Tupac Amaru Shakur -- Moral Panic, Media Crucifixion and Resurrection
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UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones 5-1-2014 "I Got Shot Five Times and I Got Crucified ot the Media": Tupac Amaru Shakur -- Moral Panic, Media Crucifixion and Resurrection Lucas Jerome Combs University of Nevada, Las Vegas Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/thesesdissertations Part of the Broadcast and Video Studies Commons, Journalism Studies Commons, Law Commons, and the Sociology Commons Repository Citation Combs, Lucas Jerome, ""I Got Shot Five Times and I Got Crucified ot the Media": Tupac Amaru Shakur -- Moral Panic, Media Crucifixion and Resurrection" (2014). UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones. 2067. http://dx.doi.org/10.34917/5836086 This Thesis is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been brought to you by Digital Scholarship@UNLV with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this Thesis in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/ or on the work itself. This Thesis has been accepted for inclusion in UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones by an authorized administrator of Digital Scholarship@UNLV. For more information, please contact [email protected]. “I GOT SHOT FIVE TIMES AND I GOT CRUCIFIED TO THE MEDIA” TUPAC AMARU SHAKUR — MORAL PANIC, MEDIA CRUCIFIXION AND RESURRECTION by Lucas J. Combs Bachelor of Arts in English University of Washington 2012 A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Arts - Journalism and Media Studies Hank Greenspun School of Journalism and Media Studies Greenspun College of Urban Affairs The Graduate College University of Nevada, Las Vegas May 2014 THE GRADUATE COLLEGE We recommend the thesis prepared under our supervision by Lucas J. Combs entitled “I Got Shot Five Times and I Got Crucified to the Media”: Tupac Amaru Shakur – Moral Panic, Media Crucifixion and Resurrection is approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts - Journalism and Media Studies Hank Greenspun School of Journalism and Media Studies Stephen Bates, J.D., Committee Chair Gary Larson, Ph.D., Committee Member Greg Borchard, Ph.D., Committee Member Robert Futrell, Ph.D., Graduate College Representative Kathryn Hausbeck Korgan, Ph.D., Interim Dean of the Graduate College May 2014 ii ABSTRACT “I Got Shot Five Times and I Got Crucified to the Media” Tupac Amaru Shakur — Moral Panic, Media Crucifixion and Resurrection by Lucas Jerome Combs Professor Stephen Bates, Examination Committee Chair Associate Professor of Journalism and Media Studies University of Nevada, Las Vegas This thesis looks at why the media had and continues to have a fascination with the late rap artist Tupac Amaru Shakur. A content analysis of coverage from twelve newspaper publications was used to better understand the nature of the coverage on Shakur. Analysis of coverage after Shakur’s death determines the tone of coverage varied from the coverage when the rapper was alive. The concept of moral panic explains media attitude. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank Professor Stephen Bates for his tireless support and help through this process. I would also like to thank Professor Gregory Borchard, Professor Gary Larson, and Professor Robert Futrell for their insight and guidance. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ……………………………………………………………………. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ……………………………………………………. iv LIST OF FIGURES ……………………………………………………………. vii CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ……………………………………………. 1 Thematic Statement ……………………………………………………. 3 Background ……………………………………………………………. 4 Significance of Thesis……………………………………………............ 17 Methodology ……………………………………………………………. 18 CHAPTER 2. LITERATURE REVIEW ……………………………………. 19 CHAPTER 3. METHODOLOGY ……………………………………………. 43 Variable List with Definitions ……………………………………. 48 Hypotheses and Findings ……………………………………………. 50 Analysis ……………………………………………………………. 57 Limitations ……………………………………………………………. 61 CHAPTER 4. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION…………………………… 63 Political Cycle and Hypothesis 1 ……………………………………. 71 Hypothesis 2 ……………………………………………………………. 76 v APPENDIX ……………………………………………………………………. 81 Appendix A ……………………………………………………………. 81 Appendix B ……………………………………………………………. 84 Appendix C ……………………………………………………………. 