Abstract
Instances of unarmed African Americans being killed when encountering police officers have come to the forefront of the discussion about race and race relations in the U.S. This study investigates media framing to determine if there are elements of racism in media frames surrounding these events. This study seeks to determine the extent that the tenets of Critical Race Theory apply in news when comparing stories Fox News and CNN online articles with articles by Al Jazeera and BBC. The two cases chosen were the killings of Micheal Brown in Ferguson, Missouri and Freddie Gray in Baltimore, Maryland. Using critical frame analysis, I found that four themes: Gray’s illegal switchblade, Gray’s self-inflicted injury, age of #purge rioters, Gray family’s voice for non-violence. I found two themes in the Michael Brown case, detailing Brown’s encounter with Officer Wilson and Brown family’s voice for non-violence. The emerging media frames revealed tenets of Critical Race Theory such as unmarked, subtle, business-as-usual racialized framing in Fox News and CNN coverage. As CRT suggests, these frames were hidden and obscured yet throughout the twenty articles by Fox News and CNN online articles with articles by Al Jazeera and BBC. The two cases chosen were the killings of Micheal Brown in Ferguson, Missouri and Freddie Gray in Baltimore, Maryland. Using critical frame analysis, I found that four themes: Gray’s illegal switchblade, Gray’s self-inflicted injury, age of #purge rioters, Gray family’s voice for non-violence. I found two themes in the Michael Brown case, detailing Brown’s encounter with Officer Wilson and Brown family’s voice for non-violence. The emerging media frames revealed tenets of Critical Race Theory such as unmarked, subtle, business-as-usual racialized framing in Fox News and CNN coverage. As CRT suggests, these frames were hidden and obscured yet throughout the twenty articles by Fox News and CNN, and only revealed when comparing the articles with those from Al Jazeera and BBC.
Advisor
Christopher Brown
Committee Member
Kebba Darboe
Committee Member
Sachi Sekimoto
Date of Degree
2017
Language
english
Document Type
Thesis
Degree
Master of Arts (MA)
College
Arts and Humanities
Recommended Citation
Longhurst, J. (2017). "Can We Clean Their Guns for Em'?" Frame Analysis of Media Coverage Surrounding the Killing of African Americans by Police, a Comparison of four U.S. and International News Sources [Master’s thesis, Minnesota State University, Mankato]. Cornerstone: A Collection of Scholarly and Creative Works for Minnesota State University, Mankato. https://cornerstone.lib.mnsu.edu/etds/732/
Creative Commons License
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Included in
Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Ethnicity in Communication Commons, Law Enforcement and Corrections Commons, Mass Communication Commons
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