Murder in Black and White

Abstract

Over the past 20 years there has been a wealth of research pertaining to newspaper coverage of crime and its potential effect on public perception and fear of crime. Although research has shown that crimes such as homicide are disproportionately chosen by newspapers as crime stories over other types of crime, there is little known about how accurately this coverage reflects the true reality of violent crime. Specifically, prior research concerning the newspaper coverage of homicide has failed to address issues relating to either prominence of coverage or yearly fluctuations in coverage. The purpose of this research is to explore the difference between the reality of homicide in Houston, Texas, between 1986 and 1994 and the socially constructed reality of homicide as portrayed by newspaper coverage of homicide incidents. Specifically, what differences are there between actual homicide incidents, those that receive cursory newspaper coverage, and those that receive celebrated newspaper coverage?