This Article Full Text (OnlineFirst PDF) All Versions of this Article: 1541204008328800v1 7/2/136    most recent Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Kupchik, A. Articles by Bracy, N. L. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

The News Media on School Crime and Violence: Constructing Dangerousness and Fueling Fear

University of Delaware

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: akupchik{at}udel.edu.

	Abstract

This article examines how the print news media report on the problem of school crime and violence. Based on a sample of news stories from The New York Times and USA Today, it analyzes the characteristics of these reports and how they fuel fears of school crime and violence. The study reveals that print news articles frame school crime as bad or getting worse; that they persistently remind readers about the potential for tragedy at school; that they rely on emotional responses to inform readers, rather than more objective sources of information; and that they describe school violence as being unpredictable while suggesting that schools should be blamed for failing to recognize warning signs of violence. These characteristics of news stories stoke readers’ fears by providing a heightened sense of the threat of school violence, without a broader context for understanding how rare it is.

First published on January 11, 2009, doi:10.1177/1541204008328800

Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice 2009;7:136.

A more recent version of this article appeared on April 1, 2009


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?