Louisiana State University Louisiana State University

LSU Scholarly Repository LSU Scholarly Repository

Honors Theses Ogden Honors College

5-2022

Lies in the Headlines: How Media Coverage Painted the Police Lies in the Headlines: How Media Coverage Painted the Police

Violence against Philando Castile and George Floyd Violence against Philando Castile and George Floyd

Bailey Malvueax

Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.lsu.edu/honors_etd

Part of the Sociology Commons

more information, please contact [email protected].

Lies in the Headlines: How Media Coverage Painted the Police Violence against Philando

Castile and George Floyd

Bailey Malveaux

Undergraduate Honors Thesis under the direction of

Dr. Lori Martin

Department of Sociology

Submitted to the Roger Ogden Honors College of Louisiana State University in partial

the media in these cases. The word choices and descriptions of victims in news articles

completely shape and influence public opinion. This study examines how the media presented

the cases of police brutality in two specific instances: the case of Philando Castile and the case of

George Floyd. In addition, this study will evaluate how the media perpetuated perpetrator

stereotypes of Black men despite them being the victims of violence. In July 2016, Philando

Castile was brutally shot five times at a traffic stop. Not even five years later, only 10 miles

away, George Floyd was suffocated in the streets. The city of Minneapolis experienced death

after death, heartbreak after heartbreak, and thousands of people across the nation mourned the

lives lost. Prior research shows that Black men are painted as deviant, unruly, and criminalistic in

Theory and Hypothesis…………………………………………………………………………10

Methodology…………………………………………………………………………………….13

Appendix A…………………………………………………...…………………………………29

Appendix B……………………………………………………………………………...………30

Appendix C……………………………………………………………………………………...31

Appendix D…………………………………………………………………….………………..32

References……………………………………………………………………………………….33

Table 4. Occurrences According to Police Accountability vs Apologetic/Deflective for George

Floyd……………………………………………………………………………………………..18

Table 5. Occurrences According to Racial Discrimination Emphasized vs Racial Discrimination

Deemphasized for Philando Castile………………………………………………...……………19

Table 6. Occurrences According to Racial Discrimination Emphasized vs Racial Discrimination

Deemphasized for George Floyd………………………………………………………….……..20

backlash to Black Reconstruction and used as a tool to re-enslave newly freed slaves (Browne

2010). Our current prison system started as a patrol system. Southern states such as North

Carolina began to implement “passing cards” and complex slave codes to restrict slaves (Hadden

2001). Eventually, individuals were hired and paid to affirm that these restrictions were being

upheld. Their job was to detain anyone who violated those restrictions. Thus, for the first time in

American history, we witnessed a career made solely by patrolling and capturing slaves. The

relationship between slave patrols and the criminal justice system is crucial to understand. The

slave patrol system had a domino effect, and it only became more and more systematic and rigid.

As time progressed and as traditional slavery was irradicated, negative attitudes towards slaves

Thus, the era of mass criminalization and incarceration began. With this increase in the

criminalization of Black people, many Americans tended to have a negative portrayal of people

of color. Research finds that in American society, Black people are highly associated with

civil rights violation. Police violence has been a constant battle for people of color. This can be

traced back to the origins of the prison system. The function of the American police was never

intended to prevent and investigate crime but rather to harass African Americans and some

minorities (Emesowum 2016). Thus, America having the highest number of officer-involved

killings (compared to mainstream developed countries) is no coincidence. More than 30,000

people have died from police violence in the United States from 1980 to 2018 with a majority of

those victims being Black (Police Violence US Subnational Collaborators 2019). The effects of

and an increase in racial discrimination in society. This study focuses on how police violence

views Black men, it is important to understand what framing is as an overarching idea. The

influences the choices people make about how to process that information (Davie 2015). For

example, take two ice cream brands. One says, “10 percent fat” and another says “90 percent

Natural surrounds physical occurrences that happen in an individual's life that can influence the

choices people make about how to process specific information (Goffman 1974). Social framing

surrounds socially driven occurrences that happen to influence people’s choices (Goffman 1974).

This area of framing is most relevant to this study. Media framing is a subcategory of social

framing. The media serves as a vessel for which individuals develop their social heuristics. Thus,

media framing simply is the angle or perspective from which a news story is told, and this angle

has the power to influence people choice’s and how they process specific information (Critical

