Television News

Media Influence

Communication researchers argue that the media do not tell us how to think, but they are rather effective at telling us what to think about. This is known as the “agenda-setting” function of the media. For instance, if the media focus on the number of murders in a city, audiences will tend to believe that the murder rate is an important issue. Moreover, when the media tend to cover certain races and neighborhoods, audiences begin to associate crime with a particular race and neighborhood.

Coupled with this agenda-setting function, the media also guide us in how we think about an issue. This is known as media “framing.” A recent example of media framing can be seen in the coverage of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, Louisiana. African Americans that took items from abandoned stores were called “looters,” whereas their White counterparts were called “survivors.”

Researchers suggest that the media use two forms of framing: episodic and thematic. Episodic framing of crime may include particular instances of criminal and police activities. This style is common in local television news coverage where crime appears disjointed and random. Episodic framing fails to set crime into a wider context. Television news, especially local news, often fails to address issues of poverty, racial tensions, and the activities of government officials. To the average viewer, crime may seem chaotic and random.

Thematic framing sets crime into a greater context such as race and politics; an example of this type of framing is an in-depth look at the effects of poverty on crime. However, thematic framing is not the norm, especially with local television stations that pour money into helicopters and news vans that bring “late breaking” news. Moreover, critics suggest that thematic framing tends to be just as racist as episodic framing because it creates a narrative of non-White criminals burdening a White society.

Researchers also argue that the media may shape our perceptions of race and crime over time. When the media portray an issue in a certain way, there is a cumulative effect over an extended period of time in which the public begins to believe that the media depiction is reality. For instance, when the media repeatedly links violent crime with low-income African American and Latina/o neighborhoods, audiences may begin to believe these depictions to be reality. Or if the media continuously link terrorism with people of Arab descent or with Muslim beliefs, an association between race and crime is created. Thus, people may believe that the world is a much more violent place than it is in reality. Moreover, people may also believe that violence and crime are more prevalent in certain races.

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