The Construction of Exoneration: Exploring News Media Coverage of the "Correction" of Wrongful Conviction

• In Event: Media Constructions of Guilt and Innocence

Abstract

As part of a larger study focused on the construction of three Canadian cases of wrongful conviction in the news media, this presentation seeks to examine news stories specifically from the acquittal/exoneration stage of the coverage. Given that crime and justice narratives typically construct a clear victim, villain and protagonist, which is complicated by wrongful conviction, the question of how the media remedies this obstacle is answered here. Two key findings from the media content analysis will be presented in response. First is the discovery that the news media’s construction of the wrongly convicted individuals became that of an “incidental victim.” In other words, these individuals were portrayed as neither fully innocent nor deserving of their victimization. Secondly, that the news media exhibited an apparent reluctance to comment on the potential systemic issues within the justice system, despite concrete evidence of miscarriages of justice. Overall, these constructions will be theorized as a way to minimize the fault of the criminal justice system and thus, to attend to pre-established cultural themes in order to attain a simplistic depiction of information. The implication of these constructions is undeniably important considering the media’s power to define both the interpretation and significance of events.

Author

• Katy Rozad, University of Toronto