Race, Responsibility and Framing in the Wake of Hurricane Katrina

• In Event: Media Framing

Abstract

Employing an experimental design and a nationally representative sample, this study looks at the power of news images and the effect of ethnicity on the attribution of responsibility for the consequences of Hurricane Katrina. White participants were more likely to blame the federal government when there were no pictures of victims included in a news account than when such images were included. African Americans were more likely to blame the government irrespective of experimental conditions.

Authors

• Eran N. Ben-Porath, Annenberg School for Communication, UPENN

• Lee K. Shaker, Annenberg School for Communication, UPENN