Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy Discussion Paper Series

#R‐11, May 1994

Transmitting Race: The Los Angeles Riot in Television News

By Erna Smith

TRANSMITTING RACE: The Los Angeles Riot in Television News

Summary Second, the study found substantial differ­ The National Advisory Commission on Civil ences in the nature of the coverage on the three Disorders, popularly known as the Kerner major networks and on local news stations in Commission, was appointed by the late Presi­ Los Angeles. The network coverage contained dent Lyndon Baines Johnson to find out what substantial commentary on social issues while caused a series of urban riots in the summer of the Los Angeles stations focused almost exclu­ 1967 and what could be done to prevent them sively on discrete episodes of violence and the from recurring in the future. As part of its report, restoration of law and order. the Commission studied news coverage of the Third, this pattern is consistent with the unrest and concluded that the so-called "white findings on local and national television news press" had not done a very good job. Of greater portrayals of racial minorities in general. On concern, though, was news coverage of the story local news, people of color were most often of race relations in America when there wasn't a depicted as criminals or victims of crime, and on crisis and the news media's failure to bring more national news, they were most often depicted as African Americans (and other racial minorities) victims of society. The study concludes by into the profession, a concern echoed by news considering possible reasons for these findings, media professionals who gave testimony to the and the implications of this study for our under­ Commission. standing of race relations on television news. The Kerner Commission found that television Jurors in the state trial of four Los Angeles news coverage was characterized by two main police officers accused of unlawfully beating frames, or themes; the riots were portrayed as a Rodney King reached their not guilty verdicts at confrontation between blacks and whites, and about 1:00 p.m. on April 29, 1992 in Simi Valley, the coverage emphasized law enforcement and California, but prosecutors requested a two-hour thus downplayed the underlying causes such as delay so television news crews could prepare to poverty, racism and unemployment. Twenty­ broadcast the verdicts live in Los Angeles.l The five years later, had television's coverage delay, not unusual in widely publicized cases, changed, or were there similar news frames illustrates the enormous role television news evident in coverage of the 1992 Los Angeles riot? played in the King case, and the four-day riot the This is a study of how "frames" shape the way Simi Valley acquittals sparked in late April and journalists organize the facts in news reports to early May of 1992. The focus of this analysis of give them meaning. Research is based on a national and local television news in the Los content analysis of television broadcasts before, Angeles riot is what the coverage told us about during and after the riot on ten television what happened and what it meant. stations. To assess news framing effects, the This is a study of the news framing of the results of a content analysis are compared to 1992 riot in Los Angeles, asking whether or not official reports on the ethnic background of the the themes that journalists used in 1992 were neighborhoods hit hardest by the violence and of the same ones they used to cover the civil the people who were arrested and victimized disorders of 1967, or whether journalists had during the Los Angeles riot. The main conclu­ learned the lessons of the Kerner Commission. sions of this analysis are threefold. First, the study suggests that television news coverage of the 1992 Los Angeles riot emphasized the involvement and impact of the violence on Introduction blacks and Koreans, but significantly downplayed Twenty-five years before the violence in Los the involvement of and impact on Latinos. While Angeles, urban unrest rocked America as dozens Latinos comprised more than half the rioters of cities experienced minor and major riots, arrested in Los Angeles and perhaps one-third of many of them triggered by altercations involving the storeowners who lost property in the violence, the police and young African American men. they were only the main focus of just more than The cities of Newark, New Jersey and Detroit, one-tenth of the television news reports. Michigan erupted within two weeks of each

Erna Smith 1 other in July of 1967, eclipsing in scope and the stores were owned by Korean-Americans. violence the 1965 riots in Watts, a neighborhood More than half the people arrested in Los Ange­ in South Central Los Angeles. As Detroit burned, les during the violence were Latino, and, perhaps President Johnson appointed the Kerner Com­ one-third of the stores destroyed were Latino­ mission to investigate the nature, scope and owned.2 The ethnic diversity of participants and causes of the unrest. Among the issues the victims reflected long-term changes in the racial commission studied was newspaper, radio and makeup of inner-cities across America. Like television news coverage of the disturbances. many urban areas, Los Angeles has been trans­ The Kerner Commission identified two news formed since the late 1960s by the exodus of frames, or themes, in television news coverage industries and mostly white (but also middle­ of civil disturbances in 15 U.S. cities during the class black) residents from the cities to outlying summer of 1967: neighborhoods and suburbs, and the growth and/ (1) the riots were portrayed as a confrontation or arrival of other racial or ethnic minorities in between blacks and whites although almost all the 1970s and 1980s. The result are populations the deaths, injuries and property damage oc­ that are more racially but less economically 3 curred in black neighborhoods, and; diverse than they were in the late 1960s. Ac­ (2) the coverage emphasized law enforcement, cordingly, we might expect the coverage of the and, thus, downplayed underlying causes such as conflict in Los Angeles to reflect these changing poverty, racism, poor education and job opportu­ demographics. nities, antagonistic police-community relations and unequal consumer services. The Theory of "Framing" Television News Twenty-five years later, did the same frames emerge in television news coverage of the riot in To understand how television interpreted the Los Angeles in 1992? This study tests three key events in Los Angeles, this study works within hypotheses: the theory of "framing." A news "frame" is a theme or story line that organizes the facts in a (1) television news mainly portrayed the 1992 news report and gives them meaning. A journal­ Los Angeles riot as a social confrontation be­ ist might refer to a frame as the story angle, tween blacks and whites; news peg or hook which is determined by the (2) the coverage emphasized law enforcement facts deemed most important. For news events, and downplayed underlying causes, and; such as an ongoing crisis like the one that (3) framing of the events differed on local and occurred in Los Angeles, many themes will national television news. unfold as more facts are known. Framing is Why might we expect to find similar frames particularly crucial in television news where in coverage of the 1992 Los Angeles riot as the mountains of facts and visuals are condensed Kerner Commission found in 1967? Obviously, into narratives to tell a story in two minutes or the events were similar and television news less. As William Gamson explains, "Television ;eporters and producers still need to use frames news is replete with metaphors, catchphrases, to make sense of the facts in their reports. Race and other symbolic devices that provide a relations in America continue to focus most shorthand way of suggesting the underlying story intensely on the relationship between blacks and line .. . "4 Frames are conveyed by the reporter in whites despite the country's increasingly diverse his/her script as well as by the anchor in story populations. Consequently, the event that lead-ins and closings. Frames also are conveyed triggered the 1992 violence in Los Angeles-the by the people interviewed for the story, or not guilty verdicts in the beating of a black man soundbites, and the visuals used to illustrate the by four white police officers-tuned the ears of story. For example, although poverty is rarely an the nation, and therefore also journalists, to the explicit topic of television news, it is quite often event as a symbol of black-white race relations. conveyed visually in scenes showing run-down Yet there also are reasons why news framing and/or abandoned buildings with boarded-up of the 1992 Los Angeles riot might be different windows.s The 1992 violence in Los Angeles was from coverage of Newark and Detroit. The bulk ripe with the dramatic, action visuals that drive of the violence in Los Angeles occurred in television news and has made it the dominant neighborhoods far more racially diverse than the medium of information for the majority of urban areas that erupted in 1967. Almost half the Americans. Television news framing is illus­ residents in the areas hit hardest by the violence trated in the following riot news report aired on were Latino, and perhaps as many as one half of the "CBS Evening News." (The italics and