86 Appendix D ……………………………………………………………. 87 Appendix E ……………………………………………………………. 89 Appendix F ……………………………………………………………. 90 Appendix G ……………………………………………………………. 91 Appendix H ……………………………………………………………. 92 REFERENCES ……………………………………………………………. 93 VITA …………..………………………………………………………………... 102 vi LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. …………………………………………………………………….. 52 Figure 2. …………………………………………………………………….. 54 Figure 3. …………………………………………………………………….. 56 Figure 4. …………………………………………………………………….. 69 vii CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat. - Theodore Roosevelt Eruption in Mecca “I warned you all about harming those babies. Keep it up and I’ll murder all you mother-fuckers!” (Joseph, 2006, p. 43) Twenty-three-year-old Tupac Amaru Shakur proclaimed to antagonizing gang members amidst an otherwise shocked sell-out crowd at Mecca Arena in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. According to Raymond Boyd, a music journalist who attended the concert, Shakur had halted the music in the middle of his second song for a “moment of silence” over the violent deaths of a thirteen-year-old girl and eleven- year-old boy, which occurred the previous day on the streets of Milwaukee. Gang 1 members who shouted an expletive at Shakur and flashed gang signs broke the silence. Shakur became enraged, threatened the gang members, and asked them to come on stage and fight him. Coins were thrown in Shakur’s direction. Shakur then offered two-hundred dollars for someone to bring the offender to the stage. “He may get you paid, but he will die tonight” (Joseph, 2006, p. 44), Shakur proclaimed. A scuffle broke out near the stage between Shakur's posse and the gang members. The audience dispersed. The Milwaukee incident of 1994 was not widely covered by the media. The Philadelphia Tribune, an African American newspaper, published an article from the Associated Press based in Milwaukee on what occurred at the Mecca Arena. If one were to have read solely the AP version, the reader would have been left to assume Shakur was hostile without reason. The AP article quotes two individuals as to what happened at the concert– Kim Walsh of Walsh Entertainment and police Lt. Ronald Quickenbash. Both Walsh and Quickenbash asserted that Shakur incited the crowd, without stating what Shakur actually said or why he was upset. Near the end of the AP piece, the article notes that three juveniles were arrested for disorderly conduct, but none of the performers were arrested. Up until the last few statements of the article, one could have believed Shakur was the one who was arrested (or, should have been). The fact that Shakur was not arrested and members from the crowd at Mecca Arena were gives Boyd’s account credence. The AP article makes no reference to gang signs being flashed or how Shakur was upset over children being murdered. The fact that the article came from the AP based in Milwaukee could explain the discrepancy between the two accounts. Shakur was upset about a tragic, violent event that occurred in Milwaukee; plus, a group in the crowd flashed gang signs and threw coins, so an 2 assumption could be made that the writer or editor of the article decided not to mention such factors to avoid damaging the city’s reputation by revealing a gang problem. Another potential explanation for the discrepancy is the media’s attitude toward Shakur. A preexisting negative viewpoint of Shakur could skew the perception of the writer of the AP article. Thus, when the writer gathered two statements from the manager of the event and a policeman, the negative connotations held by the writer in regards to Shakur superseded the opportunity to discover the full context of what happened. The motivations behind articles, such as how they are framed or the point of view they represent helps clarify the ideas presented by the data (content of examined articles). For instance, the tone of an article and how an article identified Shakur will be studied to identify salient concepts that can be applied to the data. Thematic Statement Tupac Amaru Shakur began receiving considerable attention from the media in 1992 when a Houston teenager shot and killed a Texas police officer after allegedly listening to a song by Shakur. A First Amendment argument subsequently arose in the media over Shakur’s music and gangsta rap, an argument primarily propagated by three political figures, Dan Quayle, Bob Dole,