A Black Teen, a White Cop, and a City in Turmoil: Analyzing Newspaper Reports on Ferguson, Missouri and the Death of Michael Brown

Abstract

Understanding how newspapers depict fatal shootings of minority men by police, and how this affects implicit biases, may offer insight into why such shootings continue to occur. Through an analysis of national newspaper articles immediately following the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, we investigate how these events are framed regarding the use of victim-supporting, social justice frames or law enforcement–supporting, law and order frames. We then theorize how this might contribute to the perpetuation of implicit biases. We find social justice frames appear more frequently than law and order frames during this period. This shift in the presentation of information might affect the reinforcement of implicit biases that the news media is often accused of causing.