Mass Communication Research Methods (JOMC 303)

Dr. Zhang

The effect of mass media in the perception

of police brutality

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia Commons

Zila Sanchez, Iyanna McAllister, Farriona Magee and Vanessa Delgado

 Introduction

Police brutality in this country has had many faces throughout the decades that it has

been an issue that the American people have had to confront. One of the faces that it has always

had is targeting people of color and allowing them to feel marginalized by a facet of society that

is ultimately supposed to serve and protect. The history of police brutality spans a few decades in

this country. The first time the word, “Niga” appeared in the American Press was in 1872 in

reference to the reported beating of a civilian by the police. The inception of 'present day'

policing dependent on the expert of the state is normally followed back to improvements in

seventeenth and eighteenth century France, with current police divisions being built up in many

countries by the nineteenth and mid twentieth hundreds of years (Palmer). Instances of police

severity seem to have been successive at that point, with "the routine beating of nationals by

patrolmen furnished with nightsticks or blackjacks (Davis)". Large-scale episodes of

mercilessness were related with work strikes, for example, the Great Railroad Strike of 1877, the

Pullman Strike of 1894, the Lawrence material strike of 1912, the Ludlow slaughter of 1914, the

Steel strike of 1919, and the Hanapepe slaughter of 1924. Bits of the populaces may see the

police to be oppressors. Also, there is a discernment that casualties of police mercilessness

frequently have a place with generally weak gatherings, for example, minorities, the

handicapped, the youthful, and the poor.

At the point when the United States was framed, it was considerably less blended than it

is today regarding ethnicity and culture. Around the mid 1800's, critical measures of outsiders

started to move into the nation. This convergence carried on for some time and still happens

today just with a lot littler numbers. With this vast blend of individuals, bias and loathe
wrongdoings were normal. By the mid-nineteenth century, the crumbling of urban areas had

prompted diverse laws that directed open conduct just as made new open organizations including

the police constrain. Notwithstanding, this partition made a division between the law authorities

and subjects too. In actuality, we are eventually left with racial, social, and ethnic profiling.

Streak forward to the mid 1900s, where urban areas like Chicago have been experiencing official

lack of interest and conceal managing police ruthlessness. In 1969 Black Panther pioneers were

murdered amid a police strike (Davis). An open objection that came about because of this

prompted a Federal Civil Rights examination. Despite the fact that proof demonstrated that the

police discharged in excess of 90 shots to one by the Panthers, they were not prosecuted but

rather the two gatherings were similarly accused. This decision thus prompted further shock,

especially from the African American people group.

Davis, L P. (1994). Rodney King and the Decriminalization of Police Brutality in

America: Direct and Judicial Access to the Grand Jury as Remedies for Victims of Police

Brutality When the Prosecutor Declines to Prosecute.

Ethnic and Racial Disparities in Attitudes Toward Police

In an era of community policing, it is necessary to consider how the public perceives the

police and police services using measures reflecting the paradigm of policing. ​Researchers

consistently find a racial gap in attitudes toward law enforcement. Neither the police nor the

communities they serve are racially or ethnically similar. Despite this fact, racial problems

involving the police are often cast in terms of a predominantly white police force and a

community that is predominantly African American and Latino. The racial divide between police
and citizens of color is evident not only in academic studies, but is evident on the streets of many

communities and is reflected in countless interactions involving the police (Eschholz).

Compared with whites, Black communities generally have less positive attitudes toward

the police and this is most often attributed to the differential nature of citizen–police interaction

experienced by them. It has been suggested that the media play an important socializing role, in

the form of “vicarious” police contacts, in generating attitudes toward police. It has been

theorized that watching television news as well as “reality” crime programming, such as ​COPS

and ​America's Most Wanted​ increased the racial divide in attitudes toward police (Eschholz).

Black and Hispanic motorists are significantly more likely to be subjected to personal and/or

vehicle searches during traffic stops, but are they more likely to be found in possession of

contraband (Engel).

It was hypothesized that respondents with greater stakes in their communities would

report more satisfaction with community-policing services (Schafer), meaning the more value a

community has, the more they are likely to depend and receive policing well. Still, this relies

heavily on the influences a group has had toward policing.

Generally, the variance in race, gender, socio-economic status, and political views

d​emonstrate the need for multidimensional constructs of police services and highlight important

dimensions of public perceptions of community policing.

Hostile Media Perception: News Outlets

​As social media platforms and technological advances continue to change mainstreams trajectory

into the new age of digital convergence, many partisans are left fringing on their own divergent

views and the skepticism of brighter outcomes when it comes to police brutality. In recent years
 of coverage, along with the evolution of backpack journalism, outrage and distrust have seeped

into the hearts and minds of many minorities. Lack of proper protocol, negligence, and obscene

footage has spawned a recent divide in what was once an honorable/reputable organization into a

malevolent force that seems to have no enthusiasm in slowing down.

