A Content Analysis on Police Killings of Unarmed Black Males: An Assessment on Experts' Quotes in National News Sources

There is increasing concern in news media sources regarding police killings of
unarmed Black males. However, there is limited research on the portrayal of such
incidents in the news and the implications for police-community relations in African-
American communities. In order to address this gap, this study analyzed 120 experts’
quotes provided by two of the largest and most respected newspapers in the United States
-- the New York Times and USA Today. This research comprised a content analysis of
quotes related to the deaths of Eric Garner (Staten Island, New York), Michael Brown
(Ferguson, Missouri), and Freddie Gray (Baltimore City, Maryland). A number of factors
are discussed: The news organization’s predominate category and specialty of experts
selected; whether the experts’ quotes attributed to pro-police or community bias; if the
experts’ quotes discussed social or racial inequalities in the cities selected; whether the experts addressed evidence-based strategies necessary to improve police-community
relations in the Black community, and whether experts’ quotes discussed solutions to
improve police and community relations in the Black community. The findings suggest
that the selected national news sources, in the one year following the deaths of each of
the unarmed victims, highlighted quotes from state manager, particularly politicians, at a
much higher rate than intellectuals. Although revealing a substantial level of procommunity
bias, the quotes presented very little regarding evidence-based strategies for
improving police-community relations in the Black community and reducing the number
of unarmed deaths caused by police. The implications for research on media and crime as
well as policing strategies are discussed.