NEWS ABOUT MURDER IN AN AFRICAN AMERICAN NEWSPAPER: Effects of Relative Frequency and Race and Gender Typifications

Previous scholarly research on selection bias in news about murder indicates that race and gender stereotypes and, to a much lesser extent, the relative frequency of particular murders explain why some homicides are made into news and others are not. However, previous research has directed nearly exclusive attention to white newspapers. The present research remedies this omission by directing attention to the factors that shape selection bias in news about murder in a big-city African American newspaper. The results indicate that the relative frequency dimension of newsworthiness is a weak and inconsistent explanation of selection bias in news about murder in the black newspaper examined. Race, however, has profoundly different effects in white and African American newspapers. Whereas white newspapers use long-standing race stereotypes to filter news about murder, the data from the African American newspaper signal a firm rejection of the black image in the white mind (Entman and Rojecki 2000). Newspaper images of women and men are another matter. In both black and white newspapers, gender stereotypes uniformly filter news about murder and fundamentally distort gender effects. The implications of these findings are discussed including the clear need and ample scholarly room for replicative analyses of news about murder in other African American newspapers, with a keen eye on both "raced ways of seeing" (Hunt 1999, pp. 181–215) and gendered ways of seeing.     

The relationship between newsworthiness and publication of news releases in the media

Using content analysis of news releases received, selected, and rejected, and published by the media this study examines the relationship between the newsworthiness of news releases and the publication of news releases in the media. The results show that newsworthiness is a strong predictor of the selection of news releases for publication and the amount of coverage the selected news releases will receive. However, the newsworthiness of news releases fails to predict the prominence of coverage of the selected news releases.     

Effects of government public relations on international news coverage

Using content analysis of an international newspaper and a government publication, this study examines the influence of newsworthiness and public relations efforts on international news coverage, one of the key sources for understanding other countries. Grounded in gatekeeping theory, this study hypothesizes strong relations between three variables (newsworthiness, public relations involvement, and international news coverage) in the context of several South Korean news stories.     

Divorce in Research vs. Divorce in Media

What is the case for divorce? Researchers in the sociology of family tend to find that divorce's impact depends on what the comparison is: compared to a distressed marriage, divorce has its benefits. Meanwhile, policy makers and general audiences alike get much of their information about divorce research via the news media, where the negative consequences of divorce tend to be exaggerated, especially when comparisons, selection bias, or other research issues are neglected. Over the past 20 years, U.S. news coverage of divorce illustrates two key, intertwined topics: moral entrepreneurship using divorce as an issue and divorce research using (or not) careful methods of comparison. Three cases discussed below (in 1988–1989, 2002–2004, and 2008) illustrate these two themes. The underlying research on the health and mental health effects (including by gender) of divorce on children and adults reviewed in this article makes a case for divorce. The overlay of media reporting on divorce research illuminates the purpose for offering a case for divorce.     

The news value of nonprofit organizations and issues

This article reports on a study of the newsworthiness of information about nonprofit organizations and issues. The two-part study included content analysis of news stories in the 1991 editions of the San Francisco Chronicle and interview with editors and reporters at the paper.     

A Note on Selection and Gender Unemployment Gaps

Previous research has documented the impact of positive selection into employment on the ranking of countries by gender wage gaps. This note focuses on the impact of selection into labor force on cross-country differences in gender unemployment gaps. We construct the Manski bounds for the selection-free gender unemployment gaps in 26 EU countries and show that - without additional assumptions - the observed gender unemployment gaps carry little information about the selection-free gender differences in unemployment. Contrary to the common assumption of positive selection into labor force (similar to positive selection into employment documented in the gender wage gap research), we also point at an example of negative-selection bias. We show that labor force withdrawal of mothers on job-protected family leaves may lead to an overestimation of the selection-free gender unemployment gaps by as much as 1 p.p.     

