Академический Документы
Профессиональный Документы
Культура Документы
Kianna Mateen
English 3020
24 April 2017
MLA Style
INTRODUCTION
The daily consumption of news through the constantly developing forms of media has
continued to shape how society perceives essentially every topic but also the matter of police
brutality. This topic has been a source of heated debate within America for a long time and it is
both historical and significant to present day society which is why the issue needs to be
examined from the source of distribution: the media. According to each article that I observed,
regarding police brutality, most acts of police brutality occur with the stigma of authority versus
minority. Therefore, to fully delve into this these coinciding topics, it would be hard not to
mention the importance of race in the matter (Rice and Rice 83).
Many scholars have examined how much media influences society as well as societal
perceptions and opinions about police brutality. As a result, I conducted secondary research to
begin the process of answering my question: How does the media influence ideologies about
police brutality and does this influence assist the goal of racial equality? Consequently, the initial
part of this research project will discuss what scholars discovered about the media, police
brutality, and the combination of the two. Once these observations are examined, I will then
M AT E E N | 2
delve into my primary research by examining and describing the implications of this media
The media and motivations behind its creation can mean a lot of things to different people
but it can be concluded that it is societys primary source of information, as observed in "Truth
Telling, the Media, and Society" created by Nicholas Boyle. In this article, Boyle describes the
media and the roles that it plays in society. In the past, the media was known as the media of
communication and in recent years it has been identified as the mass media (Boyle 19). This
simple change in what majority of society labels the media as, is rather different. In the initial
phases of media, communication was done through newspapers, radio, cinema, and TV while it
is now primarily constructed through the internet (Boyle 20). To compare time frames, it appears
that in earlier forms of media anything that was published was more valuable to society than our
current societal relationship with news. Consequently, there seems to be a decline in this
viewpoint from the reason that the current forms of media are constantly being distributed at a
rapid pace. Despite this sense of societal awareness, everyone seems to greatly engage with
media and it is said to be because humans are indeed social animals (Boyle 19). This is
something that mostly everyone in society can relate to being that we often, as humans,
knowingly engage with others that seem to be toxic just for enhanced social interactions.
To gain more of an understanding about the current relationship between the media and
society, I observed Evolution of the Digital Society Reveals Balance between Viral and Mass
Media Influence" by Kaj-Kolja Kleineberg and Marin Bogu. In this article, society is divided
into three categories of individuals based on their levels of involvement with the media and its
influence within their daily lives. The three categories are labeled as susceptible, passive, and
M AT E E N | 3
individual is one that possess the ability to be influenced by the media but has not been yet, an
active individual is fully involved with the media, and a passive individual only interacts with
media in a way that is not fully engaged (Kleineberg and Bogu). This seems to be an accurate
representation of how most people would define societal levels of media interactions. Therefore,
it can be concluded that some members of society seem to be more inclined to possess views that
strongly correlates to what they are presented with in the media (Kleineberg and Bogu). This
influence seemed to be less prominent in the earlier years of the media even though it appeared
to be more valuable. However, media forums are constantly changing and the newer
communication being that it constantly allows communication directly to society (Boyle 20).
Police Brutality
Twenty-five years after the publication of the Kerner Commission, there was not any
noticeable change in the way that the difference of how the police treated whites and minorities
To make matters worse, decades after the report, it was stated that over three hundred
African Americans were killed by the police in the year of 2014 (Embrick 837). This is a
substantial amount of lives loss due to what happens to be defined as justifiable force. Recently,
it has also been observed that police brutality is an essentially modified form of slavery because
it is a way of implementing a control over minorities in a more discreet manner (Embrick 838).
While many minorities are aware of this sense of severity about police brutality, one of the main
reasons that it remains a problem is because white individuals continuously hold the illusion that
racism has ended (Evans and Feagin 890). Viewing something as if it does not exist can only
M AT E E N | 4
perpetuate the problem until it becomes significant enough that it is hard to ignore or provide an
effective solution. On the other hand, this is an issue that is also significant to the American
society because it will only become more difficult to distinguish when excessive force used by
the police is fair or corrupt (Smith and Holmes 1036). As a result of these findings I aim to
discover if the medias influence on police brutality has grown and presents a goal of racial
It is said that the main source of contribution to police brutality and its sense of
justification, is the media (Embrick 839). Events that are categorized as police brutality tend to
occur when the officer has used excessive force but is often hesitant to reveal what exactly
happened as they express how they deeply feared for their lives (Evans and Feagin pp. 887-888).
