Assessing the Newsworthiness of Homicide Events

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Table of Contents

Introduction
The theoretical orientation
Research question
Dependent variables
Independent variables
Types of data
Major findings
Implications
References

Introduction

In “Assessing the Newsworthiness of Homicide Events” (2005), the authors of the article reported the results of a quantitative study on the criteria of the media depictions of homicide in the metropolitan area of Houston, Texas. This paper provides a methodological examination of the aforementioned article.

The theoretical orientation

The main theoretical foundation of the study was the process of delivering news to the public, referred by McManus as “market driven journalism” (Buckler & Travis, 2005, p. 2). Such theoretical explanation emphasizes the practical and organizational aspects of journalism, resulted from organizational pressures to sell their product. The theoretical framework in previous researches, which identified several determinants of homicide media marketability such as Chermak (1995), and Prichard and Hughes (1997) was found to be lacking in terms of providing explanation for differences in media coverage for certain homicides more than the other.

Research question

The methodology chosen in Buckler and Travis (2005) was in adding multivariate techniques to content analysis, so as to expand prior research and considering different media outcome measures (p. 3). In that regard, the research question in the article consisted of the following: what is the effect of situational and victim and offender characteristics on different media coverage outcome measures, such as the decision to cover the homicide, the length of the coverage, page placement, etc (p.3).

Dependent variables

Such media coverage outcome measures was used as the dependant variables in the study, divided into four variables, two dichotomous and two interval measures. The dichotomous measures were the decision to cover the homicide and the decision to cover the homicide at the trial or sentencing stage (Buckler & Travis, 2005, p. 7). The interval measures were the average number of words per news item, logged to the base of 10, and the media intensity score, which was an additive measure, dependant on such factors as the length of the story, article placement, the inclusion of photographs, and others. The examination of the dichotomous measures was conducted through logistical regression analyses, while the interval measures were assessed through OLS regression analysis (p. 8).

Independent variables

The independent variables in the study mainly consisted of 14 victim and offender demographic variables and measures of social circumstances, including gender, victim age, minority suspect, number of victims, and others. Most of the variables were dichotomous measures with the exception of offender age and the number of victims (Buckler & Travis, 2005, pp. 6-10).

Types of data

The data used in the study consisted of media and criminal data. The media data included all news items published in Houston Chronicles through the period from 2001 to January 31, 2004, searched through Lexis/Nexis and Houston Chronicles database. The criminal data consisted of all homicides investigated by the HPD in 2001, including the press releases of the department through the same period (Buckler & Travis, 2005, p. 6). Despite taking the span of two years, the study is cross-sectional as the measures are taken of the variables at a single point in time, with the long period being merely a confirmation that all news items were included in the database (p. 6).

Major findings

The study found that most of the homicides received some form (at least one news item) of media attention, where the three main factors representing journalists’ threshold criteria for deciding the news worthiness of the homicide were minority suspects, the involvement of unusual weapon, and robbery related homicide (Buckler & Travis, 2005, p. 12). The latter being the only significant predictor for all media outcome measures in the study. Generally, the study found that the situational aspects of a homicide were more important as predictors of its newsworthiness in the media.

Implications

The implications of the study are mainly negative, suggesting that the news items that have little market value are withheld from the public. The latter confirm the factor of profit in the news organizations (Buckler & Travis, 2005, p. 20). Additionally it should be stated that limitations of the study, such as informational constraints suggests that the study has areas for improvement. One of such areas can be seen in conducting interviews with the stakeholders in the news organization, in order to collect qualitative data. Additionally, the inclusion of online news resources as a source of media data might improve the study as well.

References

Buckler, K., & Travis, L. (2005). Assessing the Newsworthiness of Homicide Events: An Analysis of Coverage in the Houston Chronicle Journal of Criminal Justice and Popular Culture, 12(1), 1-25

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