Measuring the Extent of Prejudicial Pretrial Publicity in Major American Newspapers: A Content Analysis

Imrich, Dorothy J.; Mullin, Charles; Linz, Daniel

doi:10.1111/j.1460-2466.1995.tb00745.x

“…The proportional reduction of error technique used in this study to assess coder consistency relied on the index I r (Imrich, Mullin, & Linz, 1995;Perreault & Leigh, 1989). This index compares the observed frequency of agreement between judges to an expected frequency of agreement given some "true" level of reliability for the coding process.…”

Section: Measuring Reliabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Overrepresentation and underrepresentation of African Americans and Latinos as lawbreakers on television news

Dixon¹

2000

Journal of Communication

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We conducted a content analysis of a random sample of local television news programming in Los Angeles and Orange counties to assess representations of Blacks, Latinos, and Whites as lawbreakers and law defenders. "Intergroup" comparisons of perpetrators (Black and Latino vs. White) revealed that Blacks and Latinos are significantly more likely than Whites to be portrayed as lawbreakers on television news. "Interrole" comparisons (lawbreakers vs. law defenders) revealed that Blacks and Latinos are more likely to be portrayed as lawbreakers than as defenders, whereas Whites are significantly more likely to be portrayed as defenders than as lawbreakers. "Interreality" comparisons of lawbreakers (television news vs. crime reports from the California Department of Justice) revealed that Blacks are overrepresented as lawbreakers, and Latinos and Whites are underrepresented as lawbreakers on television news compared to their respective crime rates obtained from the California Department of Justice for Los Angeles and Orange counties. Interreality comparisons of law defenders (television news vs. county employment records) revealed that Whites are overrepresented, Latinos are underrepresented, and Blacks are neither over-nor underrepresented as police officers on television news compared to employment reports. We speculate on the psychological effects of exposure to these intergroup, interrole, and interreality differentials on television news viewers. a Percentage of Blacks, Whites, Latinos, and others who were arrested, according to the California Department of Justice Criminal Profile for 1995 and 1996. b Percentage of Blacks, Whites, Latinos, and others who appeared as perpetrators on local television news. c Difference between the television percentage and the arrest rate percentage for each racial group (TV % -Arrest %). * Percentage point differential outside the confidence interval. * Percentage point differential outside the confidence interval.

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“…The proportional reduction of error technique used in this study to assess coder consistency relied on the index I r (Imrich, Mullin, & Linz, 1995;Perreault & Leigh, 1989). This index compares the observed frequency of agreement between judges to an expected frequency of agreement given some "true" level of reliability for the coding process.…”

Section: Measuring Reliabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Overrepresentation and Underrepresentation of African Americans and Latinos as Lawbreakers on Television News

Dixon¹,

Linz²

2000

Journal of Communication

Self Cite

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We conducted a content analysis of a random sample of local television news programming in Los Angeles and Orange counties to assess representations of Blacks, Latinos, and Whites as lawbreakers and law defenders. "Intergroup" comparisons of perpetrators (Black and Latino vs. White) revealed that Blacks and Latinos are significantly more likely than Whites to be portrayed as lawbreakers on television news. "Interrole" comparisons (lawbreakers vs. law defenders) revealed that Blacks and Latinos are more likely to be portrayed as lawbreakers than as defenders, whereas Whites are significantly more likely to be portrayed as defenders than as lawbreakers. "Interreality" comparisons of lawbreakers (television news vs. crime reports from the California Department of Justice) revealed that Blacks are overrepresented as lawbreakers, and Latinos and Whites are underrepresented as lawbreakers on television news compared to their respective crime rates obtained from the California Department of Justice for Los Angeles and Orange counties. Interreality comparisons of law defenders (television news vs. county employment records) revealed that Whites are overrepresented, Latinos are underrepresented, and Blacks are neither over-nor underrepresented as police officers on television news compared to employment reports. We speculate on the psychological effects of exposure to these intergroup, interrole, and interreality differentials on television news viewers.

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“…Given that pretrial publicity (defined as "potentially prejudicial information" by the American Bar Association [ABA]) accompanies 19% of news reports, and given that Latinos and African Americans are twice as likely to be the target of prejudicial statements (Dixon & Linz, 2002), reasonable concern might be raised about the influence of such pretrial publicity. Indeed, using the ABA definition, research by Imrich, Mullin, and Linz (1995) found that 27% of the pretrial publicity descriptions reviewed in 14 newspapers over an 8-week period were "problematic." For many years, opinion on the issue was relatively undivided, and researchers concluded that pretrial publicity adversely affects the defendant's ability to receive a fair trial.…”

Section: Communication and The Lawmentioning

confidence: 98%

Communication Law and Policy: The State of Research and Theory

Reinard

¹

,

Ortíz

²

2005

Journal of Communication

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This essay describes the domain of research in communication law and policy. It is based on a content analysis of research published in the journal Communication Law and Policy (1996)(1997)(1998)(1999)(2000)(2001)(2002)(2003)(2004), papers presented to the Communication Law and Policy Division at annual conferences of the International Communication Association (1997Association ( -2004, as well as consideration of other resources. The most frequent areas for research were media regulation, Internet policy, and freedom of expression issues. After reviewing recent literature on the first two topics, we identified and showcased two emergent categories deserving future attention: communication and the law (particularly fair trial-free press issues) and implications of the burgeoning consolidation of media ownership.

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Measuring the Extent of Prejudicial Pretrial Publicity in Major American Newspapers: A Content Analysis

Cited by 47 publications

References 16 publications

Overrepresentation and underrepresentation of African Americans and Latinos as lawbreakers on television news

Overrepresentation and underrepresentation of African Americans and Latinos as lawbreakers on television news

Overrepresentation and Underrepresentation of African Americans and Latinos as Lawbreakers on Television News

Communication Law and Policy: The State of Research and Theory

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