This extreme sense of force from the police is typically seen as a racial matter being that it
usually involves interactions with minorities (Smith and Holmes 1036). This stigma associated
with police brutality only perpetuates the ideology that most minorities are dangerous which is
why police officers who are also minorities often engage in this tactic of discrimination (Smith
and Holmes 1054). It has been examined that the media tends to stereotype people in society
with police officers and white individuals appearing as innocent victims while minorities are
usually distorted as violent delinquents (Embrick 839). Typically, this cruelty delivered by the
police often occurs in situations where if the pursued criminal was white, they possibly would
receive a reward or warning or there would be no retaliation (Embrick 836). However, the media
repeatedly fails to criminalize the coverage surrounding white violence, such as the deadly
shootout that involved an all-white biker gang in Texas, in the way that they continue to do in
every shooting incident involving minorities (Embrick 839). This distortion in delivery occurs
M AT E E N | 5
frequently and can be observed in a myriad of media forums about minorities and whites. The
media tends to also be directly delivered to reporters by police officers who makes a conscious
effort to show that they demonstrated tactics of defense against the victims (Lawrence 3).
Overall there has been an abundance of lives lost due to police brutality yet many forms
of media articles represent this issue as a newly established growing concern for many white
Americans (Evans and Feagin 888). This topic has caused many differing viewpoints in America,
in 1967 the Kerner Commission listed police brutality and white racism as the main reasons why
the rebellion began, however, many whites held the belief that the events happened sporadically
(Rice and Rice 84). One major case of media coverage that seemed to display police brutality in
the accurate viewpoint of being unjustifiable was the televised beating of Rodney King
(Lawrence 142). This coverage allowed for society to see the struggles that minorities dealt with
a regular basis. However, every now and then journalists feel as though they are obligated to
entertain opposed to give an objective description of a story which can often result in a report
that appears to possess a certain amount of police subjectivity (Lawrence pp. 88-90).
This subjectivity allows the media to portray victims of police brutality in ways that
describes them as police officers do, which diminishes the humanity to be understood about each
victims lives, as if they do not matter (Obasogie and Newman 567). The most recent display of
combating police brutality and biased media alteration would have to be The Black Lives
Matter media-focused movement. This movement launched following the infamous killing of
Trayvon Martin and his shooters acquittal (Obasogie and Newman 542). The incident left a
sizeable amount of debate across the country. However, the continuous attention that the media
permits for the Black Lives Matter movement has allowed society to become even more sensitive
to police brutality (Obasogie and Newman 544). It also gave people a chance to form opinions
M AT E E N | 6
on where they stand in the discussion of social reform through media as well as the topic of
police brutality.
METHODS
Sampling Methods. To examine the importance of media coverage of police brutality for
racial equality I decided to survey 52 individuals across Wayne State Universitys Campus.
These questions prompted optional responses of yes, no, and the choice of being uncertain on a
I also conducted an interview with a Detroiter who experienced the racial tension and
media coverage of police brutality surrounding the 1967 riots. In this discussion, I aimed to
examine my interviewees input on how things related to police brutality were represented in the
media then compared to the present day. I also observed released police brutality articles both in
the 1960s and the 2010s to analyze whether the stories increased in coverage and perceived
importance.
Survey Data. I verbally surveyed 52 Wayne State University individuals ranging from the
surveyed, 12 of the participants were African American, and the remaining 10 consisted of
individuals who identify as South Asian Americans. I specifically chose to target these people to
receive data from a diverse group of individuals that appear to observe media coverage on a
regular basis. One major reason being that majority of the participants are college students who
are categorized as technological interactive millennials which makes them more likely to follow
the current trends of the media including coverage of police brutality. This generation is also
M AT E E N | 7
more likely to be the direct consumers of the primary efforts of police brutality awareness
presented by the media. Eight of the 52 individuals surveyed were Caucasian American staff of
Wayne State University that ranged from ages 30-53. I chose to survey these employees to
diversify the age group of the participants. Overall, I thought it would be a good idea to examine
a society that would appear to be more capable of being objective being that Wayne State
Do you believe that the media has influenced societal perceptions of police
brutality?