Making a murderer: The importance of gender and violence against women in mass murder events

This article examines sex, gender, and gender violence (e.g., dating/domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking) as related to mass murder events. Specifically, the paper explores (a) sex/gender and mass murder and (b) violence against women prior to and directly associated with mass murder events. A multidimensional framework guided by critical feminist thought is presented to offer a nuanced approach to understanding offending. The paper argues that mass murder, a gendered phenomenon, is a way by which some individuals “do gender,” an expression of aggrieved entitlement and representation of toxic masculinity resulting from the collision of individual, relational, community, and cultural forces that impact perpetrator attitudes, decisions, and behavior. The paper advances knowledge by drawing attention to men's violence against women preceding mass murder events, one of the most common yet overlooked risk factors. Other gendered aspects are also discussed. In all, findings suggest that sexist beliefs/norms stemming from gender role expectations in patriarchal cultures are reinforced by male peer support and institutional failures that fuel violence against women and mass murder events. Thus, if we are to tackle the issue of mass murder, we need to take the lived experiences of women and girls more seriously and work on gendered‐oriented and gender‐informed solutions.     

户内人口匹配数据的误用与改进——兼与《高等教育扩张与教育机会平等》一文商榷

户内人口匹配数据被广泛地应用于社会学、人口学及相关领域的研究中,但户内人口匹配数据的选择性偏差常常被研究者忽略。针对这类问题本文利用2000年第五次人口普查和2005年1%人口抽样调查原始抽样数据对户内父子、母子和夫妻关系进行匹配,发现三种匹配数据均存在不同程度的选择性偏差,体现在年龄、性别、流动状况、城乡分布、教育、地区分布等方面。在此基础上,本文对《高等教育扩张与教育机会不平等》一文的匹配数据、分析模型和研究结论进行再检验。发现匹配数据的选择性偏差对分析模型和研究结论的影响是确定的。户内人口匹配数据的偏差不仅影响统计模型因素判断程度的错误,甚至完全改变影响因素的作用方向。为了减小匹配数据偏差的影响,本文提出户内人口匹配数据偏差的调整方法和思路,认为加权和再抽样方法能够在一定程度上弥补选择性偏差,相比来说,加权模型的调整效果更加理想。     

Feminist and Gender Media Studies: A Critical Overview

This paper offers a general overview of past, current, and developing issues and debates in the growing field of gender and feminist media studies. Its main aim is to provide for those who are new to the field, as well as advanced students and researchers, a broad sense of what is now significant and important area of academic research. It engages with the differences and similarities between gender and feminist media studies, gendered communication systems, gendered news production, feminist methodologies and methods in communication research (textual, audience, and production based), the media's role in constructing gender, and gendered and feminist research by specific media form including advertising, magazines, film, television, news, radio, and the Internet and new media. The outline of research presented is not exhaustive; however, it attempts to trace certain significant developments in the field historically, conceptually, methodologically politically and trans‐nationally.     

International public relations as a predictor of prominence of US news coverage

This study aims to test the public relations efforts of other countries as a predictor of their newsworthiness in the US news media, after controlling for national traits and social significance. Based on a content analysis of US newspaper and television news coverage (New York Times, Washington Post, ABC, NBC, CBS, and CNN) of 97 countries, this study found that the public relations of other countries’ governments is a significant predictor of these countries’ prominence in the US news coverage.     

Stereotyping Online? Internet News,Social Media,and the Racial Typification of Crime

A substantial body of research indicates that television news consumption is associated with criminal stereotyping. However, less is known about how online media, such as Internet news and social media news consumption, is associated with such attitudes. Using a multisite sample of mostly young adults, the current study examines the relationships between multiple types of online news consumption and crime news engagement on racially typifying African Americans as violent, property, and drug offenders. Findings reveal that Internet news consumption is negatively related, but social media news consumption is positively related, to racially typifying African Americans as criminals. Beyond consumption, social media crime news engagement is negatively related to racial typification. Last, there is some evidence that the association between online media consumption and engagement varies by race and political ideology. Findings and direction for future research is discussed.     

