Chapter 9
Media Framing in Black and White: The Construction of Black Male Identity
Candice Norwood
The Real Michael Brown
It started with what easily could have become a routine crime story. Just after noon on Saturday, August 9, 2014, shots rang out in Ferguson, Missouri, a predominantly African American, St. Louis suburb of about 21,000 residents. Eighteen-year-old Michael Brown lay face down in a pool of blood outside 2947 Canfield Drive, killed by Officer Darren Wilson of the Ferguson Police Department. Video captured by witnesses at the scene showed that Brown’s motionless body remained in plain view on the street until 4 p.m. Within hours of the shooting, residents of Ferguson began to protest, attracting the attention of local news organizations, soon followed by national and international outlets. Protests began peacefully, with marches, music, and demands for justice. But a candlelight vigil the night after Brown’s death quickly escalated into violence; looters vandalized dozens of neighborhood shops and set a QuikTrip convenience store on fire.
By the Tuesday after Brown’s death, this average American town became the stage for the type of conflict most Americans associate with overseas politics. Images of St. Louis County police officers in riot gear aiming assault rifles at peaceful protesters and spraying tear gas into private backyards became fixtures on televisions and computer screens around the world. The question news media and audiences asked was: Who was the real Mike Brown? What events led to the shooting?
As details of the case surfaced, the news media presented different versions of Brown’s identity. As cultural critic Touré Neblett wrote in an op-ed for the New York Times, “An information war is being waged in Ferguson, Mo., each salvo meant to shape public perceptions of Michael Brown and Darren Wilson.”1 Neblett discussed the most common depictions of Michael Brown: The first is the “gentle giant” on his way to begin college and pursue a career in the music industry. A second narrative—fueled by video footage showing Brown participating in the “strong-arm” robbery of cigarillos from a convenience store—characterized Brown as a thug. The third popular media construct was Brown as a drug user. This developed after the St. Louis County medical examiner reported evidence of marijuana in Brown’s system at the time of the shooting.
The news coverage of Michael Brown’s death is a compelling case study through which to identify and analyze techniques commonly used by media to frame African American men. These tactics have been used throughout African American history to construct a stereotypical representation of black male identity. They remain a prevalent part of mainstream media, particularly in recent news coverage of the high-profile police killings of unarmed black men.
A Brief History of Framing Theory and Techniques
The first thorough analysis of framing theory and its effects are attributed to Canadian sociologist Erving Goffman. His highly cited work Frame Analysis says that frames allow people to “locate, perceive, identify, and label” key problems as a way to organize and understand them.2 Since the publication of Frame Analysis, modern scholars have sought to expand on Goffman’s ideas.
One of the prominent voices of modern framing analysis is Robert Entman, professor of media and public affairs at George Washington University. Entman addresses framing as something the media does through a process of “selection and salience.”3 Organizations will select stories or issues that they value and then obscure or ignore certain facts in order to make the issues more salient, or important, to an audience.
To frame is to select some aspects of a perceived reality and make them more salient in a communicating text, in such a way as to promote a particular problem definition, causal interpretation, moral evaluation, and/or treatment recommendation for the item described.4
When used in media, frames come out as several types of biases. Distortion bias applies to news that fabricates or distorts reality. Content bias occurs when a news company fails to present a balanced account of a particular issue and instead favors or overemphasizes one side. Decision-making bias pertains to the mindset and intent of the journalists who create biased content.5
Gail T. Fairhurst and Robert A. Sarr identify five framing techniques in their book The Art of Framing: Managing the Language of Leadership. Though this book was designed as a guide to effective business management, the concepts it uses are applicable to news media framing techniques. Metaphors show likeness between objects. They help to redefine an issue by comparing it to something familiar to audiences. Stories grab attention by making the details of an event or case more tangible. Stories can include myths or legends and are used by the media to frame an issue in a memorable way. Slogans, jargon, and catchphrases enhance the meaning of a subject by attaching it to popular references or ideas. Similar to metaphors, these are specific words that people understand easily, thereby increasing the subject’s value. Contrast can be used to highlight the shortcomings or strengths of a subject by placing it alongside an opposing object. This is perhaps the most prevalent technique used by media and legal teams during controversial criminal cases. The last technique is to spin a subject in a positive or negative way by obscuring certain details.6
News organizations’ long-standing use of these tactics has reinforced widespread perceptions of African American men. Media coverage of the Michael Brown shooting is no exception to this history. As tensions escalated following Brown’s shooting, a battle ensued between the news media, Ferguson police, Ferguson citizens, Brown’s parents, and news audiences to establish an authentic representation.