2 Transmitting Race: The Los Angeles Riot in Television N ew s material within parentheses were added for their favor. Furthermore, since journalists rely clarification and emphasis.) on such officials to speak for their constituen­ cies, the news format tends to bypass people who Dan Rather: While the violence has centered on do not vote or are not well-represented in gov­ the minority communities of Los Angeles, the ernment until they do something dramatic, such fear is haunting other communities and people. as riot, and can no longer be ignored. The mis­ Cindy Kennard has our report about that. sion of a news media outlet also affects coverage, and, therefore, news framing. The news media Jason Wet erring (Attorney, Santa Monica): I define and deliver audiences for advertisers with know it's against the law to carry a loaded the news they provide. A car-jacking in Winston­ weapon, so I'm not going to tell you whether or Salem, N.C. might be top of the news on local not this (is) loaded or not ... newscasts but, if reported at all on national news, would more likely be presented as an Kennard: Santa Monica attorney Jason Weterring example of a nationwide trend. In other words, is armed and feeling the danger. He says several of his firm's lawyers are carrying guns to work. the national news lens is wider than the local news lens. Lastly news frames are influenced by Wet erring: No, I am not a vigilante or something the prevailing values, assumptions and attitudes like that. I am not going looking for trouble. I'm in society at large. just trying to protect myself. The frames for a given story are frequently drawn from shared cultural narratives and Kennard: Fear and loathing among whites is myths. Some stories resonate with larger intensifying here. Many have locked themselves cultural themes; this tunes the ears of the in or abandoned their neighborhoods, even journalists to their symbolism.6 pristine Beverly Hills. Because of these factors, news coverage of the Unidentified (white) man #1: Why not loot Beverly Hills? same event can communicate different underly­ ing meanings by elevating some facts and downplaying others. Thus, news frames are as Kennard: What scares the daylights out of whites is the image of bands of marauding black important a component of news as the facts youths, and this: Wednesday's savage beating of themselves. The effects of news framing were white trucker, Reginald Denny. (A portion of identified in a study of news coverage of the tape of African American youths attacking March 16, 1991 shooting of a black teenager by a Denny is shown) .. .. Korean storeowner in two weekly newspapers in Los Angeles-one serving the black community, An inevitable consequence of frames is the the other the Korean community. The selective emphasis of facts, and this is especially storeowner, Soon Ja Du, was found guilty of true on television news because of the limits and manslaughter in the death of IS-year-old La constrain~s of the medium. Frames, by nature, Tasha Harlins and was sentenced to five years elevate some facts and downplay others. Surely, probation for the apparently accidental shooting. people of all races in Los Angeles, as the "CBS The coverage in the black weekly focused on Evening News" report clearly states in the long-standing black grievances with Korean opening, had reason to fear the violence, but the storeowners, the police, and the criminal justice focus on white fear supported by television system, while coverage in the Korean weekly images of young black men brutalizing a white focused on Korean storeowners' long-standing man creates the impression, despite the dis­ problems with gangs, crime and anti-Asian bias. claimers, of black-an-white race war. This does As a result, the researcher concluded that the not mean that the report did not represent incident was framed in the black weekly as a legitimate news, but it illustrates the degree to symbol of "disrespect" and "injustice" and was which the news frames selectively reflect and framed in the Korean weekly as a symbol of legitimize social perceptions whether they are "crime" and" scapegoating."7 rooted in reality or not. News frames are routin­ News frames, as indicated above, are a prod­ ized by journalistic norms and practices. Because uct of values and assumptions about news. An much news emanates from public institutions, enduring value in news (as well as for most many newsmakers tend to be elected or ap­ people) is, as Herbert Gans explains, "the desir­ pointed officials, skilled in "spinning" stories in ability of social order."BThrough selecting and reporting events, the news media help establish

Erna Smith 3 and reaffirm the prevailing assumptions and broadcasts for the period before and after the values in society. This is why so much of the riot-specifically, March 3 to April 29, and May news emanates from institutions- Congress, 12 to July 9, 1992. One news program from each city hall, the courts, police departments, week during these periods was examined, but schools-and so much of it focuses on conflict­ only stories that centrally involved Asians, the antithesis of order. The order-conflict orien­ blacks, or Latinos were coded.13 Since television tation of news coupled with reliance on officials news frames are evoked in narratives, soundbites for information affects the presentation of all and visuals, all three components of the coverage people in the news. Middle-age white men, for were analyzed. example, appear far more frequently in the news Ten television stations were sampled: the than any other group of people because they three major networks (the "NBC Nightly News," dominate the ranks of leadership in the institu­ the "CBS Evening News," and "ABC World tions considered most newsworthy. However, News Tonight"); Univision, the top-rated Span­ the traditional definition of news has a particu­ ish-language news networkj three stations in Los larly skewing effect on the presentation of racial Angeles, including KABC-TV and KNBC-TV, the minorities in news because of social barriers to top-rated network affiliates and a Korean­ their acceptance in the mainstream of American language news program, Korean Television

life. Hence, racial minorities historically have Enterprises or KTE-TVj and three top-rated local become most newsworthy when they challenge, news programs in geographically diverse parts of threaten or make inroads into the status quo.9 the country-WCVB-TV in Boston, WXJI-TV in In the 1960s and 1970s, the national television Winston-Salem, N.C. and WDAY-TV in Fargo, news featured African Americans overcoming N.D.-Moorhead, Minn. The Spanish and Korean racial, economic and political obstacles, march­ news programs were included because of the ing or protesting against racism, rioting, commit­ pivotal roles these groups played in the event ting crimes and being victimized by crime and and they were only analyzed during the riot and other forms of social misfortune. 1O Although the post-riot periods. frequency of black protesters in the news in the The Los Angeles sample was limited to the 1960s was clearly influenced by the extensive 5:00 p.m. evening news programs. These sta­ coverage of the civil rights movement, research tions, like five others in Los Angeles., covered the on more recent news coverage found evidence of riot live, broadcasting nearly round-the-clock for similar portrayalsY There has been less research the first two days of the unrest. The live cover­ on contemporary news portrayals of Asians, age in Los Angeles is worthy of a study itself but Latinos and other racial minorities in print or such an analysis was not feasible given the broadcast media. Briefly summarized, Latinos resources available. Moreover, since the study is and Asians are featured in the news far less of news coverage from across the nation, the frequently than blacks but are portrayed in evening news programs, which combined live Similarly stereotypical ways.12 Therefore the key coverage with updates of the day's events, question to be investigated is how the dominant provided a better basis for comparison. In all, 903 frames within local and national television news stories and 2,228 soundbites were coded. The shaped our understanding of the Los Angeles coverage analyzed includes 621 riot news and riots, and whether the frames provided an 282 general news stories, totaling 28.5 hours. accurate picture of those who rioted and were Thirty-eight of a possible 248 news programs victimized by the riot. were missing due to programming changes or unintentional mistakes while recording. How­ ever, it is statistically unlikely that these miss­ Methods and Data ing stories would affect the findings. To test for Content analysis of television coverage was news framing effects, the result of the content utilized to investigate these issues. Most of the analysis was compared with evidence of the television news reports analyzed by this study racial background of participants from three were about the Los Angeles riot, but general reports on the violence: (1) "The City in Crisis: news coverage was also included to provide the A Report by the Special Advisor to the Board of broader context. The content analysis included Police Commissioners on the Civil Disorders in television broadcasts every night beginning April Los Angeles"j (popularly known as the Webster 29, 1992, the day of the state court verdicts in Report) (2) "Latinos &. The L.A. Uprising," a the Rodney King case, and ending two weeks Tomas Rivera Center Study conducted at Occi­ later on May 12. The study analyzed news dental College in Los Angeles, and (3) "To

