In April, 1992, Los Angeles was a powder keg. Four police officers stood accused of police brutality. A video surfaced showing them beating an unarmed black man named Rodney King. When a jury of 10 whites, one Hispanic, and one Asian decided the police had used justifiable force, (Evening Standard) a crowd of peaceful demonstrations turned violent and lay siege to the city. Those in the streets during the riots witnessed a multiethnic horde commit assault, theft, and arson. However, the millions around the world who watched the riots from their television sets and read about them in their newspapers were presented a different picture. The international media portrayed an image of black Americans waging a race war.
How do we know the riot wasn’t predominantly carried out by the black community as a form racial backlash? There was no way to take a completely accurate census of the crowds. However statistics were done on the 12,000 people arrested during the riots. A report from RAND (1993) reports 43% of those convicted of felonies were classified as Latino with no ethnic link to Rodney King or …show more content…
The truth is, while racial tension was a major contributing factor to the riots, it wasn’t the only cause. However, little press coverage mentioned these underlying causes. In fact, quite the opposite was true. Shah Shah, professor of journalism and mass communication at the University of Wisconsin-Madison noted that, “On the very first day of the riots, the Los Angeles Times labeled the incidents as ‘race-related violence.’ Five Subsequent stories also framed the disturbances primarily or only in racial terms.” Meanwhile, socio-economic issues that contributed to the riots were all but ignored. As Shah put it, “there was little talk in the initial mainstream press coverage about economic inequality, legal injustice, or police brutality, until the media shifted to an analysis frame weeks after the
How do we know the riot wasn’t predominantly carried out by the black community as a form racial backlash? There was no way to take a completely accurate census of the crowds. However statistics were done on the 12,000 people arrested during the riots. A report from RAND (1993) reports 43% of those convicted of felonies were classified as Latino with no ethnic link to Rodney King or …show more content…
The truth is, while racial tension was a major contributing factor to the riots, it wasn’t the only cause. However, little press coverage mentioned these underlying causes. In fact, quite the opposite was true. Shah Shah, professor of journalism and mass communication at the University of Wisconsin-Madison noted that, “On the very first day of the riots, the Los Angeles Times labeled the incidents as ‘race-related violence.’ Five Subsequent stories also framed the disturbances primarily or only in racial terms.” Meanwhile, socio-economic issues that contributed to the riots were all but ignored. As Shah put it, “there was little talk in the initial mainstream press coverage about economic inequality, legal injustice, or police brutality, until the media shifted to an analysis frame weeks after the