“Michael Brown Remembered as ‘Gentle Giant’”—St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Aug. 11, 2014)
Two days after Brown’s death, the shock of the shooting captivated audiences and news organizations across the country. One source of frustration for Ferguson citizens was the lack of evidence that could establish a timeline of events leading to Brown’s death. The St. Louis County Police Department, which took over the investigation almost immediately, had yet to file an incident report or name Wilson as the shooting officer. According to police statements to the press at the time, Wilson shot Brown inside the officer’s vehicle after a struggle over the officer’s gun. Several Ferguson witnesses, however, claimed that Brown was several feet away—his hands in the air—when he was shot. News organizations and interested citizens were left to speculate. Which version was the truth? Did a decorated police officer target an innocent black teen? Or did a large, black teenager attack an officer in order to evade arrest?
Michael Brown was 6'4" and weighed more than 250 pounds. He liked to rap in his free time and wear pants that sagged. These facts were critical components of the narratives that played out in the news. Those who favor Wilson’s account used Brown’s size as a way to emphasize his (alleged) propensity to violence. Brown’s family, friends, and supporters, on the other hand, used his size as a way to associate Brown with a common lovable archetype—the gentle giant. The gentle giant is a stock character, a stereotypical figure that reoccurs in literature or pop culture.
Throughout American history black stock character depictions have been used to shape public perception. Many of these depictions fixate on black men’s physical size through the use of a “black brute” caricature. As a way to provoke fear of newly freed black men during the late 19th century, the “brute” caricature portrayed them as large, savage, and animalistic.7 The brute lusted for helpless white women and violently took whatever he desired. The brute was a common subject for Reconstruction-era propaganda following the Civil War, including academic articles and illustrations in popular pulp fiction magazines. These images typically showed a frightened, frail white woman in the clutches of a strong, threatening black man. In the 1910 article “The Relation of the Whites to the Negroes,” American educator George T. Winston painted a frightening image that was common at the time:
When a knock is heard at the door, she [a white, Southern woman] shudders with nameless horror. The black brute is lurking in the dark, a monstrous beast, crazed with lust. His ferocity is almost demoniacal. A mad bull or tiger could scarcely be more brutal. A whole community is frenzied with horror, with blind and furious rage for vengeance.8
Early news coverage also reflected these depictions. A 1916 New York Times headline read: “Armed giant negro goes mad on liner.” A 1922 New York Times article said, “Seize giant negro, hide him for safety.” These associations between black men and the giant, brute character still permeate American society today. We can see evidence of this in Officer Darren Wilson’s own grand jury testimony in November 2014 about his fatal altercation with Brown. “And when I grabbed him, the only way I can describe it is I felt like a 5-year-old holding onto Hulk Hogan,” Wilson said in one part of the testimony. He went on to say that Brown had the “most aggressive, intense face. The only way I can describe it, it looks like a demon, that’s how angry he looked.”9
Wilson’s depiction of the scene is riddled with similar imagery to that of the brute caricature. Whether intentional or not, Wilson’s testimony provides powerful evidence demonstrating that this culture steeped in stereotypical presentations continues to influence people.
The gentle giant is also a pop culture fixture. Though academic scholarship about this particular character is scarce, audiences confront gentle giants regularly in film and literature. Rubeus Hagrid from Harry Potter, King Kong, and John Coffey from Steven Spielberg’s The Green Mile are just a few of countless examples. In these storylines, the giant initially frightens those who cross his path. The giant’s shy disposition and kindness give him humanity and eventually win the hearts of audiences. A battle between the gentle giant archetype and the brute caricature often takes place during cases involving black men.
Eric Garner was a 43-year-old father of six in Staten Island described by a friend as the “neighborhood dad.” Garner, who was illegally selling loose cigarettes, died in July 2014 after a New York City officer put him in a chokehold.10 When a video of Garner’s death went viral, news organizations including the Associated Press, Time, and the Daily Beast detailed Garner’s life as a kind-hearted father trying to make money for his family. Articles discussed his friendships with people on Staten Island, his 25-year relationship with his wife, and his college-bound son.
