When Officers Kill: An Examination of Media Portrayals of Deadly Force in the New York Times, 2005 to present

• In Event: Police Brutality and Use of Deadly Force

Abstract

With the recent high profile examples of deadly force including Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and Tamir Rice there has been a great deal of media attention on the killing of civilians by police officers. This study samples 100 randomly selected newspaper articles from the New York Times, containing phrases like “deadly force,” and police or law enforcement discussing an instance of an officer using deadly force published after 2005. In addition to the demographics of the officers involved and the victims involved, some other elements analyzed include the use of authority figures as sources, the placement of the article within the newspaper and the space devoted to it, the use of rhetorical devices within the article, and the slant of the article (pro or anti police). Among other hypotheses, it is predicted that officers are less likely to be quoted in more recent articles [losing 'ownership'], that the articles are increasingly likely to be front page news [increasing 'newsworthiness'], and that they have become more anti-police over time.

Author

• Sheryl Van Horne, Eastern University