Transforming the Central Park jogger into the Central Park Five: Shifting narratives of innocence and changing media discourse in the attack on the Central Park jogger, 1989–2014

Abstract

Wrongful convictions threaten the norms of crime reporting by shifting the media focus away from crime toward notions of innocence and fallibility. The 1989 attack on a jogger in Central Park resulted in a well-publicized response from the New York criminal justice system that eventually led to the wrongful conviction of five innocent youths. This research investigates reporting surrounding the Central Park attack and how the media’s response altered over the past 25 years. It argues that the Central Park jogger case offers an insight into the development of narratives of wrongful conviction and offers a typology to better understand how cases of innocence develop in print media. By exploring this case in reference to concepts including public narrative, signal crime and mediated witness, this paper focuses on the reporting on the case within The New York Times. It argues the newspaper played an important role in the public’s perceptions of the five men as they evolve from the accused, the offenders, the punished, and finally, to become the wrongfully convicted. The findings contribute to a better understanding of the malleability of the media on public narratives, its readiness for violent crime and the lack of accountability in constructing public opinions that potentially damage the innocent.