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The public is inundated with racial images of criminality. The media may reinforce stereotypes that associate minority status with criminality. There are numerous studies that suggest that the media presents a distorted picture of race and crime. This study builds on prior research by developing a systematic and comprehensive analysis of racial presentations in local television news crime stories. Specifically, multivariate techniques were employed to determine predictors for race of victim and suspect. The results reveal that story characteristics influence the presentation of race for suspects and victims. For instance, story length, stage of crime, report of a firearm, and proactive police response predict the race of the victim and suspect. In addition, reporting of a motive and the presentation of outrage/sympathy predicts the race of the victim, while handcuff presentation predicts race of the suspect.
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Kenneth Dowler (2004) studied this question.
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