) study found that African Americans were more likely than whites to have mug shots displayed on local television news and were more likely than Whites to be handcuffed on local news programs. Dixon and Linz (2002) have also provided some evidence that African American defendants are more likely than white defendants to have prejudicial pretrial information aired about them on local news programs. Prejudicial information has been found in prior work to bias juries against defendants (Davis, 1986; Dexter, Cutler, & Moran, 1992; Frasca, 1988; Imrich, Mullin, & Linz, 1995; Moran & Cutler, 1991).

In addition, prior work has demonstrated that Whites are typically relegated to either positive or benign roles on local television news. Romer et al. (1998) and Dixon and Linz (2000b) found that Whites were overrepresented as homicide victims in comparison to crime reports. Whites were also more likely to appear as victims than as perpetrators in the news while the opposite was true of African Americans. Furthermore, Oliver (1994) and Dixon and Linz (2000a) have demonstrated that Whites are overrepresented as police officers on local television news and reality-based programming in comparison to employment records.

In summary, prior work on racial representations of crime on local television news revealed two fairly consistent findings. First, African Americans are typically relegated to a depiction as perpetrators while being underrepresented as officers and victims. Second, Whites are usually overrepresented as officers and victims on local television news. Nevertheless, none of this prior work addresses race and crime portrayals on network news. Understanding these portrayals may be important because: a) network news enjoys a national audience, b) network news has a more prestigious reputation than local television news, and c) network news has more resources with which to cover news stories thoroughly (Gilens, 1996; Graber, 1980; Heider, 2000). In addition, misrepresentation on network news may create a more powerful influence on viewers than the same sorts of misrepresentation on local television news because it may be seen as a more credible source of information (Graber, 1980; Graber, 1988).