4 Transmitting Race: The Los Angeles Riot in Television News Rebuild Is Not Enough: Final Report and Recom­ district and South Central Los Angeles.14 The mendations of the Assembly Special Committee Webster Report stated that the first signs of on the Los Angeles Crisis." Evidence of "framing trouble came within an hour of the verdicts effects" in television news is measured as the reached by the jury in Simi Valley, a suburb of difference between the racial background of Los Angeles, culminating almost three hours participants, according to these reports, and the later in live Los Angeles television coverage of racial background of those covered by television, the beating of truck driver Reginald Denny at the according to the content analysis. If, for example, intersection of Florence and Norrnandie streets 51 percent of those arrested were Latino, but 81 in South Central Los Angeles. The Los Angeles percent of the people shown on television rioting police department, under the direction of then­ were black, then one could argue that by empha­ Chief Darryl Gates, had no specific plans to deal sizing the involvement of blacks the framing of with adverse public reaction to the verdicts, and the riot downplayed the role of Latinos in the was slow to respond to the outbreak of violence. unrest and unfairly depicted blacks. The delay proved crucial, for as dusk fell, fires Reporters quite often identified the racial and began to light up the night and the violence ethnic minorities in their stories, so in addition intensified moving north and west. to visual identification, the race or ethnicity of The Los Angeles riot occurred against a anyone who was not white was verified in the backdrop of heightened community tensions reporters' narratives. However, Latinos, who exacerbated by rapidly changing demographics, comprise people of many races, were not identi­ an economic downturn, growing poverty and fied as often in the Los Angeles riot coverage crime rates, and a history of police abuses in except on Spanish language television. In those minority communities documented by the cases, either the ethnicity of the persons shown Christopher Commission, which was appointed was not coded or a judgment was made based on to investigate the LAPD after King's beating. . visual identification and our knowledge of the Poverty and unemployment rates in the areas hit racial demographics of the areas hit hardest by hardest by the rioting are twice that of the city of the violence. Los Angeles as a whole and the rate of per capita Riot actors were classified into four major income and home ownership are 50 percent categories depending on their activities. Partici­ lower. IS The most profound shifts occurred in pant rioters included those depicted beating, South and South Central Los Angeles. For burning, looting, shooting and being arrested. example, the Latino population in historically Victim categories included those depicted as black South Central Los Angeles more than being assaulted, losing property or having their doubled to 45 percent while the black population daily lives disrupted. The law enforcer category declined 20 percent. Koreatown is home to the included those patrolling streets, making arrests largest single concentration of Koreans in Los and fighting fires. Lastly the good samaritan Angeles, but 70 percent of its residents are category includes those seen aiding in riot Latino. In Pico Union, heart of the Central control, rescuing assault victims, participating in American immigrant community, Latinos the clean-up and making appeals for calm. comprise 80 percent of the residents.16 The "Latinization" of the inner-cities of Los Angeles coincided with the economic success of Korean The General Context of the Coverage: A City immigrant entrepreneurs, who began arriving in in Flames the late 1960s and by 1990 owned 50 percent of An evaluation of the television coverage can the small businesses in South and South Central be made in light of arrest records and official Los Angeles. The shooting of a black teenager by reports on the riot. State court acquittals of the a Korean storeowner two weeks after the King police officers in the videotaped beating of beating put additional pressure on storeowner­ Rodney King triggered what a special committee customer relations. 17 of the California Legislature called the "worst The first person to die in the Los Angeles riot multiethnic urban conflict in United States was an 18-year-old black man who was shot as history." The riot left 53 people dead, 2,400 he stood outside a business that was being looted injured and more than $800 million in property because he had refused to join a gang. He was damages, according to the California Office of typical of the majority of people who lost their Emergency Services. Neighborhoods throughout lives in Los Angeles. Of the 42 who died in the the Los Angeles area experienced rioting, but city of Los Angeles, most were male and under hardest hit were Koreatown, the Pico Union 30 years old. Half (21) were black, and almost a

Erna Smith 5 third (12), Latino. Of the remaining eight, seven between the urban upheavals of 1967 and the were white, including a 68-year-old man violence that erupted in Los Angeles in 1992. In strangled by a supermarket produce manager in a particular there were significant differences dispute over com husks, and one was an 18-year­ between Detroit and Los Angeles in the amount old Korean-American college student shot by of coverage of the riots, and the reliance on storeowners who mistook him for a looter when official sources. In giving evidence to the Kerner he arrived to help them protect their property. Commission, Bill Monroe, then news director of Police killed five people but more people died of NBC News, noted the self-imposed restrictions random gunfire as they stood or walked down on what was transmitted; in 99 cases out of 100, the street. IS TV stations decided against live coverage of the The profile of those arrested during the riot urban unrest of the late 1960s because they indicates that the majority (51 percent) of the thought it might only serve to further inflame arrestees in the city of Los Angeles were Latinos, the violence. By 1992 in Los Angeles, although and 38 percent were African Americans. The some stations initially delayed broadcasting live remainder were white (9 percent) and Asian (2 coverage of motorists being attacked until the percent). When the Rand Corporation released an Reginald Denny beating, the city's seven major initial analysis of the arrests on June 17, 1992, stations broadcast nearly continuous live cover­ principal researcher Joan Petersilia concluded, age for the first two days of the violence. This "This wasn't a black riot so much as it was a was widely watched, helping to increase house­ minority riot. "19 Questions were raised about hold television viewing levels to a 40.3 rating whether the figures reflected actual participation average (including cable), a 9 percent increase in the riot, the delay in the initial police re­ over May 1991. 22 Moreover, unlike 1967, when sponse, reluctance of Latinos to flee or fear on the Kerner Commission blamed public officials the part of police to confront young black men in for providing journalists with information that the racially charged atmosphere following the led to the reporting of stories that exaggerated verdicts. But subsequent analyses of the police the scope and character of the violence, journal­ response and Latino involvement in the unrest ists did not focus as exclusively on public concluded that the arrest figures, though low officials in their news reports on Los Angeles. given the scope and duration of the riot, are Indeed, most of the people interviewed in the consistent with the dynamics of a riot, the Los Angeles coverage were either residents of the pattern of the violence and the racial composi­ neighborhoods hit hardest by rioting, or ordinary tion of the neighborhoods most affected by the citizens from Los Angeles or from around the rioting. country. In this sense, television news coverage of the Los Angeles riot served as a kind of Although the initial violent incidents immedi­ nationwide vox populi on race relations illus­ ately following the verdicts appear for the most part to have involved African American males, trated by searing, horrific images that were as members of all racial groups were involved in unprecedented as they were numerous. In Los the spreading physical assaults and looting.20 Angeles, the journalists not only did not wait for the police but in many instances got there first. According to a Los Angeles Times analysis of Advance planning and technology coupled with 700 people mostly convicted of looting, more daytime rioting made it easier for television than half (60 percent) had prior felony convic­ news to obtain almost instantaneous images of tions; only one-third were employed; two-thirds the violence in Los Angeles. Thus, it could be were high school drop-outs; two in five had lived argued that these factors coupled with the at their addresses for a year or less, and 11 absence of a Kerner Commission-like response percent were homeless; and only one in 10 were on the part of the federal government to the Los affiliated with gangs. Eight out of every 10 Angeles riot, made the role of television news in Latino looters were foreign-born and were more shaping public opinion of the events in Los likely than black or white looters to have jobs. Angeles far greater than it was a quarter of a Lastly, the majority looted within a few blocks century before when urban upheavals erupted of their homesY throughout the country.

