{"id":{"repo_id":"iupui","oai_identifier":"oai:scholarworks.indianapolis.iu.edu:1805/10917"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/iupui/oai:scholarworks.indianapolis.iu.edu:1805/10917","repository":{"repo_id":"iupui","name":"IUPUI","base_url":"https://scholarworks.indianapolis.iu.edu/server/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"In Black and White: The American Media’s Construction of Police Killings","abstract":"With several highly publicized police killings during the latter half of 2014, the issue of police violence has been re-ignited in the United States as emotionally charged a topic as ever, dividing Americans politically and socially and racially. From Eric Garner to Nicholas Robertson, the media has been greatly influential on public perception of police killings. Based on 163 digital news articles about cases of police killings from the top ten visited American news sites of 2015, this study analyzes how the American media’s language contributes to readers’ perception of police killings, focusing on patterns of race-related modifiers, passivization, and evaluation. Use of these linguistic features can influence public perception of the role of race, police accountability, and societal expectations. Considering the findings, I advocate for media literacy education as professional development for journalists.","abstract_html":"With several highly publicized police killings during the latter half of 2014, the issue of police violence has been re-ignited in the United States as emotionally charged a topic as ever, dividing Americans politically and socially and racially. From Eric Garner to Nicholas Robertson, the media has been greatly influential on public perception of police killings. Based on 163 digital news articles about cases of police killings from the top ten visited American news sites of 2015, this study analyzes how the American media’s language contributes to readers’ perception of police killings, focusing on patterns of race-related modifiers, passivization, and evaluation. Use of these linguistic features can influence public perception of the role of race, police accountability, and societal expectations. Considering the findings, I advocate for media literacy education as professional development for journalists.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Johnson, Morgan Kristine"],"institution":null,"degree_name":null,"degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Rossing, Jonathan"],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2016,"date_issued":"2016","date_published":"2016","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:41:19Z","subjects":["sociolinguistics","discourse analysis","media","race","social justice"],"languages":["en_US"],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.doi","label":"DOI","values":["10.7912/C2PS3Q"],"render_values":[{"text":"10.7912/C2PS3Q","href":"https://doi.org/10.7912/C2PS3Q","code":true}]},{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["http://dx.doi.org/10.7912/C2/400"],"render_values":[{"text":"http://dx.doi.org/10.7912/C2/400","href":"http://dx.doi.org/10.7912/C2/400","code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://hdl.handle.net/1805/10917","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Rossing, Jonathan"]},{"key":"dc:contributor.other","label":"Dc Contributor Other","values":["Shepherd, Susan C.","DiCamilla, Frederick J.","Lovejoy, Kim B."]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Johnson, Morgan Kristine"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2016-09-14T18:01:25Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2016-09-14T18:01:25Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2016"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["sociolinguistics","discourse analysis","media","race","social justice"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language.iso","label":"Language (ISO)","values":["en_US"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.doi","label":"DOI","values":["10.7912/C2PS3Q"]},{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["https://hdl.handle.net/1805/10917","http://dx.doi.org/10.7912/C2/400"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)"]},{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["With several highly publicized police killings during the latter half of 2014, the issue of police violence has been re-ignited in the United States as emotionally charged a topic as ever, dividing Americans politically and socially and racially. From Eric Garner to Nicholas Robertson, the media has been greatly influential on public perception of police killings. Based on 163 digital news articles about cases of police killings from the top ten visited American news sites of 2015, this study analyzes how the American media’s language contributes to readers’ perception of police killings, focusing on patterns of race-related modifiers, passivization, and evaluation. Use of these linguistic features can influence public perception of the role of race, police accountability, and societal expectations. Considering the findings, I advocate for media literacy education as professional development for journalists."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["In Black and White: The American Media’s Construction of Police Killings"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["Rossing, Jonathan"],"dc:contributor.other":["Shepherd, Susan C.","DiCamilla, Frederick J.","Lovejoy, Kim B."],"dc:creator":["Johnson, Morgan Kristine"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2016-09-14T18:01:25Z"],"dc:date.available":["2016-09-14T18:01:25Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2016"],"dc:description":["Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)"],"dc:description.abstract":["With several highly publicized police killings during the latter half of 2014, the issue of police violence has been re-ignited in the United States as emotionally charged a topic as ever, dividing Americans politically and socially and racially. From Eric Garner to Nicholas Robertson, the media has been greatly influential on public perception of police killings. Based on 163 digital news articles about cases of police killings from the top ten visited American news sites of 2015, this study analyzes how the American media’s language contributes to readers’ perception of police killings, focusing on patterns of race-related modifiers, passivization, and evaluation. Use of these linguistic features can influence public perception of the role of race, police accountability, and societal expectations. Considering the findings, I advocate for media literacy education as professional development for journalists."],"dc:identifier.doi":["10.7912/C2PS3Q"],"dc:identifier.uri":["https://hdl.handle.net/1805/10917","http://dx.doi.org/10.7912/C2/400"],"dc:language.iso":["en_US"],"dc:subject":["sociolinguistics","discourse analysis","media","race","social justice"],"dc:title":["In Black and White: The American Media’s Construction of Police Killings"],"dc:type":["Thesis"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:41:19Z"}