Nonlethal intimate partner violence: examining race, gender, and income patterns

The correlation between race of victim and intimate partner violence (IPV) is examined. Previous research showing a relationship between Black victims and higher levels of violence were based on uni-variate examinations and often do not consider other important factors. This paper presents national estimates of IPV by victim's race using the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), 1993-1999. The estimates based only on race are then disaggregated to account for the victim's gender and household income. Uni-variate findings demonstrate that victim's race is significantly related to rates of intimate partner violence. However, after controlling for both victim's gender and annual household income, the victim's race is no longer significant. The importance of understanding intimate partner violence through a person's socioeconomic status rather than race is discussed.     

Still a “female problem”: a framing analysis of the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine in Chinese online news

Approximately 562 million women in China are at risk for cervical cancer, which is mainly triggered by persistent infections with human papillomavirus (HPV). HPV is also responsible for the majority of penile, anal, and oropharynx cancers in men. In this study, online Chinese news content was examined 12?months before and after the approval of the HPV vaccine in China. The coding instrument captured issue-specific and generic frames of the HPV vaccine. The sample of 224 online news articles revealed that headlines about the vaccine tended to be neutral in tone (48.7%); however, 32.1% of the sample did not mention the vaccine. Although information about vaccine efficacy, costs, and the populations recommended for vaccination increased after the approval, other information, such as safety concerns, increased significantly. Although 76.3% of the sample labeled the vaccine as a tool for cervical cancer prevention, they failed to recognize it as a method for preventing sexually transmitted diseases. In the sample, gender bias was present in both the headlines and content of the articles. For example, in the news stories, the consideration of the eligibility of males for vaccination, the effectiveness of the vaccine in preventing diseases in men and the use of male exemplars were far from satisfactory. Moreover, the gender bias remained consistent over time. The implications of the findings and the contributions of the study are discussed.     

Black women and feminist sociology: The emerging perspective

Since the 1960s, leftists, interpretive sociologists, black nationalists and feminists have challenged the subject matter, methods, and social control functions of sociology. The feminist critique continues today, but it is arguable that a “fourth critique” of the field is in the making. This fourth critique emanates from the writings of a black feminist intelligentsia. Its theoretical anchor is a developing perspective on the intersection of race, class, and gender. This intersection is an important revision of feminist sociology and feminist theory, which tend to emphasize gender. The perspective is also corrective of race relations perspectives, which are often omissive of gender. The perspective, therefore, is recreative and may be transformatory of all prior critiques of the field. Rose M. Brewer is in the Departments of Sociology and Afro-American and African studies at the University of Minnesota. Her current research interests are race, class, and gender theory, black family formation, and welfare state policy.     

Untangling Inequalities: Gender,Race, and Socioeconomic Differences in Depression1

In their important paper, Link and Phelan (1995) argue that socioeconomic status is a fundamental cause of variation in well‐being and that the social resources associated with socioeconomic status constitute the fundamental cause of variation in well‐being. In this article, I elaborate on the fundamental cause perspective in three respects: by suggesting an expansion of the definition of resources, by examining how race and gender influence variation in the relationship between resources and mental health, and by developing a model of the relationship between social class, race, and gender that takes account of the potential asymmetry in the influence of resources across race and gender. Using the 2003 National Health Interview Survey and ordinary least squares regression, I find that black and white men are significantly less depressed than black and white women. However, women accrue greater mental health advantage from marriage, home ownership, and education. African‐American men experience less depression as a result of being unmarried and non‐Hispanic white women experience less benefit from full‐time employment, relative to African‐American women and men. Results are discussed in terms of implications for future research on race, class, and gender differences in health.     