Do you believe that media outlets have influenced your perception of police
brutality?
Do you believe that media coverage of police brutality has grown substantially in
Detroiter named Arthur Wilson who could compare his actual experience with police brutality to
its portrayal in the media. Arthur is a 60-year-old African American male who was born and
raised in the city of Detroit and in his mid-30s he moved to a suburban area located outside of
M AT E E N | 8
the city. I believe that this viewpoint is also important because it examines an individuals
perspective who grew up seeing one side of this problem to presently witnessing new media
tactics that seems to propose more equality for minorities. Therefore, half of his life is spent
viewing police brutality primarily in person than in media while the other half examines it more
so through the eyes of media portrayal. Overall I feel that the combination of these two
viewpoints would represent a great sample of the American societal depiction of police brutality
Article Observations. I examined current and past police brutality articles to further
analyze how the medias coverage of police brutality has growingly helped perpetuate racial
equality. I examined articles from the 1960s published through the Michigan Chronicle, The
Detroit News, and Detroit Free Press when the rise of police brutality awareness seemed to gain
Americas interest. I also examined articles from the New Republic, Michigan Chronicle, The
Detroit News, and Detroit Free Press but in the 2010s where the articles seem to continue the
concerned captivation within American society. In these articles, I hoped to see an increase in the
amount of coverage and concern that correlates with the amount of racial equality change over
RESULTS
Survey Data Analysis. After conducting the surveys, 88% of the participants
acknowledged the fact that the media has influenced societal perceptions of police brutality 8%
responded as being uncertain and 4% answered no. All South Asian and African American
participants answered yes to this question while 76% of the Caucasian American participants
answered yes. Regarding whether their personal perception of police brutality has been
influenced by the media coverage 76% of participants answered yes. Out of this 76% just over
M AT E E N | 9
half of each ethnicity answered yes while 11% of participants answered no and 13% were
uncertain. Out of the 52 participants, 92% of them also believed that the media coverage of
police brutality has grown substantially since earlier years. Four people answered no to this
The belief that police brutality has become more important to society after receiving
attention from the media received 63% agreed responses. All Caucasian Americans responded
yes while all African Americans and three South Asians answered this question by saying no.
However, no participants expressed that the social media police brutality awareness efforts such
as Black Lives Matter were not important. Instead 96% of the participants believe that they are
important and the remainder 4% were Caucasian Americans who responded as being uncertain
about their response. Very similar responses were given to the belief that these social media
movements help perpetuate the goal of racial unification and equality. Specifically, 92% of
participants responded that the movements do in fact assist the goal while 8% of participants
were uncertain. Half of that 8% were the Caucasian Americans who were uncertain previously
Regarding the belief that the media coverage of racial inequalities (such as police
brutality) helped create a desire within society to end such discriminations left a higher sense of
equal uncertainty. Ten Caucasian Americans, four African Americans, and three South Asians all
were uncertain of their response totaling to 36% of responses but the rest of the participants
answered yes and not a single person responded to the question by answering no. Overall, most
Interview Data Analysis. Arthur Wilsons thoughts on police brutality seem to originate
from his childhood but slowly became influenced more so by the media as he grew older and
moved further from the city. Arthurs original encounters with police brutality happened
throughout his childhood in Detroit and during the personal loss of his brother through an
incident with the police. In my neighborhood people got killed on a regular basis and they had
massacres over thereit was nothing to walk around and see a dead body (Wilson). Arthur did
not elaborate on the details of the incident with his brother but after moments of reflection he
realized that it led to him developing a stronger sense of separation between blacks and whites.
When asked whether the medias portrayal of police brutality was accurate in the 1960s Arthur
responded, Not all of the details were rightIm just happy people got the chance to see what
This direct interaction with police brutality and racial injustices within Detroit led him to
leave the city to work for General Motors at the age of 32 (Wilson). Once Arthur made this
transition he began to see police brutality primarily through media reports rather than personal
experience. He also became more racially intertwined with other ethnicities he explained that he
began to become open to engagement with others from different backgrounds. This move also
led to a more observatory police brutality position for Arthur rather than participatory.