1) Hostile media perception is the proclivity at which partisans calculate media coverage as

unsatisfactory in theory to their own convictions. This differentiation in bias is compelling

because it contradicts literature on assimilation bias. Assimilation bias is the notion of finding

information more complementary rather than antithetical to one’s personal beliefs.

Coverage of such disturbing footage seems to be more favorable on certain outlets which further

intensifies the bias and prolongs in certain instances the call for help/justice. The frequency at

which killings have been occurring recently has sensationalized police brutality to somewhat of a

new norm. Collectively, the outcomes have been horrendous in relation to killings, but the bias

of partisans and there being a divide is still heavily prevalent. Some feel as though the killings

were justified and warranted for protocol, while other partisans feel as though protocol was

breached. This constant tug of war and societies aim to frame police is a positive light has a

nation divided on the prevalence of integrity and the sheer dexterity of doing the right thing even

when it comes to the convictions of the officers in hand.

2) More compelling, albeit still anecdotal, evidence is provided when we catch glimpses of

divergent responses by opposing partisans to the same media coverage--specifically, when both

sides agree that coverage was biased, but disagree strenuously about the direction of such bias.

More compelling than partisans having such biases, are when there is no agreeance on the

direction in which the bias stems from. One partisan will view such mishaps on racial profiling,
while the other on circumstance. One partisan may contend the police officer was just doing their

job, while others may think officers have power- complex issues which make them feel that they

are above the law and will be granted impunity.

Hostile Media Perception: Social Media

Over the years, police brutality has always been an issue in the unethical and excess force used

by authority. However, in the last decade, the rise of social media has had a major impact on just

how much of the crime we see and are exposed to. It seems like a lot more of the hate crimes are

taking place in today’s society, but is it really? Some people think that it’s not necessarily more

of these crimes going on, but social platforms are exploiting it more. A study on the public view

of police officers was recently done within the past couple of years. The hypothesis was that

social media has had an impact on the public perspective on police officers, whether negative or

positive. The results showed that people initially didn’t have any negative or positive feelings

about police brutality when they first heard about a story. However, the more a story they saw of,

the more they started to gain negative feelings about police officers, and the more their

perception started to change(Chermak 2006). Police brutality stories seemed to kick off the

movement of people starting to record incidences that they encounter with those of the opposite

race. From there, The media seems to have a new story on police officers using excessive force,

sometimes that force being fatal, on a minority race every other week. In the world of media,

they way news stories are structured, they put more emphasis on stories and issues that need

urgent attention, meaning more coverage (Weitzer 2002). More media attention influences the

fear of crimes(Callanan 2011). In this case, that would lead to more fear of police officers the
more police brutality cases are covered. This entails that with police brutality becoming a rising

issue, more emphasis will be placed on it in the media.

Works Cited

● Callanan, V., & Rosenberger, J. (2011). ​Media and public perceptions of the police:
Examining the impact of race and personal experience. ​Policing and Society 21
● Davis , W. Angela. (2002). "NAMI." NAMI: National Alliance on Mental Illness |
African Americans.

● Engel, R. S., & Johnson, R. (2006). Figure 2f from: Irimia R, Gottschling M (2016)
Taxonomic revision of Rochefortia Sw. (Ehretiaceae, Boraginales). Biodiversity Data
Journal 4: E7720. ​Toward a Better Understanding of Racial and Ethnic Disparities in
Search and Seizure Rates,34​(6), 605-617. doi:10.3897/bdj.4.e7720.figure2f
● Gunther, A. C. (2004). Mapping Boundaries of the Hostile Media Effect. Journal of
Communication, 54(1), 55-70. doi:10.1093/joc/54.1.55
● Schafer, J. A., Huebner, B. M., & Bynum, T. S. (2003, December 1). Citizen Perceptions
of Police Services: Race, Neighborhood Context, and Community Policing. Retrieved
from ​Sage Journals
● S. Chermak , E. McGarrell, J. Gruenewald, (2006) "Media coverage of police
misconduct and attitudes toward police", Policing: An International Journal of Police
Strategies & Management, Vol. 29 Issue: 2, pp.261-281
● Vallone, R. P., Ross, L., & Lepper, M. R. (1985). The hostile media phenomenon: Biased
perception and perceptions of media bias in coverage of the Beirut massacre. Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology, 49(3), 577-585. doi:10.1037//0022-3514.49.3.577
● Weitzer, R. (2002). Journal of Criminal Justice Volume 30, Issue 5, September–October
2002, Pages 397-408 “Incidents of police misconduct and public opinion”
● Palmer, Robert T., et al. (2011). “A Matter of Diversity, Equity, and Necessity: The

Tension between Maryland & Policing System over the Office of Civil Rights

Agreement.” The Journal of Negro Education, vol. 80, pp. 121–133.

● Plant, E. A., & Peruche, B. M. (2005). The Consequences of Race for Police Officers

Responses to Criminal Suspects. ​Psychological Science,16​(3), 180-183.

doi:10.1111/j.0956-7976.2005.00800.x