Media Review 2015). When studying media framing, we are searching beyond what is simply

stated but analyzing the parameters of the discussion itself. It is important to look deeper into the

words, symbols, overall content, and tone used to frame the topic. Media framing influences

against marginalized people. For example, American society has stereotyped homeless

individuals as lazy or as drug addicts (Weng 2017). This stereotype can be detrimental to these

individuals finding employment or housing as these biases persist. Interestingly, people typically

use heuristics as a quick shortcut to help us as individuals try to understand what is happening

around us (Cottam 2015). Humans do this because it is not always feasible to stop and do

thorough research on every situation that we are in. People do not have the time, so they utilize

heuristics to fill in any breaks in our knowledge. What is interesting is that hypothetically,

heuristics should not play a role in the media. Journalists must obtain as many facts and pieces of

information as possible. They review videos and statements, analyze the circumstances of the

on their race (Cottam 2015). These stereotypes always have a negative effect on the individual

being stereotyped. Stereotypes of Black Americans are engraved in American culture due to its

long history of racism and discrimination. In fact, stereotypes was how many slaveholders

justified their actions (Westerkemp 1986). This justification for slavery trickled into the

justification of racism. At the peak of the civil rights movement, anti-integrationists declared that

the separation of the races was God-given and that God made differences in color for a reason

(Westerkemp 1986). This continued to evolve and was apparent in our laws and how we

incriminate and categorize Black Americans. Now, decades later Black Americans are suffering

the consequences because these stereotypes have been repeated from generation to generation

This is known as the social learning theory (Cottam 2015). Thus, even when all the facts are

rank. Police officers must make a conscious and intentional effort to not allow their biases to

overcome their proper judgment.

stereotypes because of the center of whiteness in American society and the negative portrayal of

Black Americans in media and history. Thus, before the situation is evaluated, these perceptions

this clouded judgment is used when they make their decisions. This results in Black Americans

being victims of police brutality and being affiliated with negative stereotypes. I hypothesize that

these biases are only heightened by the media specifically in the cases of Philando Castile and

George Floyd. I hypothesize that the results of this study’s research questions will be as follows:

H1: All news articles evaluated will negatively represent Philando Castile and George Floyd and

frame the stories to depict them as aggressive, uncooperative, and dangerous.

H2. Conversely, all news articles evaluated will positively represent the officers and frame the

stories to depict them as misunderstood and mistaken.

H3: The lasting consequences of misrepresentation of race and police violence are increased

and analyze patterns of negative depictions of Black men directly from the sources. All news

articles for this study were pulled from a period no more than two weeks after each incident. The

news articles used in this study covering the Castile murder were the week of July 6, 2016; and

the news articles covering Floyd’s murder were published the week of May 25, 2020. These

periods were chosen because they encompass the period of the most salient coverage. This is also

to uphold the integrity of journalists’ initial and primary views. The sample contains articles

from journalists whose news organizations’ standards are the priority and are not influenced by

public reaction. The sample and results would be skewed if articles were used from weeks after

the incidents where public scrutiny could influence how newspapers report.

1. Perpetrator vs. Victim: the language portrays Philando Castile / George Floyd as the

- Perpetrator: the person who commits or is responsible for the crime

- Victim: the person who is harmed because of the crime (Jackson 2021)

2. Police Accountability vs Apologetic/Deflective: Did the language that portrays the

3. Racial Discrimination Emphasized vs Racial Discrimination Deemphasized: Does the

4. Other: both coded and uncoded language. This section was included because, unlike

for this study. The choice of the newspapers was based on location and accessibility. The

StarTribune is located in Minneapolis, the city where both Castile and Floyd were murdered.

analysis were accessed directly through the newspaper’s website (startribune.com) and the search

throughout the area. The articles for analysis were accessed directly through the newspaper’s

website (Kare11.com) and the search filter was used to find articles about Philando Castile and

from the murders of Castile and Floyd gives a fresh perspective that offsets the proximity of the

StarTribune and Kare11. Jackson’s study also included the New York Times because the size and

the newspaper’s website (nytimes.com) and the search filter was used to find articles about

Philando Castile and George Floyd.

selected from each of the following publications: the StarTribune, Kare11, and the New York

Times. From each newspaper, five articles were analyzed for Philando Castile, and five articles

were analyzed for George Floyd. I did not use articles that were deemed as “opinion” pieces or

that simply listed a chain of events. I picked the five longest and most dense articles.

perpetrator or victim by indicating “perpetrator,” “victim,” or “NDC”. In Table 1, the variable

Castile was live-streamed, and his daughter and girlfriend were present during his death. Thus, it

would be difficult to justify establishing Castile as a perpetrator. However, what is interesting is

the substantial amount of “NDC”. It should be apparent that an individual who was shot without

is “perpetrator.” The death of Floyd was recorded by a bystander and his pleas for help were

heard by everyone around. Thus, it would be difficult to justify establishing Floyd as a

perpetrator. Also, the majority of all three newspapers categorized Floyd as a victim. I

hypothesize that this is because Floyd was very vocal in his pleas repeating “Please, I can't

breathe” more than 20 times (Singh 2020).