A similar narrative surfaced in the aftermath of Brown’s shooting. A story published by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch two days after his death introduced the “gentle giant” trope in connection with Brown, describing him as physically striking, but caring. Brown was two days away from beginning classes at Vatterott College, a for-profit training institute. He dreamed of going into the music business and eventually owning his own label.11 Attaching these humanizing details to the “gentle giant” label is a strategy that illustrates Fairhurst and Sarr’s metaphor and catchphrase techniques.
Brown’s supporters used the positive qualities associated with this pop culture character to ingrain a reoccurring motif into the public’s minds. It is important in high-profile cases to present a balanced narrative to the public; however, framing Brown as either a brute or a gentle giant does not effectively achieve this goal. Both depictions rob Brown of his complexities as a human being and emphasize a singular, stereotypical characteristic: his size. This method of framing objectifies Brown rather than successfully sharing his story. It perpetuates the idea that a black man’s physical stature should be a factor in determining his personality or propensity to violence. Despite views expressed in news and social media, having a large size should not be comparable to having a lethal weapon.
“Surveillance Video of Strong-Arm Robbery Tied to Michael Brown”—Fox News (Aug. 16, 2014)
One week after Brown’s shooting, tensions remained high between Ferguson residents and its police department. After requests from protesters and Missouri Governor Jay Nixon to release the name of the shooting officer, Ferguson police complied. During a press conference on August 15, Ferguson police chief Thomas Jackson identified Darren Wilson as the shooter. Wilson was a white, six-year police veteran with no prior history of disciplinary action. Despite this step toward a clearer picture of the shooting, many details remained unclear. The day after the press conference, Ferguson police released a video of Michael Brown participating in a strong-arm robbery at a convenience store just minutes before his altercation with Wilson. The video shows two men who fit the description of Michael Brown and his friend Dorian Johnson enter the store, and Michael Brown is shown grabbing snacks and a package of cigarillos. He pushes the sales associate aside before exiting the store without paying. A police incident report of the robbery corroborates the video footage and identifies Brown and Johnson as the primary suspects of the investigation.12
Critics said police released the video of the robbery in an attempt to shape public opinion. Whether this is the case, the release of the tape intensified support for Ferguson police and Officer Wilson. Facebook pages supporting Wilson received tens of thousands of “likes.” Two separate pages posted to the crowdsourcing site GoFundMe raised more than $400,000 for the officer combined.13 The release of the robbery footage sparked the beginning of the “thug-ification” of Michael Brown.
Portrayals of black men as violent and dangerous are nothing new in American media. The dissemination of “black brute” propaganda at the beginning of the 20th century established a foundation from which to devise modern ways to link black men to violence. The scope of this association between black men and violence expanded with the introduction of hip-hop culture in the late 1970s. More specifically, the rise of “gangsta rap” gave way to the “thug” persona that permeates modern media depictions of black men. Popular rap groups such as N.W.A. detailed life in the inner city, often characterized by gun violence, street gangs, and promiscuity. Guillermo Rebollo-Gil and Amanda Moras discuss the implications of these messages in their article “Black Women and Black Men in Hip Hop Music: Misogyny, Violence and the Negotiation of (White-Owned) Space.”14 As they mention, critics of hip-hop culture rarely discussed the problematic messages in some hip-hop music as a way to address problems within American society as a whole. Rather, hip-hop critics often single out black men as the sole perpetrators of violence and misogyny.
Often, the treatment of black women in hip-hop is brought up only to highlight the alleged moral depravity of the artists or the wantonness of so-called Black ghetto culture rather than as a critical and necessary discussion of patriarchy and violence. It is used as yet another tool by which white American critics and politicians further stigmatize the black males as violent and/or criminal.15
This “thug-ification” has been one of the major sources of conflict when discussing the shootings of unarmed black men in America. Modern media “thug-ification” includes writing sensational headlines, publishing criminalizing photographs, and overemphasizing a victim’s past indiscretions. With respect to the coverage of police violence, media “thug-fication” has targeted both the victims of this brutality and the protestors who speak out against it. Coverage of the protests in Ferguson, Baltimore, New York, and other cities around the country demonstrate how news reports differ when discussing unrest from white crowds versus unrest from black crowds. CNN, Fox News, and other news outlets have used the words “criminal” and “thug” to describe black demonstrators since the early Ferguson protests. Meanwhile, white sports fans who riot after a game, overturning cars and breaking windows, are frequently described with more positive language such as “young people” doing “stupid things.” These discrepancies have been highlighted in opinion articles and social media campaigns.
