Race, gender, and the newsworthiness of homicide incidents Jeff Gruenewald, Jesenia Pizarro, Steven M. Chermak ⁎ School of Criminal Justice, Michigan State University, 560 Baker Hall, East Lansing, MI 48824, United States abstract article info This study examined the criteria news media use to evaluate the newsworthiness of homicide incidents occurring between the years of 1997 to 2005. By examining how particular race, gender, and race/gender intersections of offender-victim combinations affect news coverage decision-making, this study attempted to identify the most important criteria of newsworthiness. This article contributes to the growing body of newsworthiness of crime research by examining how cultural typification of victims and offenders affects news media coverage of homicides in Newark, New Jersey, a unique research location in which Blacks make up the majority of the population and Hispanics are the dominant population minority. The results provide partial support for Lundman's (2003) conclusion that cultural typification based on race and gender is an important criterion of newsworthiness. © 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Introduction It is nearly impossible to escape crime imagery in the news media. Scholars have found that crime is generally a staple of news programming, comprising from 10 to 50 percent of all news stories (Chermak, 1995; Ericson, Baranek, & Chan,1991; Graber, 1980; Klite, Bardwell, & Salzman, 1997; Maguire, Sandage, & Weatherby, 1999; Yanich, 2005). In addition, not all crime is presented similarly by the news media. In particular, research has consistently shown that crime is distorted in favor of uncommon events (Chermak, 1995; Ericson et al., 1991; Fishman, 1980; Gans, 1979; Tuchman, 1973). This same research has generally found that violent crimes such as homicides, for instance, are overrepresented while minor, more common crimes are ignored or de-emphasized. Consequently, research examining media coverage of crime, particularly homicide, has increased in recent years (Buckler & Travis, 2005; Johnstone, Hawkins, & Michener, 1995; Lundman, 2003; Paulsen, 2003; Peelo, Francis, Soothill, Pearson, & Ackerly, 2004; Pritchard, 1985; Pritchard & Hughes, 1997; Sorenson, Manz, & Berk, 1998; Weiss & Chermak, 1998; Wilbanks, 1984). Despite such increased attention, an empirical void remains in the literature regarding the factors that contribute to the decision-making process of whether to cover, and how much to cover, a particular homicide incident. To date, few studies (i.e., Gilliam & Iyengar, 2000; Lundman, 2003; Pritchard & Hughes, 1997) have seriously considered how the gender and race of homicide victims and offenders, and their interaction, affect news media selection and prominence decisions, and whether these interactions supersede incident characteristics in increasing the newsworthiness of a particular homicide. Therefore, the question of what newsworthiness criteria are most important in shaping news media decisions on how to cover homicide occurrences remains unanswered. Moreover, the examination of gender and race/ethnicity interactions in this area of research is nonexistent. Previous studies have concentrated on racial categories (i.e., White and Black), and in doing this, have ignored ethnic groups such as Hispanics. Conse- quently, it is currently unknown whether Hispanic ethnicity is important in shaping news media decision making. The scholarly understanding of newsworthiness criteria is impor- tant for several reasons. First, examining how homicide victim and offender characteristics affect news media coverage decisions is a step toward understanding the construction of homicide as a social problem. Second, the public generally has limited direct experience with crime and depends primarily on news media for information about crime and the response to crime by criminal justice agencies (Surette, 1998; Yanich, 2005). Therefore, news media's emphasis on particular types of homicides and neglect of others could affect public perceptions and fear of crime, and in turn, lead the public to support punitive criminal justice policy alternatives. Moreover, emphasizing homicides involving offenders and victims that align with dominant race/ethnic and gender stereotypes, and neglecting those that conflict with such stereotypes, may serve to reinforce prejudiced social structures, ideologies, and social practices (Meyers, 1997). This study examined the relationship between homicide partici- pant and incident characteristics and news media decision-making in the city of Newark, New Jersey over a nine-year period (1997 to 2005). One research question was posed: what homicide characteristics most contribute to the newsworthiness of homicide occurrences? In answer- ing this question, this study employed data from the Newark Police Department's Homicide Squad and linked actual homicide occurrences with their respective media coverage in order to identify what types of Journal of Criminal Justice 37 (2009) 262–272 ⁎ Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 517 355 2210; fax: +1 517432 1787. E-mail address: chermak@msu.edu (S.M. Chermak). 0047-2352/$ – see front matter © 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2009.04.006 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Criminal Justice