Results and Findings Racial Representation The role of television news has changed How were members of different ethnic groups substantially in the quarter of the century depicted as riot participants and victims and as

6 Transmitting Race: The Los Angeles Riot in Television News community leaders and vox populi? The first percent) of the law enforcement officials who significant finding is that a "black-white" frame were interviewed were white; 18 percent were continued to dominate the main coverage. black; 3 percent were Latino, and 2 percent were Blacks and whites were centrally involved in Asian. In terms of vox populi interviews with over three quarters of the stories about the Los the public, African Americans comprised 47 Angeles riot. In contrast, Latinos and Koreans percent of the people interviewed in Los Angeles were the focus of about a quarter of the stories, (excluding those who lived in the areas hit and much of this coverage was aired on the hardest by the rioting) and throughout the foreign-language stations. To see how riot actors country. People were mainly asked about their varied, people seen on camera were classified opinions of the not-guilty verdicts in the King into victim and participant categories, broadly beating and their reaction to the violence in Los defined to encompass both the most extreme and Angeles. Among interviewees, whites were 41 most benign depictions of violence and victim­ percent; Latinos, 8 percent and Asians, 4 percent. ization, ranging from motorists being assaulted However, more than three-quarters (77 percent) in South Central Los Angeles to roller skaters of the riot-area residents interviewed were black; being turned away from the boardwalk on Venice 17 percent were Latino, and the remainder were Beach because it had been closed by police. (See Asians (4 percent) and whites (2 percent). Table 1.) Rioters: Most significantly, almost half (48 Victims: Whites and Koreans comprised just percent) the people shown rioting were black; 31 more than half the victims in the television percent were Latino; 12 percent were Asian, and coverage, that is, the property owners who 9 percent were white. Almost all of the most suffered damage, assault victims, and people violent rioters on television news, such as those whose lives were otherwise disrupted by the shown assaulting people and burning property, violence. A quarter of the victims were black, were African Americans, and blacks comprised and just under a quarter were Latinos. Koreans the majority of people shown looting. comprised almost half the storeowners depicted in the coverage of the violence. The remainder were black (29 per cent), white, (11 per cent), and The Content of News Stories Latino (10 per cent). Beyond the basic statistics, we need to see Community Leaders and Vox Populi: More how the riots were understood and interpreted. than half the local, state and national leaders (54 The power of television lies in its ability to percent) interviewed were white; one-third (33 literally bring the news to life. This coupled with percent) were black; 7 percent were Asian, and 7 the event-oriented nature of news means a percent were Latino. More than three-fourths (77 premium is placed on visuals that convey action

Table 1: Primary Riot Actors

Whites Blacks Latinos Asians Total% N.

Resident Population 7 36 49 7 100 LAPD Arrests 9 38 51 2 100 On-Camera Appearances Participants 9 48 31 12 100 153 Victims 31 24 21 24 100 91 Good samaritans 20 44 20 15 100 117 Law enforcers 54 32 8 6 100 135 Soundbites Leaders 54 33 7 7 100 344 Citizens 41 47 8 4 100 243 Residents 2 77 17 4 100 167 Store owners 11 29 10 49 100 106 Law enforcement 77 18 3 2 100 182 Notes: Resident Population-1992 US Census Bureau Figures for Areas Hit Hardest by the Riot; LAPD arrests April 29 -May 4, 1992. See text for definitions of other categories.

Erna Smith 7 and drama. In Los Angeles, human drama and King press conference, where he made his modem technology met in a tragic, action-packed famous plea, "Can't we all get along?" (2.5 event that was tailor-made for television. But the percent) or Korean storeowners firing semi­ differences in circumstances, technology and automatic weapons at would-be intruders not professional sensibilities that guided some shown on camera (2.5 percent). television news managers in 1967 to err on the side of caution yielded coverage of the Los Angeles riot that contained far more graphic The Explanatory Framework: images than were possible 25 years before. In Causes and Consequences 1967 much of the local news media in Detroit Most of the stories in the combined network delayed reporting the unrest at the request of and local sample (61 percent) focused on the riot local authorities. In 1992, the intense interest in or reaction to the violence and the not-guilty the four police officers' trial in the videotaped verdicts in the King beating. Most of the reac­ beating of Rodney King meant the lenses of the tion stories (43 percent), as noted above, featured television news cameras from around the nation ordinary citizens, but 20 percent focused on and the world were not only already trained on political leaders, especially the presidential Los Angeles but, in some instances, better candidates who were still active in the campaign positioned to react to the violence than the at the time-Bill Clinton, Ross Perot, Jerry police. Indeed in Los Angeles, a reporter for a Brown Patrick Buchanan and former President private company that provided "helicopter Georg~ Bush. The remaining stories focused on reporting" for several stations had plotted the the King case (9 percent), or feature and human city for possible trouble spots, before the Simi interest stories (10 percent) on issues such as Valley verdicts, including the intersection of poverty, racism and discrimination. Florence and Normandie streets where trucker The relative paucity of feature stories did not Reginald Denny was beaten. Consequently, after mean that television news did not report why the verdicts were read, he said, "We were air­ the violence occurred. Indeed, causal themes borne with minutes, looking for possible insur­ could be identified in more than half (56 per­ rection," and thus captured the first live images cent) the stories. Many causes, conveyed and/or of the Denny beating while the police gathered implied by anchors, reporters and the people several blocks away waiting for orders to act.23 they interviewed, were expressed in catchwords Moreover, unlike the late 1960s, the unrest in and phrases uttered in a single sentence, and Los Angeles did not subside during daylight many stories contained more than one cause. hours, which made it easier for television crews For example, "ABC World News Tonight" to obtain footage of people engaged in looting and anchor Peter Jennings introduced the network's other riot activities without having to signal lead story about the riot as follows: their presence by turning on their camera lights. Taking all of the news programs in our sample together, we find that slightly more scenes of Good evening. This has been a day on which actual rioting were shown than scenes of law people all over the country have been using enforcement officials trying to contain it, espe­ words and phrases such as outrage, powerless­ ness, wanton violence and hopelessness, anger, cially on network news programs. Strikingly, the 24 opposite was true in 1967. One-third of the frustration, betrayal and racism. dramatic visuals (33 percent) featured in the Los Through the repetition of words and phrases, Angeles coverage showed scenes of rioting; 30 per such as those spoken by Jennings, several causal cent showed riot containment activities, such as frames, or themes, emerged in television news police making arrests, National Guard or other military personnel patrolling the streets or coverage of the 1992 Los Angeles riot. Of the firefighters battling blazes (this category also causal themes identified, character issues such includes scenes of citizens engaged in such as lawlessness and immorality were mentioned activities or aiding authorities); 12 percent the most (36 percent). Issues of individual showed the beating of trucker Reginald Denny; responsibility were followed by anger over the 11 percent showed protests and rallies in Los acquittals in the King beating (18 percent); the Angeles and around the country, mostly directed slowness of the police response (16 percent); at the not-guilty verdicts in the Rodney King public policy issues (16 percent), defined as the beating trial; 9 percent consisted of the video­ inadequacy and/or failure of current and past social programs; leadership failure (12 percent), t~ed beating of King. The remainder featured the

8 Transmitting Race: The Los Angeles Riot in Television News and the animosity of blacks toward Korean the riot would hurt Bush, but help Clinton, who storeowners (4 percent). as the leading presidential challenger and the Another way to look at causes is to ask who candidate with the greatest support in the black or what was seen as primarily responsible for the community, received far more coverage than the Los Angeles riot? The rioters, society, police, other presidential candidates. The impact on jurors in the King case, political leaders? The race relations also was discussed as a conse­ findings here suggest that although blame was quence of the violence (22 percentL and there spread around, the dominant message of the was a consensus that the Los Angeles riot would combined network and local television news hurt race relations, and demonstrated how sample was that most of the responsibility lay · divided blacks and whites remained in America. with the rioters because they were lawless, immoral, and greedy people. When the causal theme was leadership failure, the leader men­ Network News and Local News: Different tioned most often was former President George Stations, Different Frames Bush, followed by former Los Angeles police Most importantly, there were significant chief Darryl Gates and former Los Angeles differences in the coverage aired on the networks Mayor Tom Bradley. One might argue that and on the Los Angeles news programs included because these leaders represent the public, then in this study. Networks were more likely to use their failure might be viewed as a failure of the black/white frame than local TV, which society as well, but with the exception of Bush, presented a more diverse population. Network most of the criticism focused on their individual television news was also more likely to concen­ behavior or performance. Typical are the follow­ trate on underlying causes of the riots than local ing two excerpts taken from a report by CBS TV which concentrated on the lawlessness News correspondent Bill Lagattuta: theme. Blacks and whites were portrayed more frequently in national news programs than in the And for much of the night, LA's police force coverage aired on the Los Angeles stations, and, seemed unable to catch up. Whether they deliberately stood back or were caught off guard not surprisingly, on the Spanish-language and was the question dogging Chief Darryl Gates Korean-language stations. Blacks and whites wherever he went today. Not everyone bought were the central focus of almost 96 percent of his explanation .. .LA's mayor, Tom Bradley the network coverage compared with 80 percent helped stoke the anger over the verdicts with of the coverage on the Los Angeles stations. this fiery speech at a local church.. .25 Conversely, Latinos and Koreans were the central focus of 4 percent of the stories aired on As the Jennings introduction illustrated, the networks and 18 percent of the stories aired network and local television news mentioned a on the Los Angeles stations. plethora of social issues in framing responsibility The Spanish- and Korean-language news for the unrest. The issues mentioned most programs aired the greatest percentage of stories frequently was racism, crime (18 percent each) focused on the involvement and impact of the and loss of faith in the courts (17 percent). Police violence on the Latino and Korean communities brutality and inner-city problems comprised 18 in Los Angeles. The differences in the represen­ percent of the issues mentioned in the coverage, tation of ethnic groups also was reflected in followed by unemployment (8 percent) and rioter portrayals. Almost 60 percent of the rioters poverty (5 percent). Other issues included shown in the network coverage were black education and housing (6 percent!i health care, compared with just under 50 percent in the Los welfare and gangs (6 percent!i and family dissolu­ Angeles coverage. Latinos comprised 24 percent tion and immigration (2 percent). of the rioters shown on the networks but 33 percent on the stations in Los Angeles. The framing of responsibility for the riot also Consequences of Violence differed. Character issues-e.g. lawlessness, The consequences of the riot were expressed immorality-were mentioned far more fre­ most frequently in terms of injuries, deaths and quently in the Los Angeles coverage than in the property damage (46 percentL but because of the network coverage. Conversely, the national news presidential campaign there also was coverage mentioned public policy issues far more fre­ speculating on its impact on the campaign and quently than the Los Angeles stations did. The coverage in Los Angeles also contained more on politics and public policy. The consensus was footage of the violence and efforts to quell it