The news media’s emphasis on black crime and violence has been formally studied as well. A study by the nonprofit research organization Media Matters for America found that between August 18 and December 14, 2014, four New York City-based television stations reported on murder, theft, and assault cases with black suspects at a higher rate than black suspects were arrested for those crimes. Based on the report, 54 percent of murder suspects arrested in New York City between 2010 and 2013 were black. However, 74 percent of the murder suspects mentioned in the broadcasts of these four stations were black. Fifty-five percent of theft suspects arrested in New York between 2010 and 2013 were black, but 84 percent of the theft suspects in these broadcasts were black. Finally, 49 percent of assault suspects arrested in New York City during that time period were black, but 73 percent of the TV stations’ assault reports mention black suspects.16 Another study from 2002 found that news programming at three television stations in Orlando, Florida presented blacks and Latinos in more threatening contexts. According to the research, whites were more likely to appear as a role model figure in the news than as a criminal suspect. Alternately, blacks were 2.6 times more likely than whites to appear as criminal suspects. Latinos were 5.6 times more likely than whites to be represented as criminal suspects.17 The rise of social media and cell phone imagery has allowed even more widespread dissemination and analysis of photos from a victim’s past. These images often reinforce common perceptions of black men as violent and depraved.
Visual “thug-ification” was a prominent aspect of the murder of 17-year-old African American Trayvon Martin. Martin was shot and killed in his father’s Florida neighborhood by neighborhood-watch captain George Zimmerman in 2012. During Zimmerman’s trial, his defense team retrieved and presented a number of controversial images from Martin’s cell phone. These photos were later widely distributed by news outlets, inevitably shaping public opinion on the case. Negative depictions of Zimmerman were limited to a single mug shot of him from a 2005 arrest for assaulting a police officer. Other photos of Zimmerman either showed him as a clean-cut high school graduate donning a cap and gown, or as a battered victim of Martin’s alleged attack. Martin’s character, on the other hand, was forced to hold up against a number of startling images. The pictures taken from Martin’s phone included one that shows him flipping his middle fingers to the camera and another of a handgun alongside a detachable magazine holding bullets.
This same framing structure plays out in the tumultuous aftermath of Brown’s shooting two years later. With the exception of a New York Times feature, details of Officer Wilson largely focused on his commendable reputation as a police veteran. The most widely distributed image of Wilson came from a February 2014 Ferguson City Council meeting during which he received a commendation for his “extraordinary effort in the line of duty” in a felony drug arrest.18 Rather than revealing any of Wilson’s youthful indiscretions before joining the force, the focus remained on Brown’s past. Within a week of his death, criminalizing photos leaked from Brown’s social media accounts show him “flipping the bird” and allegedly flashing gang signs. Conservative documentarian Pat Dollard published these images on his website; they were subsequently circulated and analyzed by mainstream outlets such as the Christian Science Monitor. The media portrayals in both the Martin and Brown cases shed light on the important relationship between the contrast and story framing techniques discussed by Fairhurst and Sarr.
Grand jury hearings and trials often come down to stories. Prosecutors and defense teams share the narratives of a particular crime and it is the members of a jury’s responsibility to decide which version of events they believe and whether that version suggests beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant committed a crime. In theory the media bias should have no effect on a jury’s decision to charge or convict a defendant. Jurors are often instructed to disclose any biases and to avoid outside information regarding their specific case. Despite this ideal, our country has a history of disseminating images in literature, film, music, and news that continually reinforce the idea that blacks frequently engage in criminal activity. The media have created a society that holds subconscious negative feelings about blacks based on their race and color. These subtle cognitive associations have become a popular area of study known as implicit bias. Studies suggest that these deeply rooted biases also affect courtroom procedure. One example is an empirical study published by researchers Justin D. Levinson and Danielle Young in 2010. The study explored how a group of mock jurors assessed trial evidence based on a defendant’s skin tone.
