Published In
Journal of Communication
Document Type
Post-Print
Publication Date
9-2010
Subjects
Hurricane Katrina (2005), Disaster relief -- United States, Mass media and race relations
Abstract
This study looks at the effect of news images and race on the attribution of responsibility for the consequences of Hurricane Katrina. Participants, Black and White, read the same news story about the hurricane and its aftermath, manipulated to include images of White victims, Black victims, or no images at all. Participants were then asked who they felt was responsible for the humanitarian disaster after the storm. White respondents expressed less sense of government responsibility when the story included victims' images. For Black respondents this effect did not occur. Images did not affect attribution of responsibility to New Orleans' residents themselves. These findings are interpreted to support the expectations of framing theory with the images serving as episodic framing mechanisms.
Rights
© 2010 International Communication Association
Locate the Document
DOI
10.1111/j.1460-2466.2010.01493.x
Persistent Identifier
http://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/10981
Citation Details
Published as: Ben-Porath, E. N., & Shaker, L. K. (2010). News images, race, and attribution in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Journal of Communication, 60(3), 466-490.
Included in
Communication Technology and New Media Commons, Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Ethnicity in Communication Commons, Mass Communication Commons, Social Influence and Political Communication Commons
Description
NOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Journal of Communication. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Journal of Communication, 60(3), 466-490.