What News is Newsworthy? Examining Biases in the Online Reporting of Police Activity

• In Event: Poster Session

Abstract

A large body of research highlights the disproportionate media coverage of criminal events involving atypical victims and offenders and more serious offenses. These biases have the potential to impact public perceptions of safety and police legitimacy, attitudes toward different racial/ethnic groups, and support for criminal justice policies. Some of the bias found in print newspapers may be exacerbated by space limitations and printing costs. This raises an interesting question about the national decline in print media and the shift to online news sites where space restrictions and printing costs are potentially of limited concern. Do journalists still evidence the same biases when selecting stories to publish online? To examine this we obtained over 2,000 press releases issued by the Portland Police Bureau over the past three years. The content of each report is being coded and we are determining which stories were presented on the largest online news site for the region (OregonLive.com). Preliminary analysis of 1,222 press releases finds that 81.5% were presented online. Subsequent multivariate analyses will be conducted to identify factors that lead to increased likelihood of coverage by the online news site. Implications of these findings will be explored along with suggestions for future research.

Authors

• Katelyn Bonn, Portland State University

• Kris Henning, Portland State University

• Greg Stewart, Portland Police Bureau / Portland State University