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MEDIA COVERAGE OF 1992 L.A. RIOT.
Term Paper ID:25809
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Essay Subject:
Critical analysis of bias & shallowness of media in its reporting of riots following acquittal of police charged with beating Rodney King.... More...
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8 Pages / 1800 Words
10 sources, 12 Citations,
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Paper Abstract:
Critical analysis of bias & shallowness of media in its reporting of riots following acquittal of police charged with beating Rodney King.
Paper Introduction:
This study will examine the media coverage of the 1992 riots in Los Angeles following the acquittal of the police officers charged with beating Rodney King. The thesis of the study will be that the media was biased in its coverage of the riots, and that that bias was based on racial stereotyping.
The sources consulted for this study indicate clearly that there was substantial bias in the coverage of the rioting. That bias involved reporters' assignments, the power over who wrote the words of the stories filed, the description of the rioting and its participants, and, most importantly, an almost total absence of meaningful analysis of the deeper socioeconomic issues which gave rise to the rioting.
Ishmael Reed, in Airing Dirty Laundry, posits the theory that the media is rife with subtle and not-so-subtle racial bias
Text of the Paper:
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When riots followed the [first Rodney King] verdict, television and print reporters documented the violence from the streets, but failed to put the upheaval in the context of the social and economic problems of the city's disadvantaged. . The award speaks volumes for the attitude of the mediatoward the riots. include observations that were not made by the number of op-ed pieces that blamed the whole thing on blacks (Joe Klein's Newsweek carried the incendiary cover BLACK VS. when a group of African-American men came after him with axes and pipes, threatening his life and stealing all his camera equipment and his truck. While one white reporter notes that he wanted to kill hisattackers, a black reporter is able to keep in mind the deeper causes ofthe rioting: Some of the reporters who were chased or beaten express sympathy for their attackers; others don't. 18.Reed, Ishmael. July-August 1992, p, 23.Paterno, Susan. Very few media outlets commented about white participation in the riots. Ishmael Reed, in Airing Dirty Laundry, posits the theory that themedia is rife with subtle and not-so-subtle racial bias in general, andthat this bias emerged blatantly during the riots: My comments about the Los Angeles riots . . Part of the problem of bias in the coverage of the riots, withrespect to the crucial underlying socioeconomic causes of the frustration,powerlessness and rage which led to that rioting, is simply the nature oftelevision itself, and television is today the primary media force. . The study suggests, clearly and tragically, that little if anythingchanged in the media's biased coverage of and attitudes toward theparticipants in or the causes behind the uprisings from 1965 to 1992. New York: Random House, 1997.Coffey, Shelby, ed. San Francisco: Jossey- Bass,1996.O'Neill, Stephanie. Reporters for the New York Times and the Atlanta Journal andConstitution report in the Baird article that they either witnessed orexperienced the same bias in writing assignments with respect to the riots. Reed argues in the paragraph above and elsewhere that much suchstereotyping is indeed a result of laziness and habit. . "Coverage Complaints." Editor & Publisher. August 15, 1992, p. Blue Dreams. "That Special Perspective They Say They Want."Columbia Journalism Review. Haywood Galbreath . That Commission came to conclusions which reflect a continuingmedia bias in favor of whites and against blacks. The charges of bias in media coverage on the reporting side of theequation includes the claim that stories were altered from the blackreporters' actual writing to the words and ideas of the editors: One of only four blacks permanently assigned to the downtown newsroom of the [Los Angeles] Times' 112-member metro staff, [Andrea] Ford says that even though black reporters were given bylines during the riot, they didn't get to write the stories. . New York: Addison-Wesley, 1993.Stein, M.L. Finally,those who decide what stories go out through the media, and how thosestories are written, and the slant and wording and intent of those stories,are white, while the reporters sent into the rioting are black. Official Negligible. Cambridge: Harvard U P, 