When asked whether he supports the Black Lives Matter movement on social media
platforms he expressed that the movement is making progresstheyre creating a voice for the
people (Wilson). This statement was followed by his acknowledgement of the fact that if media
forums never exposed acts of police brutality, it would even more massive than it already is
(Wilson). However, one critique that Arthur had about the medias influence on police brutality
for racial fairness was that the media never seems to focus on the progressive developments of
M A T E E N | 11
racial injustices which may make it harder for the people aiming for progress to continue their
Media Data Analysis. To receive a deeper understanding of the medias influence over
societal perceptions of police brutality, I analyzed several articles published in the 1960s
compared to articles published in the 2010s. The first set of articles that I examined were
published in the Detroit Free Press. The newspaper article titled U.S. Aides Condemn City
Police was released on November 13, 1968 by Tom De Lisle. In this article De Lisle discussed a
suit filed by three Detroit civil right leaders against two police officers for unjustified retaliation
to a participate of the Poor Peoples March. The article describes an individual going up to an
officer and requesting that he move his police so that the marchers could get by but the officer
deliberately made his horse trample over the individuals foot. De Lisle went on to explain that
no Detroit officials responded on these statements which is why the civil right leaders decided to
The more current article that I viewed from this publisher was titled $37M awarded in
Genesee Co. police beating caught on camera which was written by Tresa Baldas on November
6, 2016. This article describes a case where a man was arrested for drunk driving and later was
abused by police that happened to be caught on camera. Although this event is quite disturbing, I
believe that it represents progress because I am not certain that the release of this footage would
have had resulted in the same outcome in the 1960s. Also, the fact that the court system
acknowledged this as a crime by giving the man a reward is a huge step of progress in contrast of
the Detroit officials lack of response from the previous Free Press article.
The second set of articles that I examined were also published by the Detroit Free Press.
The first article was written by William Serrin in December of 1967 titled How Well Does the
M A T E E N | 12
City Police Its Police? This article discussed how thousands of complaints given by minorities
surrounding police brutality were continuously ignored by the Detroit Police Departent. Serrin
also includes feedback from the head Detroit police inspector Carl Heffernan who explains that
there is not much that anyone can do about the complaints being that there are several corrupt
officers within the force that have acquired a great deal of respect and loyalty amongst fellow
officials.
The more current article that I examined published by the Detroit Free Press is titled
Police shootings of black men: Haven't we seen enough? by Stephen Henderson in July of
2016. The article begins by referencing back to 1955 when Mamie Till chose to let the media
outlets publish an open casket picture of her son who was fatally beaten by police officers.
Henderson displays this image and shortly after it wrote Now, we face our own call to collective
will to stop the gruesome pattern of brutal police killings of African American men, women and
children. Just below this statement Henderson included footage and information about the
recent police brutality occurrences at the time that seem to provide reasoning for this sense of
The Detroit News is who published my third set of articles that I chose to examine. The
article published in 1968 seemed to defend the police in a way that criminalized minorities was
titled Police Across the Nation Starting to Fight Back. This story is something that would be
likely to be more controversial if it were released today mainly because majority of the American
society tends to perceive police brutality as something that exist rather than something that is
believed by only African Americans. The article goes on to discuss how police are seeing
improve police brutality through the criminal justice system. The police force main reasoning for
M A T E E N | 13
this opposition was that these adjustments would cause minority groups to depreciate police
authority.
The more recent article that I observed published by the Detroit News was released in
April of 2017 and entitled Mom of slain Detroit man sues police for $50M by Nicquel Terry.