The perpetrator’s skin tone in the photo significantly affected evidence judgments. Participants who saw the photo of the perpetrator with a dark skin tone judged ambiguous evidence to be significantly more indicative of guilt than participants who saw the photo of a perpetrator with a lighter skin tone.19
The research from this study provides strong evidence suggesting how bias can lead to the criminalization of certain racial groups. Studies suggest that these biases factor into criminal justice. While we cannot definitively prove that the jury decisions in the Brown and Martin cases were influenced by racial prejudice, research supports the claim that jurors and public audiences are more likely to believe the stories that criminalize Brown, Martin, and other black men.
Contrasting images and details help to shape these stories. In Brown’s case, the images that show him flipping his middle finger or displaying ambiguous hand signs help to illustrate the narrative that Brown is a thug. These images are then contrasted with images of Wilson proudly receiving a commendation for his police service. As Fairhurst and Sarr discuss in their analysis, the most problematic flaw with the contrast technique is that public perception varies based of the two images that are selected. For example, when placing a “thug” image of Mike Brown next to a heroic photo of Wilson, Brown might look capable of a vicious attack on the officer. When this same image of Brown is contrasted against an actual gang member or murderer, however, Brown looks like a typical rebellious teenager.
“Mike Brown Had Marijuana in System at the Time of Shooting”—International Business Times (Aug. 18, 2014)
On August 18, the Washington Post reported that the St. Louis County medical examiner’s autopsy report concluded Brown was shot from the front six times. It also noted evidence of marijuana in his system at the time of the shooting.
Many reporters and observers of the case acknowledged that the presence of marijuana alone is not alarming, especially given new marijuana legislation throughout the country. Fox News, however, was one of several large news outlets to suggest that the marijuana may have been laced with more severe drugs such as PCP that could have produced an erratic response from Brown preceding the shooting.20 As with the allegations in the strong-arm robbery, this narrative shifted the focus away from Wilson and placed responsibility on Brown. What did he do that would make a decorated officer shoot him? The possibility that Wilson might have misinterpreted or overreacted in the situation was generally ignored by many news organizations.
Discussing drug use as a way to criminalize black men is a subset of the “thug-ification” concept discussed in the previous section. Due to direct links between drug use and the incarceration rates of black men, the category merits a separate evaluation. An intensified “War on Drugs,” launched by President Reagan in 1982, profoundly affected the black community. Crack cocaine began to ravage inner-city neighborhoods in 1984, shaping Americans’ socioeconomic status as well as their mainstream media identity. Michelle Alexander explored the lasting effects of this campaign in her book The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness:
The Reagan administration hired staff to publicize the emergence of crack cocaine in 1985 as part of a strategic effort to build public and legislative support for the war [on drugs]. The media campaign was an extraordinary success. Almost overnight, the media was saturated with images of black “crack whores,” “crack dealers,” and “crack babies”—images that seemed to confirm the worst negative stereotypes about impoverished inner-city residents.21
The nation’s prison population growth after 1985—with a majority of the inmates being people of color—continued to reinforce the criminal media depictions Alexander discussed in her book. In 1973 the U.S. penal population was approximately 200,000, but grew to about 2.23 million by 2012.22 The majority of these convictions were for drug-related offenses. Despite evidence suggesting that blacks and whites are equally likely to use and sell drugs, blacks are 3.6 times more likely to be arrested for selling drugs and 2.5 times more likely to be arrested for using them.23
These statistics have shaped the public’s connection between black men and illicit drug use, which often surfaces during racially charged court cases. A Huffington Post article from August 2014 produced a list of 16 news headlines from across the country that show major differences in the language used to describe black victims of crime versus whites who are suspected of major crimes. One headline in New York’s Staten Island Advance about a white murder suspect read: “Son in Staten Island murders was brilliant, athletic—but his demons were the death of parents.” A headline from Al.com in Alabama regarding a black shooting victim read: “Montgomery’s latest homicide victim had history of narcotics abuse, tangles with the law.”24 These and many other examples given in the Huffington Post article show that outlets are more willing to use sympathetic language with white perpetrators of crime than they are with black victims. Whether the news sources intend to, their word choice puts a spin on the subjects of these cases. Their inclusion of positive or negative details about a subject—for example, describing a white suspect as “brilliant, athletic,” or saying a black victim has abused narcotics—shape audience sympathy and attention. They perpetuate common stereotypes of white violence as an anomaly and black violence and drug abuse as the norm.
