Title: The 1992 Los Angeles Riots: A Comparison of Media Coverage Between the Los Angeles Times, The Orange County Register, and the Los Angeles Sentinel
Datum
2021-06
Autor:innen
Lai Wah, Chen
Zeitschriftentitel
ISSN der Zeitschrift
Bandtitel
Verlag
University of Oregon
Zusammenfassung
Between April 30th to May 4th, the 1992 Los Angeles riots caused thousands of injuries and arrests, over hundreds of destroyed buildings, and added up to over a billion dollars in damages. This violence and destruction did not occur in a vacuum; but rather, there were already pre-existent and escalating tensions – especially within the Black communities in South Central Los Angeles. News media, however, significantly diverged in their portrayals of the root causes for the unrest. A comparison between the Times, The Orange County Register, and the Sentinel showcases how differently mainstream and ethnic minority newspapers approached the incidents that began with the beating of Rodney King, the not guilty verdict of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers, as well as the violence and destruction that followed. Each newspaper was a prominent source of influence for local communities, either within the city or in the metropolitan area, and played a significant role in the public perception and interpretation of the 1992 Los Angeles riots. At the same time, the Times, The Orange County Register, and the Sentinel showcased moments of significant convergence as they advanced their own news agenda, which influenced their respective narratives as well. Each newspaper showcased points of convergence and divergence in their media coverage of the “Rodney King Incident”, the murder of Latasha Harlins, Reginald Denny’s beating, and the presence of other minority groups within the 1992 Los Angeles riots. These perspectives or frameworks reflected how the Times, The Orange County Register’s, and the Sentinel actively constructed their own portrayals throughout the unraveling of violence and destruction, and ultimately, those narratives implied different aspects of social reality experienced by the various groups of individuals in Los Angeles.
Beschreibung
54 pages. A thesis presented to the Department of History and the Clark Honors College of the University of Oregon in partial fulfillment of the requirements for degree of Bachelor of Arts, Spring 2021.