1995.Baird, Lisa G. 27.Cannon, Lou. This award, again, was given by amedia organization after the riots, implying that the riot was solely theresult of the verdict and had nothing to do with long-fermentingsocioeconomic issues about which the white members of the Simi Valley knewlittle or nothing. Lou Cannon, in Official Negligence, faults the media for its lack ofresponsibility in reporting the rioting: "The televised scenes of violenceadvertised to criminals that the LAPD would not stand in their way andalmost certainly fanned the spread of the riots" (Cannon 3 7). Themedia continues to be run by whites who fail to understand thesocioeconomic conditions underlying the frustration and rage that give riseto rioting. Sept. Airing Dirty Laundry. is one of several African-American journalists who were targeted by rioters. . Lisa Baird, in "That Special Perspective They say They Want," fromColumbia Journalism Review, writes that the bias demonstrated in thecoverage of the riots extended not only to the subjects of that coverage(i.e., the participants in the rioting themselves) but also to themanipulation of those covering the riots as well; Many blacks who covered the Los Angeles riots found the experience frustrating on many levels: at being sent out on the story only because they're black; at being called on to do the "street reporting" but not to write the analytical stories that followed the breaking news; and at the dearth of black editors in positions to shape the coverage, which many felt led to a focus on the rioting and concern that it be stopped rather than on the verdict and other factors that caused the outbreak (Baird 27). . Thepower of televised images of violence is so powerful that, had there been arunning commentary on the socioeconomic causes of the riots, while theimages of burning buildings and beatings and looting ran across the screen,the images would have dominated and the commentary would not have even beenheard by most viewers of the events. The media successfully squeezed this complex social catastrophe into their flat and lazy White Hats/Black Hats perspective (Reed xiii). (Paterno 18). Some black reporters said that their words were changed to alter themeaning which they intended in their stories: "For instance, Lynne Duke ofthe Los Angeles Times told the NABJ study that her references to a'rebellion' were changed by an editor to civil disturbances" (Fitzgerald2 ). The sources consulted for this study indicate clearly that there wassubstantial bias in the coverage of the rioting. Mark Fitzgerald, in "Coverage Complaints: L.A. "Get the Hell Out of Here!" Columbia JournalismReview. The police officers were white. "You would bring in your stuff and white people would write the stories,' she says. Susan Paterno, in "Under Fire," from Editor & Publisher, zeroes in onthe most important aspect of the bias in the coverage of the riots. Understanding the Riots. In other words, thereadership of major metropolitan media outlets have expectations which arebased on race (i.e., that blacks are responsible for much if not most crimeand were therefore responsible for most of the rioting--along, of course,with Mexican-Americans). "It makes a difference who writes the story" (Baird 27). . The Los Angeles Times-published Understanding the Riots displays thebias of the paper, or at least the bias of those whoproduced the book, which is full of photographs of destruction andprimarily angry blacks taking part in such destruction. riots offered many Southern California residents their first glimpse of the "inner city" in their midst and confirmed many of their worst suspicions about its violent nature (Abelmann and Lie 92- 93). Nancy Abelmann and John Lie, in Blue Dreams, write that there was atremendous disparity between the actual socioeconomic causes of the riotingand the primary images sent out by the media to the rest of the country andthe world, and even to residents of the Los Angeles area unfamiliar withthat part of their city. These complaints are not frivolous, but instead go to the heart ofthe issues of power and socioeconomic differences which led to therebellion in the first place. 7.