Erna Smith 9 than the network coverage did. Scenes of rioting economy was second, followed by racism and and the restoration of order comprised 72 percent discrimination and police brutality, partly a of the dramatic visuals shown on the Los Ange­ result of the federal investigation of the King les stations compared with 50 percent on the case but also the result of cases in other parts of networks. The Los Angeles coverage featured the country that were underway prior to the more footage of order being restored (42 percent) unrest in Los Angeles. The social issues men­ than the networks did (30 percent). tioned in the general news coverage paralleled The other significant difference in the visual many of the issues mentioned in riot coverage, coverage involved George Holliday's infamous especially poverty, police brutality, joblessness videotape of the King beating. The videotape and inner-city problems as central newsworthy comprised 14 percent of the dramatic visuals in issues. Network and local coverage differed the network coverage compared with two significantly on crime and victim stories, how­ percent of the dramatic visuals in the Los Ange­ ever. Networks focused mostly on members of les coverage. This was because the Los Angeles minority groups as victims rather than criminals stations, at the request of the police, stopped (53 percent of coverage compared to 18 percent) airing the King beating tape as the violence while the Los Angeles stations reversed the worsened.26 emphasis with 29 percent crime stories and 19 percent victim stories. Clearly in this aspect of general news, the network and local stations General News Findings present very different pictures of minority There was a sharp increase in coverage of groups. minorities on television news after the riot. Half the general news stories about Asians, blacks or Latinos in the sample from March 3 to July 9 Conclusions aired in the two-week period following the end On the first question we asked, the overall of the violence in Los Angeles. Blacks were conclusion from this study is that both local and portrayed in 63 percent of the general news network television news portrayed the 1992 Los coverage of people of color in the combined Angeles riot similarly to the way they portrayed sample; Latinos, 25 percent; Asians, 9 percent, the riots of 1967 - as a black-white ·conflict and Native Americans and other minorities, 4 triggered by the state court acquittals in the percent. Minorities were depicted most fre­ Rodney King beating and fueled by lawlessness. quently as criminals, or victims of crime and Although the coverage also depicted the tensions other social and natural misfortunes, such as between Korean storeowners and the black discrimination, bad social programs, fires and community, black-Korean conflict was a second­ diseases. More than half (60 percent) of the ary story line in the coverage and the involve­ general news coverage of Asians, blacks, Latinos ment and impact of the violence on Latinos was and other racial minorities depicted them in largely overlooked. The "black riot" frame is crime or victimization coverage. Conversely, supported by the visual depictions of participants only 12 percent of coverage depicted people of and victims and the ethnic breakdown of riot­ color in feature stories about everyday life. area residents and storeowners interviewed. The pattern of coverage of minority groups on Perhaps most significant was the ethnic compo­ network and local Los Angeles news was very sition of the ordinary people interviewed in Los similar, with differences ranging from 3 to 10 Angeles and elsewhere who represented a Greek percent. Coverage of minorities by the other chorus, of sorts, reflecting on the larger meaning local stations in our sample (Boston, Winston­ of the· violence for society as a whole. Because Salem, and Fargo) reflected the ethnic composi­ most of them (88 percent) were black or white, tion of the local population (e.g. 97 percent of the by their presence and their words, they invari­ minorities were black in Winston-Salem, but no ably placed the events within the context of blacks were shown in Fargo). Racial minorities black-white race relations. The network cover­ were most frequently depicted in network news age, in particular, focused on African Americans. as victims of social misfortunes and natural Local coverage presented equal numbers of disasters and in local news as criminals or whites and blacks centrally involved in the riot victims of crime. Not surprisingly, given the news, while the networks showed more blacks prevalence of crime coverage, the social problem than whites. The networks depicted twice as mentioned most frequently in the combined many blacks as Latinos participating in the riots, sample coverage was crime. Unemployment and while the gap was much narrower on the local

10 Transmitting Race: The Los Angeles Riot in Television News stations in Los Angeles (half black, one-third MacDougall's Interpretive Reporting, a classic Latinos). The diversity of the population was textbook taught at many journalism schools, much more apparent on local news in Los stresses the importance of journalists guarding Angeles than on the national news. against their "prejudices and stereotyped atti­ On the second question deriving from the tudes which would bias perceptions of human Kerner Commission findings, did television affairs. "28 And in 1987, the Society of Profes­ news portray the riot primarily as lawlessness sional Journalists, Sigma Delta Chi, clearly and police action, the answer differs on network spelled out this standard: and local news. The local Los Angeles stations portrayed the causes of the riot in terms of the Objectivity in reporting the news is another character of the participants. More than eighty goal, which serves as the mark of an experienced percent of the coverage attributed blame cen­ professional. It is a standard of performance tered on lawlessness. Network television news, toward which we strive. We honor those who 29 however, was more varied, although somewhat achieve it. more weight was given to lawlessness than to underlying public policy issues (60 percent We should note the term "goal" in this compared to 40 percent). The local and network declaration, since fully conforming to standards coverage of the riots paralleled their general of objectivity and fairness can be difficult and news coverage. Where crime was the dominant even impossible. Truth is elusive, and it is futile theme in local news coverage, network news was to expect journalists, or anyone, to entirely far more likely to present members of minority divest themselves of their biases and somehow groups as victims of natural and social disasters. render themselves value free. Moreover, televi­ While the network coverage of minorities may sion journalists use professional and personal not be uplifting, it appears more sympathetic to values to make decisions that shape the news the social and economic concerns of people of before it is aired all the time-they must decide color than local news. Possibly, the overwhelm­ where to point the camera, what visuals to ing dominance of the crime/action news on local include or edit out, who to interview for a television drives out the consideration of social soundbite, what to say in their narrations. and policy issues. Therefore, it appears that on Nonetheless, approximations to objectivity and the second point of the Kerner Commission fairness can be made and this study operation­ Report, the explanations for the riots, there is alizes such a standard by asking, "How well did considerable improvement, but it lies primarily the coverage reflect social reality?" We apply with the network coverage. It is curious that the this to the two central frames of the television networks did not show a corresponding change coverage of the Los Angeles riot: who was shown in the racial confrontation framing of the riot. rioting and why they were rioting. One of our main findings was the dominance of the theme of black/white race relations. As we The Persistence of the Black/White Frame recall, for every 10 television stories, blacks and What is the significance of the persistence of whites were seen in eight while Latinos and the black/white frame in riot coverage? After all, Koreans were in two. Did this reflect social blacks and whites were major players in the riot reality? To answer this question we must define and many of those arrested had criminal records reality, and as a first cut at the question, we so clearly lawlessness was a factor. Are we then initially viewed the racial makeup of the areas justified in saying that television told it like it hardest hit by the riot. Looking at the popula­ was? We are not. It may be somewhat comfort­ tions of South Central Los Angeles, Pico Union ing to know the television news frames did not and Koreatown in "Latinos & the L.A. Uprising," come out of thin air, but we need a finer measure we see, among other things, that according to the than the fact the riot included two qualities 1990 census Latinos comprised 49 percent of the which most characterized their coverage. population in these neighborhoods. Two yardsticks by which we can assess the But television coverage is not like a census effects of framing on news coverage are objectiv­ report. For better or for worse, journalists are ity and fairness. In 1947, the Hutchins Commis­ trained to "look for the drama," as Melvin sion, popularly known as the Commission on Mencher writes in News Reporting and Writ­ Freedom of the Press, stressed the importance of ing,30 and because most ordinary people are a fair, impartial press to enlighten the public and rarely in such situations they tend to get little make it capable of self-governmentY Curtis media coverage.31 Therefore, the news media's