Police Accountability vs Apologetic/Deflective. I indicated if journalists indicated if the officers

who killed Castile or Floyd should be held accountable. Accountability (i.e were words such as

“responsibility” or “justice” used) or were the writers sympathetic/deflective (i.e mentioning

officers' service or character neglecting to mention them at all). In Table 3, the variable with the

most number of occurrences across all three newspapers is “deflection.” Within many of the

articles, the police officer who shot Castile was either quickly mentioned and dismissed or the

article focused on his upstanding background and not the crime that occurred.

racial discrimination in their city. If they were to address the issue, they also have to accept it in

reality.

as a victim. Eighty percent of their articles properly identified Floyd as the victim (an increase of

40% from Castile’s). The largest change is the degree to which the New York Times addressed the

racial discrimination aspect of the murder. Eighty percent of their articles addressed the issue of

racial discrimination in Floyd’s murder (an increase of 60% from Castile’s). Police violence on a

America and worldwide rose to fight against police brutality and racism in the American policing

States were presented to combat police misconduct (Smith 2020). Overall, local newspapers in

this study deemphasized the aspect of racial discrimination for the death of George Floyd while

the national newspaper emphasized the aspect of race discrimination.

homicides more likely to receive more newspaper coverage than others. However, what happens

when perpetrators do not fit this stereotype is interesting. The perpetrators in the cases of

Philando Castile and George Floyd have an occupation that is well respected in society. Police

officers are viewed as heroic, brave, and selfless. The question this study addresses is are these

Philando Castile attempted to remain as deflective as possible. A majority of the articles

analyzed from the StarTribune did not address the larger issue of police violence. Minneapolis

has had a series of police-related violence before the death of Philando Castile. In 2006,

19-year-old Fong Lee was shot eight times by officers due to the claim that he had a gun.

However, multiple reports indicated that the gun had been in police possession since 2004 (Ajasa

2021). In 2012, Mike Spann was beaten outside a bar by three Minneapolis officers while using

handcuffed (Ajasa 2021). It is biased journalism to not indicate the larger issue of police

unjust police accountability. This is a disservice to readers as they do not get all information to

form proper opinions on the subject.

officers’ history and background. They mentioned their ranks, their years serving in the police

department, and how the officers from the incident were “best friends since high school”. These

of police violence feeling unheard and insignificant. It again individualizes the incident and fails

to establish patterns of police violence in America. Future researchers again, will not be able to

find information needed regarding police violence if they are not categorized as such.

articles deflected but not as much as the StarTribune. Sixty percent of the articles from the New

York Times did not mention the larger issue of police violence. Overall, none of the articles in

this study indicated that journalists reported police violence against Philando Castile in an

unbiased manner. However, results indicated the reports changed for the death of George Floyd.

of Castile. A majority of the articles analyzed from the StarTribune did not address the larger

after the death of George Floyd, the StarTribune focused on the negative aspects of these

protests. Some articles described the protests as “clashing”, “heavy tension”, and “hostile”. This

is coded language to negatively describe the protests without explicitly going against them. This

majority of the articles from Kare11 addressed the issue of police violence and focused on police

demanded justice for George Floyd. Kare11 triumphantly reported the protests, using words

such as “movement” and “justice”.

addressed the issues of racial discrimination surrounding Floyd’s murder. I hypothesize that this

increase occurred because justice Floyd’s death became one of the most monumental movements

in United States history. In demonstrations that drew millions in cities across the country and

abroad, protesters called for police reform while mourning the death of yet another unarmed

Black person at the hands of police in the United States (Deliso 2021). As a prominent national

newspaper, the New York Times had no choice but to reflect the perspective and attitude of

opinion.

Question 3: What are the lasting consequences of misrepresentation of race and police violence

by the media?

can lead to the development of stereotypic memory traces, which, in turn, can influence

individuals’ thoughts, feelings, and behaviors (Mastro 2009). In relation to race and policing, if

in the media the following steps can be taken to limit the negative impact of stereotypes in the

media and maximize the positive benefits media may have on our attitudes toward out-groups

(Sharples and Page-Gould 2016). In a study conducted by the University of Toronto, they found

that if we are exposed to positive interactions between members of different social groups, we

are more likely to have positive attitudes towards the individuals of those social groups (Sharples

and Page-Gould 2016). In sum to combat misrepresentation with race, policing, or even gender,

what is the priority is being exposed not necessarily to a positive representation of each group,

but a positive representation of interactions between groups. This exposure, in addition, will

decrease concerns about interacting with different groups in individuals’ personal lives. Using

judgment.

of variables. Having a larger sample of news articles would have allowed for better comparison.

men. However, this luxury is not extended to Black women. In fact, African American women

are more likely than women of other races to go to prison during their lifetimes (Department of

Justice 2003). Black women are stereotyped as angry and overbearing. Thus, it would bring a

fresh perspective to analyze how the media would describe them when they are victims of

violence.

Perpetrator vs. Victim:1=perpetrator, 2=victim, 3= no definitive conclusion

Police Accountability vs Apologetic/Deflective: 1=high presence of PA 2= low presence of PA

Race Emphasized vs Race Deemphasized: 1=emphasized, 2=deemphasized

Other: negative words/phrases outside of listed categories