“We’ll Burn the Whole Stinking Town Down”: Newspaper Coverage of Detroit’s Twelfth Street Riot

Abstract

ABSTRACT The July 1967 riot in Detroit, Michigan, was one of the most violent race-related conflicts in American history. Common themes developed in both local and national media coverage of the event, including widespread use of wartime imagery. This archival framing analysis examines the frames and techniques used by three major newspapers—the Detroit Free Press, the New York Times, and the Los Angeles Times—when covering the riot. While warfare and criminality were frequently used as framing devices, journalists at all three papers highlighted ideological divisions within Detroit’s Black community. Ultimately, the study argues that reporters’ marginalizing word choices and the racialization of riot-related violence depicted African-Americans as a dangerous “other.” The coverage created an interpretive lens for readers, cementing existing racial divisions, and shaping how newsrooms and the American public would understand racial violence for years to come.