Erna Smith 11 Graph A Participants - Total Networks and L.A. Stations Only

58%

o Networks

• L.A. Stations

Blacks Latinos Asians Whites

Graph B Selected Causal Themes

100%

80%

60% V 1"----- o Networks

40% • L.A. Stations

20%

Character Issues Public Policy Issues

12 Transmitting Race: The Los Angeles Riot in Television News "reality" should be expected to include people tion were far less frequently presented; in the involved in the riot far more than the vast, vast cases in which they were, it was more on na­ majority of people who did not riot. Because the tional news than local news in Los Angeles. news media focus on unusual and extremist According to Los Angeles Times analysis of 700 acts,32 we shou"ld properly judge them by how looting cases, more than half those arrested had they reflected these acts during the 1992 Los been previously convicted of crimes, which Angeles riot-or, in other words, who was shown suggests criminality was a factor in the riot. engaged in protests or illegal activities such as However, the same analysis also found that most looting and physical assaults. of those arrested also were high school dropouts, One way to measure the presentation of such unemployed and rootless, and of the Latinos, acts are arrest figures. According to the Webster most were foreign-born and one-fourth had been report, Latinos comprised 51 percent of those in the country for two years or less. Of course, arrested by Los Angeles police during the riot; many, many people with similar backgrounds blacks, 38 percent; whites, nine percent and did not loot during the riot, but, at the very least, Asians, two percent. Conversely, our content it is possible that a correlation between the two analysis shows 48 percent of the Los Angeles motivations exist (that is, underlying social rioters shown on television were black; 31 issues as well as individual behavior contribute percent were Latino; 12 percent were Asian, and to criminality). Secondly, motivations are likely nine percent were white. Since most local to change from context to context (Reginald stations outside of Los Angeles did not devote Denny's attackers, who, as U.S. News eiJ World much coverage to the riots, most people across Report wrote, were neither" especially notorious the country formed their impressions of the gang members or violent criminals," may have event from national news programs. On the been differently motivated than those who, say, networks, blacks comprised 58 percent of the stole groceries and Pampers.33) rioters shown; Latinos, 24 percent; whites, 10 We might expect then that journalistic stan­ percent, and Asians, seven percent. (See Graph dards of objectivity and fairness would dictate A, page 12.) coverage of both the character and social issues The search for" drama" clearly affected the that may have contributed to the violence in Los findings. Because of the premium placed on Angeles. Briefly summarized, these standards action visuals and the advance planning and stress the importance of a fair, impartial press to technological abilities of television news crews enlighten the public and make it capable of self­ to react quickly to the initial outbreaks of governance and the importance of journalists violence, dramatic images of the assaults by guarding against their prejudices and stereotyped young black men on white, Latino and Asian attitudes which would bias perceptions of motorists at the intersection of Florence and human affairs. However, for every eight stories Normandie streets and of the confrontation on the local Los Angeles stations that mentioned between police and demonstrators, including lawlessness, two mentioned social issues. In many young whites and Asians, in downtown contrast, the ratio on the networks was 6 to 4. Los Angeles on the first night of rioting were These findings suggest the presentation of causal shown repeatedly throughout the coverage. themes in network news coverage was far more Although these images are consistent with the consistent with the goal of fair, objective journal­ norms and practices of television news, they also ism as defined by the profession than was local clearly illustrate that on television seeing should news coverage in Los Angeles. Having criticized not always be believing. the Los Angeles stations for their predominance So, in summary, we can conclude that the of lawless causal themes, it is important to portrayals of the rioters in television news remember that their acts were ones of omission, combined with the dominant theme of black/ not commission. The difference in local and white race relations in the coverage failed to network framing is illustrated by the following fully reflect reality. examples, which though extreme, exemplify the range in explanations offered by anchors and reporters. Framing the Blame KNBC-TV anchor John Beard, caught up in the Our findings suggest the most prominent emotion of the moment, yelled on the air as a cause presented in television news was lawless­ telecopter crew filmed the beating of truck ness. Social issues such as unemployment, driver, Reginald Denny: "We can tape this thug education, poverty, discrimination and immigra- and get him thrown behind bars, where he

Erna Smith 13 belongs."34 In another context, "CBS Evening Obviously, one cannot understate the chal­ News" anchor Dan Rather pointed to underlying lenge and peril journalists faced covering a social issues as the cause of the rioting. "In violent, multi-ethnic conflict that occurred over almost every situation, the spark that ignited the a large geographic area. On the other hand, violence was conflict between mostly white journalists did have unlimited access to the riot police and black men. But that was the surface areas, unlike the late 1960s, and were, in some cause. The roots of the problem were poverty cases, on the scene before the police. So why was and exploitation and unemployment and lack of there so little reporting on Latinos? opportunity and racism."3s In both examples, the We can only speculate because we did not anchor explicitly mentions the riot's cause, interview the journalists whose work is exam­ whether it be the rioters or a matter of public ined in this study, but based on what we know policy. The visuals support his words. But the about news framing, the norms and practices of vast majority of the images of the riot were not journalism and the event itself, some possible accompanied by narratives about causal themes, explanations spring to mind. but by narratives that described a series of As we recall, news frames are influenced by discrete episodes of violence. The crucial point is journalism norms and practices and the prevail­ that these images are value-laden. Although ing values, assumptions and attitudes in society factual and truthful, visuals of people being at large. The latter influence is particularly assaulted and stores being looted and burned are salient when discussion turns to the role race anything but neutral-they send clear messages plays in American life. Political scientist An­ of lawlessness. Indeed, visuals that elicit nega­ tive emotions carry potent messages that re­ drew Hacker, in his book, Two Nations: Black search shows viewers more readily remember and White, Separate, Hostile arid Unequal, any information in the narrations accompanying contends that Americans of Asian and Latino them.36 descent, who comprise the fastest growing racial This means the frames identified in this study groups, "prefer to emphasize their cultural and are rooted in the construction of the stories, or, national identities rather than traits associated in other words, where the camera was pointed with race" but that "the same cannot be said for and who was interviewed. The point is a subtle the rest of the nation, which remains either one because images may not seem to have values black or white."37 Whether or not one agrees attached to them, but they do and an absence of with Hacker, an inevitable consequence of the narrative context renders them neither neutral legacy of slavery has been that the story of race nor fair. Such an absence contributed to the in America remains largely told in terms of dominance of individual responsibility-the blacks and whites. Moreover, contemporary lawless immorality of the rioters-for the public opinion surveys suggest that African violence that followed the acquittals in the Americans, who continue to comprise the Rodney King beating in television news coverage nation's largest racial minority group, continue of the Los Angeles riot. To repeat, lawlessness to be perceived as among the least desirable and/ contributed to the violence in Los Angeles, but or most discriminated against racial/ethnic in presenting this issue as the dominant cause of group in American society.3s This larger cultural the riot, television news, particularly local narrative on race, fueled by history, tunes the coverage, gave short shrift to the plethora of ears of journalists to its significance. Thus, it is social issues underscored by the violence. echoed in coverage of people of color. For example, our findings on "non-riot" coverage showed that even in Los Angeles, Explaining the Frames where Latinos comprise the largest racial minor­ Perhaps the most striking finding in our study ity group, most news reports involving people of regards the reporting on the involvement and color depicted blacks. Similarly, a 1990 ethnic impact of the violence on Latinos, who were content analysis of news coverage in San Fran­ seen in the coverage but rarely noted except in cisco media found that for every five stories passing references. As we recall, Latinos com­ depicting blacks, the smallest racial minority prised the majority of people arrested for rioting, group in the city, there was one depicting Asian­ almost half the residents in the areas hit hardest Americans, who comprise the largest minority by the violence, and perhaps as many as one­ group.39 These findings are inevitable when we third of the storeowners whose property was recall sociologist Gans' definition of news, its damaged. Given these facts, the finding seems impact on the representation of all kinds of especially curious.