This is what we find in the Michael Brown case as well. Many news outlets have overemphasized the role marijuana might have played in the violent exchange, putting a negative spin on Brown that supports Darren Wilson’s account of events. Though a number of studies have found no concrete correlation between marijuana and violence—after excluding alcohol and other drug use—critics in racially charged cases continue to emphasize its importance. In one particular example, Pat Robertson of the Christian Broadcast Network’s 700 Club program discussed Brown’s drug use during the show on August 18, 2014. He was careful not to directly accuse Brown, stating: “We don’t have the facts yet.” But he adds that Brown’s actions that day—robbing a store and later walking in the middle of the street where Wilson stopped him—suggest “he probably was high on something.” This airing came a day after the Washington Post reported Brown’s marijuana use. Though Robertson had access to a variety of information and could have given more specific details about the case, he used ambiguous language that left the extent of Brown’s drug use open to interpretation.
Another black man killed in Beavercreek, Ohio, just days before Brown’s death. On August 5, 2014, 22-year-old John Crawford III was shot and killed in an open carry state by two Beavercreek police officers in a Walmart while he was talking on his cell phone and holding a toy pellet gun sold by the store. Following Crawford’s death several local news outlets, including the Dayton’s WDTN News 2 station and the Dayton Daily News, chose to report that the coroner’s office found evidence of marijuana in his system.25 While they have every right to report this piece of factual information, without the proper context it can significantly damage Crawford’s character. When reading these reports two crucial problems arise. The first is that despite Crawford’s innocence, both news stories dedicate more time to a white victim, a 37-year old woman who also died from a heart attack after hearing the gun shots. Secondly, these stories reported Crawford’s toxicology findings and left their readers to wonder about the importance of this information. Did the marijuana cause Crawford to behave erratically? Did potentially erratic behavior cause the officers to shoot him? Of course, the videotape footage from the store showed none of this. Yet, this kind of reporting raises questions about the victim and whether he did something to cause this extreme reaction. These are examples of the problematic questions that can surface when reporters provide piecemeal details surrounding the circumstances of a victim’s drug use without further clarifying the relevance of the revelation. Walmart’s video footage and eyewitness accounts, for example, do not suggest that Crawford was a threat to anyone in the store.
Indeed, police were initially called by a person who told the 911 operators that Crawford was loading and pointing the gun at customers. The video tape proves that this was an untrue statement and the witness later retracted his statements.
Despite widespread attention and criticism of this spin tactics following the Brown and Crawford deaths, news outlets continue to use it. About two weeks after the July 2015 shooting death of 43-year-old Sam DuBose by a white University of Cincinnati police officer, news reports surfaced about drugs found in his car at the time of the shooting. Cincinnati Police Department executed a search warrant after the shooting and discovered four bags and a jar of marijuana amounting to slightly less than the two pounds required to meet felony convictions.26 Most of these reports of the marijuana discovery failed to include that the officer pulled DuBose over because he didn’t have a front license plate—not because of suspected drug use. Video footage of the shooting recorded by a police body camera also contradicts the officer’s claim that DuBose dragged him before the shooting. Even with these available facts, somehow the marijuana has been an important factor in shaping public opinion on this case.
We can see that the spin tactic can be an effective, but dangerous technique, because it allows individuals to cherry pick details that support a particular narrative. In cases that lack physical evidence—and even ones that have video footage—these select details of drug consumption often become very powerful. They can condemn black males in the eyes of the public.
Conclusion
Framing is a powerful tool used by governments, organizations, and media outlets to shape public knowledge, perception, and opinion. The use of framing in the aftermath of Michael Brown’s shooting provides a case study through which to examine how the news media help to construct public identities of black men. Throughout U.S. history many whites sought to create fear of black men by presenting “evidence” demonstrating their propensity to violence. This took place using the “black brute” stock character during the Reconstruction period. The use of the “gentle giant” and the “brute” tropes to emphasize black men’s sizes highlights the degree to which this factor shapes the public perception. In the cases of Michael Brown and Eric Garner, large size decreased the sympathy these victims received from mainstream audiences. A black victim’s large size allows people to construct the aggressive, thug narrative that so often plays out in these cases.