In this article Terry describes how Nelda Kellom filed a federal complaint after her 39 year-old
unarmed son was shot in his home after being accused of robbing a pizza delivery person and
violation of probation. However, it has been brought to the attention of the family that the police
did not have a proper warrant for his arrest or to enter Terrances home. Overall this report seems
My final set of media articles were published by the Michigan Chronicle. The first article
was released in 1968 and titled Task Force Finds 4-1 Cop Ratio Ok. The article describes the
fact that there are four Caucasian police officers to every one black officer. The title suggests that
this is a problem that needs to be addressed while the content explains steps taken by Mayor
Cavanagh to address this problem. The second article that I reviewed published by the Michigan
Chronicle is titled Detroit Pastors Warn Black Residents to Avoid Traveling to Suburb of
Eastpointe and was written by Roz Edward on December 14, 2016. In this article Edward
explains that pastors of Detroit are using their platform and social media efforts to warn African
Americans about police brutality occurrences within Eastpointe. This all began after an African
American man was recently arrested for drunk driving and during his arrest police displayed
excessive force causing the man to become unconscious and lose vision in one eye (Edward).
This story seems to display a sense of media responsibility to forward this message across
Due to the fact that social media is a more recent media advancement I concluded that it
would not be appropriate to compare a 1960s article to this movement. However, I did find a
current article on the movement titled Why Black Lives Still Matter Still Matters by Mark
Binelli that was published by the New Republic in May 2017. This article discussed the
beginning reports of police brutality that occurred in the 1960s that led to the events presented in
the 1967 riots. Binelli goes on to connect these historical factors to the black lives matter
movements by providing a evidence of how long the police forces have been extremely corrupt.
Specifically, he discussed the officer that embodied brutal tactics the the zero-visibility patrol
known as stress, Raymond Peterson (Binelli 31). Peterson was known around Detroit as Mr.
STRESS and Binellis article went on to assure the public that there are other individuals who
embody these horrible tactics after 50 years have passed which is why social media movements
to spread awareness are still very relevant and important (Binelli pp.35-41).
DISCUSSION
individuals of the media while Arthur seemed to be a more passive media individual, according
to the definitions provided by Kaj-Kolja Kleineberg and Marin Bogu (p. 3). I believe that this
combination of analysis per individual observation helped develop results that seem to represent
an accurate measure of societal perceptions. As a result it appears that these individuals view the
media influence to be strong when analyzing its effect on societal sense of awareness. Arthurs
statement about the media making progresstheyre creating a voice for the people combined
with the fact that 92% of participants responded that the movements do in fact assist with the
goal of racial unification and equality exemplifies that the power that society believes the media
Regarding my findings amongst my article assessments, I noticed that after each analysis
of comparison the articles grew in both coverage and perception of importance as the time
signifies its level of unlawfulness in present society (Baldas). This demonstrates great progress
since the time when events of police brutality were not acknowledged by local levels of
government (De Lisle). Within this change I also noticed that the methods of police brutality
reported has become more violent overtime which may signify why the articles tones seem to
appear more urgent in a way that presents a demand for action to be taken within society.
Specifically, it appeared that in 1960s there were more reports of physical abuse reports and
complaints presented in Serrins 1968article. However, as time progressed the acts of violence
have seemed to grow more violent and intrusive as seen in Terrrys 2017 article where the police
Despite the unfortunate results of the growth of abusive techniques, it appears that these
tactics allow for more empathy evoked article. The images of the young son and mom crying in
the article written by Henderson seems to be aimed specifically at calling towards society to
assume the responsibility of preventing these events. I believe that this shift in an empathetic
representation of police brutality helped society become more shaped towards racial equality
Although the media does not always represent news in a completely objective manner it
seems that the efforts of representing police brutality appears to be valuable. This subjectivity
displayed by the media seems to benefit society by bringing great attention to the matter of the
mistreatment of minorities. In every article that I analyzed, they seemed to all denote the fact that
police brutality is a topic that needs to be brought to everyones attention opposed to being
M A T E E N | 16
another hidden problem of America. Therefore, I believe that the media should continue
acknowledging police brutality with this sense of urgency that causes society to also observe that
After concluding my research and examining the results, it is apparent that the increased