14 Transmitting Race: The Los Angeles Riot in Television News people and on people of color, in particular. To Kerner study found virtually no reporting on summarize, through selecting and reporting on police conduct in black communities although events while ignoring others, the news media many of those upheavals occurred after incidents either reinforce or challenge the social order. involving police and young black men. Middle-aged white men, who dominate the ranks Also inherent in the presentation of the King of institutional leadership, are far more likely to case is the construction of conflict in the news. appear in the news than any other group because News, as we discussed earlier, thrives on con­ so much news emanates from institutions flict-the antithesis of order. The norms and empowered to establish and preserve social practices of journalism coupled with the need to order. News focuses on challenges to that order simplify means conflict is largely presented as a (that is conflict). Conversely, groups who are not two-sided affair. Like any court case, the antago­ as well-represented in the halls of power, such as nists in the King case were clearly defined. On racial minorities, tend to become most newswor­ one side was King, who is black, and, on the thy when challenging, threatening or making other were the police officers, who are white. He inroads to the status quo. Therefore, mainstream became a symbol of the black community and news media might be expected to view the plight the officers symbolized white authority. of black people, who comprise the largest, most The problem with the "black-and-white" visible racial minority and possess a long, framing of the King case was not that it was comparatively well-documented legacy of wrong, but that the story line was too narrow for organized, mass civil rights movements, as more reporting on the multi-ethnic nature of the newsworthy those of other racial minorities. violence that followed the verdicts, and perhaps The event that triggered the violence in Los even the King case itself. For example, the Angeles-the beating of black motorist Rodney Christopher report on the Los Angeles Police King by four white police officers-was viewed, Department, conducted and completed before not only in this country but around the world, as the state court verdicts in the King case, made a symbol of the persistence of white-on-black clear that instances of police misconduct were as racism in America. It only made sense that pervasive in L.A.'s Latino communities as in its television news would train its cameras on black communities. So it could be argued that African Americans in South Central Los Ange­ television news also might have trained its les, where there had been news reports on a cameras on Latinos for their reaction to the possible adverse reaction to the King case ver­ verdicts. Indeed, we found that some television dicts prior to the violence. The decision proved news stations in Los Angeles did report on prophetic for, as the Webster report concluded, reaction to the verdicts in East Los Angeles, the the first acts of violence, including the Denny historic heart of Los Angeles' Mexican American beating, involved African Americans. Moreover, community and home base of the city's most these acts, specifically the Denny beating, were well-known and prominent Latino elected captured by professional and amateur video leaders. Obviously, the Christopher report was bigger news in Los Angeles than around the operators as they unfolded, providing dramatic country so perhaps we should not chastise the visuals essential to storytelling in television national media (which in addition to being, news that were aired repeatedly in the coverage perhaps, less well-informed of local affairs did even as the violence spread and the players not have the personnel that local stations had to shifted to encompass diverse segments of the fan across the city) for their apparent failure to population. recognize the possible significance of the King Inherent in the sound news judgment that led case in Latino communities. In either case, to widespread attention on the King case was the neither coverage strategy was effective for salience of black-white race relations in comparatively little violence occurred in East America. The amateur videotape of King's Los Angeles. Rather it occurred in heavily Latino beating made visible a recurring topic of contro­ neighborhoods in South and South Central Los versy in minority communities as well as, Angeles, including Pi co Union, the heart of the perhaps, a recurring topic of racial news-police city's Central American community. brutality. We found, for example, in our sample That television news did briefly tum its of stories not related to the riot or the King case cameras on East Los Angeles is an illustration of that police brutality was mentioned in one in the traditional strategy used to report on tradi­ every 10 reports portraying people of color. This tional, raCially segregated minority communi­ is a significant finding because in 1967 the ties, which rarely are subjects of continuing, or

Erna Smith 15 beat, coverage in television news. The strategy that population base." As the violence intensi­ involves going into these areas when news arises fied, he decided to approach English-language and interviewing, depending on the story, stations, and he said at one station the reporter ordinary citizens, officials (elected or appointed), assigned to interview him did not know he was a community leaders, well-known public figures, member of the Los Angeles City Counci1.41 or, if necessary, outside experts. Elected officials None of these possible explanations excuse and community leaders playa key role in defin­ the relative absence of Latino perspectives in ing news because it is to them that journalists television news coverage of the 1992 Los Angeles turn most often for news but it might be particu­ riot. But they do suggest that the framing of the larly problematic when covering a community as event was influenced by the norms and practices diverse in nationality and language skills, of journalism as well as the King case, which geographically dispersed, and underrepresented was viewed as a symbol of black-white race in the halls of established power as Latinos are in relations. It seems possible, then, that the Los Angeles. For example, although Latinos, "Latino angle" was not more fully explored in including many from Central America, comprise the coverage either because (1) it did not fit into 49 percent of the population in the areas hit the dominant, racial story line in the coverage, hardest by the Los Angeles riot, they represent and, therefore, journalists did not recognize its less than 5 percent of the registered voters in significance, and/or (2) the journalists lacked those areas largely because they are too young to sufficient reporting strategies and news sources vote, according to the report, "Latinos &. the L.A. to find ways to report on it except in passing Uprising."40 Of the three city council representa­ references. tives in these areas at the time of the riot, two Lastly, it should be said that news reports on were black and one was Latino. Latinos did emerge in the weeks after the riot The media strategy council member Mike ended and a year later when the federal court Hernandez, whose district includes Pi co Union, verdicts in the King case were rendered. Still, used to appeal for calm after the violence began given that the nation's attention was most is illuminating. His first reaction was to talk to riveted on Los Angeles during the violence, Spanish-language media "because I know there perhaps the most lasting impression was the one are 500,000 Latinos whose herman a lingua is made before the looting, burning, beating and Spanish in the L.A. area and I knew that we had shooting stopped. no other vehicle by which to communicate with