Many mainstream and conservative media outlets continue to use the heavily ingrained stereotype for current cases. In the Michael Brown and Trayvon Martin cases, aggressive images of each victim were contrasted against dignified images of their respective shooters. The connection between drugs and black men further emphasizes the aggression stereotype. The war on drugs that began in 1984 has been a critical factor in the public’s view of black men as illicit drug users. Media outlets emphasize illicit drug use more frequently in incidents involving black men, as seen in the negative identification of Michael Brown with marijuana and drug use. We can see that rather than helping the public make sense of complex legal issues, these framing techniques instead continuously reduce black men to a list of stereotypes that affect their social, economic, and legal treatment in American society.
Today in the United States, particularly after President Obama’s election, people tend to push back against conversations about race and discrimination with claims that we live in a color-blind, postracial society. Yet we continue to see examples that contradict this postracial ideal. Studies show disheartening disparities between black and white arrests and convictions. We see that children of color are disproportionately punished in schools. Minorities experience more problems in the workforce and when trying to buy a house. Though Darren Wilson was not charged with Michael Brown’s death, an investigation into the Ferguson Police Department by the U.S. Department of Justice found damning evidence of racial bias and discrimination by Ferguson police. Major problems continue to exist in many areas of American society. These problems have been a constant throughout black and white relations in the United States. Though legislation and ideas have improved since the transatlantic slave trade, decades of legalized discrimination and pervasive negative depictions of minorities continue to shape the cognitive framework of American society. The bias and discrimination that remain today are tricky to identify and solve. What American society needs to meet this goal is less legislative and more psychological. Our country needs to work on different levels to restructure the way we think about people of color.
It will not be an easy task, but an essential component of accomplishing this is bringing attention to bias in the news media. News organizations have tremendous influence on their audiences. We rely on them to tell us about significant events throughout the world. If people consistently face news reports of black-on-black crime or black drug use, then they will come to view these occurrences as normal. With budget constraints, today’s 24-hour news cycle, and the constant demand for updated information, news organizations are under a lot of pressure. But even with these daily challenges news companies must make fair and balanced reporting their priority. This may take different forms depending on the organization and its structure, but each company should have a team that is responsible for looking at its news coverage, assessing its fairness, and suggesting ways it can improve. This certainly will not solve the problem, but it is an important and necessary place to start.
Notes
1. Touré Neblett, Black America and the Burden of the Perfect Victim, WASH. POST, Aug. 22, 2014, http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/black-america-and-the-burden-of-the-perfect-victim/2014/08/22/30318ec2-27d1-11e4-958c-268a320a60ce_story.html.
2. ERVING GOFFMAN, FRAME ANALYSIS: AN ESSAY ON THE ORGANIZATION OF EXPERIENCE 21 (Harper & Row 1974).
3. Robert M. Entman, Framing: Towards Clarification of a Fractured Paradigm, 43(4) J. COMMC’N 51, 52 (1993).
4. Id.
5. Robert M. Entman, Framing Bias: Media in the Distribution of Power, 57 J. COMMC’N 163, 163 (2007).
6. GAIL FAIRHURST & ROBERT A. SARR, THE ART OF FRAMING: MANAGING THE LANGUAGE OF LEADERSHIP 100 (Jossey-Bass 1996).
7. CATHERINE JUANITA STARKE, BLACK PORTRAITURE IN AMERICAN FICTION: STOCK CHARACTERS, ARCHETYPES, AND INDIVIDUALS 62 (Basic Books 1971).
8. George T. Winston, The Relation of Whites to the Negroes, 18 AM. ACAD. POLITICAL & SOC. SCI. 105, 109 (July 1910).
9. Transcript of Grand Jury, State of Missouri v. Darren Wilson, Aug. 20, 2014, http://graphics8.nytimes.com/newsgraphics/2014/11/24/ferguson-assets/grand-jury-testimony.pdf.
