Identifier

etd-11172010-142309

Degree

Master of Mass Communication (MMC)

Department

Mass Communication

Document Type

Thesis

Abstract

Research of crime news suggests that Blacks are over represented as criminals when compared to crime reports; study of race and crime judgments reveals that viewers with heavy amounts of television news viewing associate Blacks with crime more often than viewers who watch lower amounts of television news. Further complicating the perception of Blacks is their lack of diversified coverage in the news. Most coverage of Blacks frames them as liabilities to their communities, while offering few positive depictions to counter the Black criminality frame. The Internet may aid in exacerbating stereotypes of Blacks by allowing users to selectively expose themselves to more crime news than they would receive from traditional media. Prior studies of race and crime coverage have analyzed Chicago, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia news. The current study seeks to reveal if Baton Rouge, Louisiana’s local news websites present an accurate reflection of the crime committed in Baton Rouge and endeavors to reveal the amount of positive, counteractive depictions of Blacks present on such websites.

Date

2010

Document Availability at the Time of Submission

Release the entire work immediately for access worldwide.

Committee Chair

Sanders, Meghan

DOI

10.31390/gradschool_theses.3958

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