----------------------- 1 Riot CoverageAssignments Frustrated Black Reporters," from Editor & Publisher, writesthat because black reporters had their reports "slighted or ignored," andbecause white-written stories emphasized black participation in therioting, "most newspapers were slow to note the large numbers of Hispanicrioters and looters; 'broad generalizations' were made about looters; andblack-Korean tensions were overemphasized" (Fitzgerald 2 ). "Under Fire." Editor & Publisher. "Politicians to Examine Media." Editor & Publisher. Of course, except for the substitution of "African American" or"black" for "Negro," this excerpt from that 1967 report could just as wellhave applied to the media in 1992. . . Jewelle Taylor Gibbs, in Race and Justice, writes that the media'sdesire for sensationalistic fodder for the masses and an inability orunwillingness to describe fairly, fully and accurately the underlyingcauses of the rioting led, in fact, to increased violence and destruction: Definitive accounts of both the Watts riots in 1965 and the South Central riots in 1992 have severely criticized the print and broadcast media for their roles in publicizing the looting and arson as they happened, inciting others to join in, spreading rumors that inflamed the community, and presenting very biased views of the causes and consequences of the riots (Gibbs 274). M.L. This study will examine the media coverage of the 1992 riots in LosAngeles following the acquittal of the police officers charged with beatingRodney King. Galbreath says that while he felt "frustrated" at being attacked by other African-Americans, he nevertheless understood their anger at the media, which he says presents and emphasizes "the white point of view" (O'Neill 23). Works CitedAbelmann, Nancy, and John Lie. One fascinating aspect of the rioting and the roles and attitudes ofmedia reporters is examined by Stephanie O'Neill in "Get the Hell Out ofHere!" from Columbia Journalism Review. . However, Reed also notes that the media at timesexpressed a deeper, more insidious racist approach to the trial that led upto riots: A professional media organization recently gave an award to a magazine that endorsed the Simi Valley jury's acquittal of Rodney King's tormentors, because, according to the organization, that took courage (Reed 3). The thesis of the study will be that the media was biased inits coverage of the riots, and that that bias was based on racialstereotyping. . 19,1998, p, 2 .Gibbs, Jewelle Taylor. WHITES). In other words, in the face of the threat or perceived threat fromthe black community, the white jury showed courage in acquitting a group ofarmed white police officers in the vicious beating of an unarmed black maneven when he was prostrate on the ground. While "South Central Los Angeles . Reed's argument is supported by the other sources consulted for thisstudy. Stein, in "Politicians to Examine Media," from Editor &Publisher, notes the formation of a political committee to examine newscoverage of the rioting and recalls the findings of the 1967 KernerCommission. July25, 1998, p. Of course, Cannon's own book displays bias, as one sees in his choiceof the word "criminals," a choice which clearly indicates his view thatacts of looting, vandalism, etc., are the crucial factors in understandingthe response to the verdicts, rather than any deeper underlyingsocioeconomic causes. Thataspect is the set of underlying socioeconomic, legal, and political issueswhich frustrate many members of minorities, and especially blacks, everyday, and lead many of them to conclude that they are powerless victims of asociety run by and for whites: The mainstream media were unprepared for the May riots in Los Angeles and were unable to explain the violence except in superficial--often ignorant and inaccurate--terms. Galbreath was shooting photos . That bias involvedreporters' assignments, the power over who wrote the words of the storiesfiled, the description of the rioting and its participants, and, mostimportantly, an almost total absence of meaningful analysis of the deepersocioeconomic issues which gave rise to the rioting. O'Neill writes that both white andblack reporters were victims of the rioting, some being robbed, othersbeing beaten. . The suggestion is that the reporters were moreimportant than the victims or the socioeconomic causes underlying therioting. This biased work isprefaced with a self-congratulatory note from the editor of the paper onthat paper's reporting of the rioting, and a note of thanks to the bravereporters who covered it. ranks with[New York City's South Bronx and Chicago's South Side] as a symbol of urbandecay," the extensive media coverage of the area during the L.A. . Race and Justice. Los Angeles: Los AngelesTimes, 1992.Fitzgerald, Mark. The 1967 findings "scoredboth newspapers and broadcast stations for 'not communicating to theiraudience--which is white--a sense of the degradation, misery, andhopelessness of living in the ghetto." In addition, "When the white pressdoes refer to Negroes and Negro problems, it frequently does so as ifNegroes were not part of the audience" (Stein 7). July-August 1992, p. Those in power who adjudged the policeofficers not guilty were white.
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