10. Josh Sanburn, Behind the Video of Eric Garner’s Deadly Confrontation with New York Police, TIME, July 22, 2014, http://time.com/3016326/eric-garner-video-police-chokehold-death/.
11. Elisa Crouch, Michael Brown Remembered as a “Gentle Giant,” ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, Aug. 11, 2014, http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/michael-brown-remembered-as-a-gentle-giant/article_cbafa12e-7305-5fd7-8e0e-3139f472d130.html.
12. St. Louis Cnty Police. Incident Report No. 14-43984 (Aug. 9, 2014).
13. Matt Pearce, Fundraising Web Pages for Ferguson Cop Still Closed; It’s Unclear Why, L.A. TIMES, Sept. 1, 2014, http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-ferguson-officer-fundraisers-20140831-story.html.
14. Guillermo Rebollo-Gil & Amanda Moras, Black Women and Black Men in Hip Hop Music: Misogyny, Violence and the Negotiation of (White-Owned) Space, 45.1 J. POPULAR CULTURE 118–32 (2012).
15. Id. at 118–19.
16. Daniel Angster, Salvatore Colleluori, & Todd Gregory, New York City Television Stations Give Lopsided Coverage to Black Crime, MEDIA MATTERS, Aug. 26, 2014, http://mediamatters.org/research/2014/08/26/report-new-york-city-television-stations-give-l/200524.
17. Ted Chiricos & Sarah Eschholz, The Racial and Ethnic Typification of Crime and the Criminal Typification of Race and Ethnicity in Local Television News, 39.4 J. RESEARCH IN CRIME DELINQUENCY 400–420 (2002).
18. Jason Sickles, Photos: Ferguson Officer Darren Wilson Earned Police Honor before Fatal Shooting, YAHOO NEWS, Aug. 16, 2014, http://news.yahoo.com/photos-ferguson-officer-darren-wilson-received-police-award-earlier-this-year-021255893.html?soc_src=mediacontentstory.
19. Justin D. Levinson & Danielle Young, Different Shades of Bias: Skin Tone, Implicit Racial Bias, and Judgments of Ambiguous Evidence, 112.2 W. VA. L. REV. 307, 337 (2010).
20. Inside Private Autopsy of Michael Brown, FOX NEWS, Aug. 18, 2014, http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/on-the-record/2014/08/19/inside-private-autopsy-michael-brown.
21. MICHELLE ALEXANDER, THE NEW JIM CROW: MASS INCARCERATION IN THE AGE OF COLORBLINDNESS 5 (New Press 2010).
22. JEREMY TRAVIS ET AL., THE GROWTH OF INCARCERATION IN THE UNITED STATES 2 (Nat’l Acads. Press 2014).
23. Jonathan Rothwell, How the War on Drugs Damages Black Social Mobility, BROOKINGS INST., Sept. 30, 2014, http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/social-mobility-memos/posts/2014/09/30-war-on-drugs-black-social-mobility-rothwell.
24. Nick Wing, When the Media Treats White Suspects and Killers Better than Black Victims, HUFFINGTON POST, Aug. 14, 2014, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/14/media-black-victims_n_5673291.html.
25. Jill Drury, Coroner: Crawford had THC in system when shot at Walmart, News 2 WDTN, Sept. 26, 2014, http://wdtn.com/2014/09/26/coroner--williams--death--at--walmart--ruled--homicide/ and Thomas Gnau & Chris Stewart, New details in deaths of 2 at Walmart, Dayton Daily News, Sept. 24, 2014, http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/news/new--details--in--deaths--of--2--at--walmart/nhWF3/. See also Frank Vyan Walton, So Why Isn’t Ronald Ritchie Being Charged with Manslaughter in Police Killing of John Crawford?, DAILY KOS (Sept. 10, 2014, 8:41 AM), http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/09/10/1328519/-So-why-isn-t-Ronald-Ritchie-being-charged-with-Manslaughter-in-Police-Killing-of-John-Crawford.
26. Ben Petracco, Search Warrant: Bags of Marijuana Found in Sam DuBose’s Car, CINCINNATI’S WLWT5, Aug. 5, 2015, http://www.wlwt.com/news/source-2-bags-of-marijuana-in-duboses-car-at-time-of-fatal-shooting/34533640.