The facts of fake news: A research review

This article offers a review of scholarly research on the phenomenon of fake news. Most studies have so far focused on three main themes: the definition and the scope of the problem; the potential causes; and the impact of proposed solutions. First, scholarly research has defined fake news as a form of falsehood intended to primarily deceive people by mimicking the look and feel of real news. While initial research has shown that only a small fraction of the online audience is exposed to fake news, for this small group of individuals, the impact of fake news can be quite substantial. Second, studies have identified cognitive processes that make individuals more prone to the influence of fake news, such as confirmation bias, selective exposure, and lack of analytical thinking. Fake news also derives its power from its appeal to partisanship, perceived novelty, and repeated exposure facilitated by both bots and human users that share them in the online sphere. Finally, while fact checking has also risen in response to fake news, studies have found that corrections to wrong information only work on some individuals.     

Looking back at fascism: a phenomenological analysis of BUF membership*

The purpose of this paper is to show that when former members of the British Union of Fascists give an account of their membership today, they take into consideration the common-sense hostility evoked by fascism. This is hardly surprising. However, the significance of this should not be too easily dismissed. One of the main criticisms of using oral history to explore certain kinds of events, is that actors engage in ex post facto rationalization. This form of ‘bias’ is in fact shown to exist in the former members but is made the central theme of the paper. A framework drawn from Schutz's social phenomenology is used to show that in looking back, the former members constructed the reflective accounts on the basis of their unique personal biography, which was seen as leading them towards fascism, and the socially given and transmitted common-sense typifications which now give pejorative connotations to fascist support. The respondents accomplished the view of themselves as former fascists by presenting their personal biography in such a way as to confront and challenge these common-sense typifications, such that their membership became a rational act. This was achieved through the notion of crisis. This empirical demonstration of Schutz's ideas will be used in defence against his idealist critics who claim that this emphasis on socially given and transmitted common-sense typifications makes Schutz's phenomenology too socially over-deterministic. It will also be used against his sociological critics who claim that Schutz's social phenomenology is incapable of being operationalized in empirical research.     

Gender and Race in the History of Housing Policy and Research: From Industrialization to Hurricane Katrina

This study examines how gender and race have shaped housing policy and research. In it, I analyze the history of housing policies and practices in the United States. Concurrently, I analyze the academic literature related to housing throughout these same time periods to understand issues relating to women, race, and housing. The primary goal of this article is to understand how intersecting oppressions have disadvantaged various groups of women, especially poor women of color, in the realm of housing. This study also provides a context for examining the problematic housing policies that were developed for those affected by Hurricane Katrina, who were predominately poor people of color. The widespread housing problems faced by Katrina survivors revealed a significant mismatch between housing policies and the needs of populations marginalized by gender, race, and class. I conclude with a call for a renewed consideration of housing issues among gender and race sociologists, and recommendations for studying post-Katrina housing policies.     

Whiteness Studies and the Erasure of Gender

In recent years, the study of race and ethnicity has expanded, and there is now a growing field of research that examines whiteness and racial privilege. This article provides an overview of theories of privilege and whiteness studies, and argues that these analyses should incorporate an intersectional approach. Intersectional theories argue that race and gender are intertwined, and neither can be fully comprehended on its own. An intersectional approach sees race and gender as interacting and inseparable. Two specific contemporary racial projects are examined: the ideology of color blindness, and organized white supremacist discourse, and argues that gender is essential to understanding both. Finally, the consequences of the erasure of gender from our analyses of whiteness are examined.     

Race,Gender, and the Invisible Hand of Social Capital

To better understand persistent race and gender inequality in the labor market, this article discusses the informal processes by which social connections provide individuals with access to information, influence, and status that help to further people’s careers. Because social networks are segregated by race and gender, access to these social capital resources tends to be greater for white men than for minorities and women. To illustrate this point, research on the invisible hand of social capital is presented. In short, high-level job openings are commonly filled with non-searchers – people who are not looking for new jobs – thanks to their receipt of unsolicited job leads. Recent studies find that this process operates more effectively for white men than for minorities and women, demonstrating how the invisible hand of social capital helps to perpetuate race and gender inequality. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of these findings and directions for future research.