coverage of police brutality overtime has caused society to become more aware and concerned
about the topic. This is something that appears to have created more racial interaction and the
continuation of the quest for racial equality. This perception of police brutality seemed to be
agreed upon by Arthur who experienced both sides of the situation, 76% of survey responders,
Limitations of Study. One limitation of my study was the fact that I only surveyed
individuals at Wayne State University. The university is known for being one of the more diverse
college settings which may have neglected opportunities to receive perceptional feedback from
Americans who are not as directly exposed to the different racial injustice. It also limited the
survey to people who either work, live, or go to school in an urban area. Regarding the process
of surveys, I believe the fact that I verbally asked the questions and marked a tally for their
answers also limited the study. This is due to the fact that this process may have caused some
people to not be as candid in their responses. However, due to the time restraints presented it
Another limitation faced in this study was the fact that I interviewed one 60-year-old
African American male who grew up directly witnessing acts of police brutality. This interview
was highly appropriate for my topic but it was also precise meaning that it focused on a
narrowed opinion. Therefore, the key limitation in this method was the fact that I only received a
M A T E E N | 17
detailed interview from one person from a highly specific demographic rather than at least ten
Limitations surrounding my article research would be the fact that I focused on the 1960s
and 2010s rather than observing articles over each decade. This restricted my form of
comparison overtime being that I was not able to directly study the growth of the media outlets
opposed to a drastic time difference. Also, the formats hindered factors of comparison being that
the older articles that I examined were represented in newspapers while the newer articles were
Questions for Further Study. Regardless of the limits faced within this study, I do believe
that the results provide a sense of proof that the medias influence on society has caused a spread
in both awareness and concern about police brutality across America. However, it did stir up the
question of whether this enhanced sense of awareness and concern provides any substantial
action to be taken in ending events of police brutality. As a result, if I were to continue this study
I would focus more on whether this amount of attention brought to the topic has actually
provided some aid in declining incidents of police brutality. Additionally, I would allow for an
unlimited timeframe reserved for the conduction of extensive secondary and primary research. I
would enhance the amount and demographics of participants surveyed and interviewed to receive
CONCLUSION
The media is often seen as a harsh contributor to police brutality yet the often-warped
reports seem to deliver an abundance of awareness to society that it is in fact a form of racial
M A T E E N | 18
injustice. Therefore, it can be concluded that this perception of police brutality presents a
After concluding my secondary research, I established a baseline of how the media tends
to shape perceptions of police brutality and perpetuate racial equality. This helped me identify
the subtle changes in each forum as I examine media outlets from the years of 1960s compared
to present day. Most of these articles expanded the time frames did not seem to focus on how the
content, whether negative or positive, enhanced police brutality awareness and racial equality.
In the articles that I have examined no one seemed to make a substantial comparison
about the relationship between police brutality and the medias positive influence on society.
Therefore, in my primary research I aimed to discover how the media portrayal of police
brutality grew as well as the awareness and fight for equality that it seems to spread. In addition
to this, I could examine how the media has made changed in their delivery on messages of police
Works Cited
Boyle, Nicholas. "Truth Telling, the Media, and Society." New Blackfriars, vol. 98, no. 1073,
M A T E E N | 19
Embrick, David G. "Two Nations, Revisited: The Lynching of Black and Brown Bodies, Police
Brutality, and Racial Control in Post-Racial Amerikkka." Critical Sociology, vol. 41,
Evans, Louwanda, and Joe R. Feagin. "The Costs of Policing Violence: Foregrounding Cognitive
and Emotional Labor." Critical Sociology, vol. 41, no. 6, 2015, pp. 887-895,
doi:10.1177/0896920515589727.
Kleineberg, KK, and M. Boguna. "Evolution of the Digital Society Reveals Balance between
Viral and Mass Media Influence." PHYSICAL REVIEW X, vol. 4, no. 3, 2014,
doi:10.1103/PhysRevX.4.031046.
Lawrence, Regina G. The Politics of Force : Media and the Construction of Police Brutality.
Berkeley, US: University of California Press, 2000. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 27 March
2017.
Obasogie, Osagie K. and Newman, Zachary. "Black Lives Matter and Respectability Politics in
Rice, Albert M., and Phillip Rice. "Two Brothers Reflect on Spirit of Detroit." Text and
doi:10.1080/10462937.2014.975275.
M A T E E N | 20
Smith, Brad W., and Malcom D. Holmes. "Community Accountability, Minority Threat, and
Serrin, William. "How Well Does the City Police its Police." Box 3, Folder 1. Dan Georgakas
Collection. Walter P. Reuther Library, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI. 5 April 2017.