Race, gender, and the newsworthiness of homicide incidents

Murder in Black

“…Both Johnstone et al (1994) and Wilbanks (1984) found child victims to be predictors of coverage, though older victims did not have a greater propensity for coverage. Gruenewald et al (2009) also found an inverse relationship between age and general news coverage.…”

“…In many instances, selection of cases for coverage is centered on the notion of the "worthy victim" (Gruenewald et al, 2009;Sorensen et al, 1998). Sorensen et al, in particular, define the "worthy victim" as "victims who were White, in the youngest and oldest age groups, women, of high socioeconomic status, killed by strangers " (1998; p. 1514).…”

“…Recently, Gruenewald et al (2009) examined a homogenous population. Their study focused mainly on race indicators and did not examine the impact of other factors such as specific age groups, income levels, or unusual homicide weapons that were found to be salient predictors in other studies (e.g., Buckler & Travis, 2005;Chermak, 1998;Paulsen, 2003;Pritchard & Hughes, 1997;Sorensen et al, 1998).…”

social construction of neighborhood crime by the news media

“…The rarity trend is based on frequency: phenomena that are do not happen frequently are more likely to be reported (Gruenewald, Pizarro, & Chermak, 2009;Petersen, 2014). News outlets pay attention to the rarest crimes, the most infrequent offenders, and the most unusual victims.…”

“…The prevailing stereotype of Black criminality plays off of white fears of crime committed by African-Americans (Feagin, 1991;Bobo & Hutchings, 1996;Gilliam, Iyengar, Simon, & Wright, 1996). Research has shown that news outlets tend to over-emphasize crime stories involving minorities (Lundman, 2003;Gruenewald et al, 2009). …”