(iPoster) Race-ing against Time: Race, Ethnicity and Media Responses to Political Violence

• In Event: Poster Session: Racial, Ethnic, Gender, LGBTQ+ Politics & Sexuality and Politics
  In Poster Session: Poster Session: Racial, Ethnic, Gender, LGBTQ+ Politics

Abstract

When a terrorist attack happens in Europe or the United States, it is immediately splashed across every major news outlet, as though the entire world is obligated to care. However, when similar attacks happen in places like Africa or other parts of the Global South, they are often dismissed as ethnic conflict, barely making the news—if they do at all. Why is that? This study examines what informs the variation in the tonality and coverage of political violence. I argue that racialization influences international media responses, with crises affecting white or racially "proximal" populations receiving faster and more extensive coverage. Conceptualizing race within a Western framework, this research leverages a three-part methodological approach: (1) analyzing initial reporting delays by assessing the time taken for newspapers to classify events as genocide or terrorism, (2) employing hazard models to measure the time for an event to reach viral coverage, and (3) conducting discourse analysis to identify the factors that most significantly shape media attention. This approach tests whether trends in media response times align with racial and geographical biases. The significance of the research lies in its potential to reveal how media bias may perpetuate political violence by underreporting certain regions. Understanding these dynamics is critical for addressing the media's influence on international political responses and conflict resolution efforts.

Author

• Angela Danso Gyane, University of Missouri- Columbia