16 Transmitting Race: The Los Angeles Riot in Television News Endnotes

A study of this magnitude could not have been Rivera Center, Occidental College, 1993, pp. 8, 10. possible without the generous support, guidance and assistance of others. Financial support was provided by 3. For a discussion of the socioeconomic changes in the Ford Foundation and the Joan Shorenstein Barone urban America since the Kerner Commission report, Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy in the see Harris, Fred and Wilkins, Roger, eds., Quiet Riots: John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard Race and Poverty Twenty Years Later, (New York: University. Pantheon Books, 1989). I am particularly indebted to Marvin Kalb, Ellen Hume, Nancy Palmer, and Fred Schauer for their 4. Gamson, William A., "News as Framing," Ameri­ advice and, more importantly, for the faith they can Behavioral Scientist, Vol. 33, No.2, November­ showed in me. I am also grateful to Jennifer Quinlan December, 1989, p. 157. and Edie Holway. 5. Entman, Robert, "Television, Democratic Theory The talented and tireless team of research assistants and the Visual Construction of Poverty," Political who helped formulate the study questions and Communication and Constructing Public Under­ collected the data and other research materials for this standing, Ann Crigler, ed. study were the backbone of the project. Technical director Michael Green supervised data entry and 6. Gamson, p. 161. conducted the statistical analysis; led weekly research assistant meetings; helped me to clarify my arguments 7. Umemoto, pp. 15-28. in numerous brainstorming sessions and write parts of the paper. 8. See Gans, Herbert, Deciding What's News: A Study Coding and research was provided by Louisa B. of CBS Evening News, NBC Nightly News, Newsweek Ollague, a native of the Pico-Union district in Los and Time, (New York: Pantheon, 1979) and Tuchman, Angeles; Pennington Geis; Esther Chon, a Los Angeles Gaye, Making News: A Study in the Construction of native; Natosha Reid; Nykeisha Jenkins; and Patricia Reality, (New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., 1978) Alfaro. for sociological analyses of the news production Ollague, Alfaro and Chon also translated and coded process. the Spanish- and Korean-language news programs included in the study. 9. Wilson, Clint C. II and Gutierrez, Felix, Minorities and Media: Diversity and the End of Mass Communi­ An advisory board of media scholars and journalists cations, (Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications, 1985), helped me clarify the study questions and offered pp. 135-142. invaluable practical advice about its design and presentation. They include Robert Entman, Frederico 10. See Roberts, Churchill, "The Presentation of Subervi, Alexis Tan, Jon Funibiki, Raul Ramirez, Paula Walker, Bill Wong, Tom Morgan, Betty Anne Blacks in Television Network Newscasts," Journalism Willams, Kenneth Walker, and Andrea Taylor. Quarterly, Vol. 52, Spring, 1975, pp. 50-55 and Gans, p.22. Editorial assistance was provided by Marion Just, Pippa Norris and Richard Parker. 11. See Gray, Herman, "Race Relations as News," I am as grateful to scores of people who have advised American Behavioral Scientist, Vol. 30, No.4, March­ and assisted me in this study as I am solely respon­ April 1978, pp. 381-396 and Entman, Robert, "Blacks sible for its content. in the News: Television, Modern Racism and Cultural Change," Journalism Quarterly, Vol. 69, No.2, 1. Webster, William H. and Williams, Hubert, "The Summer,1992, pp. 1-21. City in Crisis: A Report by the Special Advisor to the Board of Police Commissioners on the Civil Disorder 12. See Greenberg, Bradley et aI., Mexican Americans in Los Angeles," commonly known as the Webster and Mass Media, (Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing, report, (Los Angeles: Board of Police Commissioners, 1983); Turk, Judy VanSlyke et aI., "Hispanic Ameri­ 1992), p. 11. cans in the News in Two Southwestern Cities," Journalism Quarterly, Vol. 66, Spring 1989, pp. 107- 2. See Webster report, Appendix 9; Umemoto, Karen, 113; Weston, Mary Ann, "Native Americans in the "Ethnic Conflict and the Multiplicity of Frames: News: Symbol, Stereotype or Substance," paper Reconciling Injustice and Scapegoating in the Death of presented to the Association for Education in Journal­ La Tasha Harlins and the Trial of Soon Ja Du," ism and Mass Communications Commission on the unpublished dissertation paper, Massachusetts Status of Women, Montreal, August 5, 1992; and Institute of Technology, Spring, 1992, p. 11; and "Project Zinger: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly," a Pastor, Manuel, "Latinos & the LA Uprising,/I Tomas critical look at the news media coverage of Asian

Erna Smith 17 Pacific Americans published annually by the Asian in American History, (Newbury Park, CA: Sage American Journalists Association, San Francisco, CA, Publications, 1984), pp. 8-15. p.107. 28. MacDougall, Curtis, Interpretive Reporting, 13. Central involvement means a member (or mem­ (London: Macmillan, 1982), p. 12. bers) of a certain racial and/or ethnic group was seen on camera in at least three medium to close-up shots 29. SPJ code is contained in Mencher, Melvin, News and spoke on camera at least twice. This code category Reporting and Writing, (New York: Wm. C. Brown was devised by Northwestern University Professor Publishers, 1991), p. 250. Robert Entman for use in his study, "Blacks in the News: Television, Modem Racism and Cultural 30. Mencher, p. 250. Change," Journalism Quarterly, Vol. 69, No.2, Summer, 1992, pp. 1-21. 31. Graber, Doris, Mass Media and American Politics, (Washington, DC: Congressional Quarterly Press, 14. "To Rebuild Is Not Enough: Final Report and 1989), p. 95. Recommendations of the Assembly Special Commit­ tee on the Los Angeles Crisis," California State Assembly, September 28, 1992, p. 1. 32. Gitlin, Todd, The Whole World Is Watching: Mass Media In the Making and the Unmaking of the New Left, (Berkeley, CA: The Regents of the University of 15. Webster report, pp. 19-20; California State Assem­ California, 1980). bly report, p. 11; and Pastor, p. 33. 33. Whitman, David, "The Untold Story of the L.A. 16. Pastor, pp. 16-17,37. Riot," US News eiJ World Report, Vol. 114, No. 21, p.44. 17. Webster report, pp. 13-14. 34. Freeman, Mike, "L.A.'s Local News Takes to the 18. Information on riot-related fatalities was taken Streets," Broadcasting magazine, May 4, 1992, p. 11. from Appendix 9 of the Webster report. The figures only apply to people killed in the city of Los Angeles. 35. CBS Evening News transcript, April 30, 1992. 19. Peters ilia, Rand Corporation press release, June 36. Newhagen, John, "Images of Fear," Washington 1992. Journalism Review, Vol. 14, No.6, July-August 1992, p. 27. 20. Pastor, p. 11 and Webster report, p. 23. 37. Hacker, Andrew, Two Nations: Black and White, 21. Lieberman, Paul and O'Reilly, Richard, "Looters Separate, Hostile, Unequal, (New York: Charles Endured Lives of Crime, Poverty," The Los Angeles Scribner's Sons, 1992), p. 6. Times, p. 1:3, May 2, 1993. 38. For a discussion of shifting attitudes toward 22. Freeman, Mike, "Riots Boost May Ratings in Los dozens of U.S. ethnic/racial groups over a 25-year Angeles," Broadcasting magazine, June I, 1992, p. 22. period, see "What Do Americans Think about Jews?" (New York: The American Jewish Committee, 23. Standish, Kim, "Hell in the City of Angels," Institute of Human Relations, 1991). Communicator, a publication of the Radio-Television News Directors Association, Vol. XLVI, No. 5, May 39. Smith, Erna, "What Color Is the News: An Ethnic 1992, p. 14. Content Analysis of Bay Area News Media," (San Francisco: Shalan Foundation, 1990). 24. ABC World News Tonight transcript, April 30, 1992. 40. See "Latinos & the L.A. Uprising" for a profile of the Latino electorate in areas hit hardest by the 25. CBS Evening News transcript, April 30, 1992. violence as well as in Los Angeles County as a whole.

26. LaBrecque, Ron, "City of Anger," Washington 41. Hernandez's comments are taken from a transcript Journalism Review, Vol. 14, No. 6, July-August 1992, of the National Association of Latino Elected Officials p.23. Conference Session on "Urban Violence in Latino Communities: The Case of Los Angeles" that was 27. A discussion of the significance of the Hutchins held in Santa Fe, New Mexico on June 19, 1992. Commission in journalism history is contained in Kessler, The Dissident Press: Alternative Journalism

18 Transmitting Race: The Los Angeles Riot in Television News