A Black Teen, a White Cop, and a City in Turmoil: Analyzing Newspaper Reports on Ferguson, Missouri and the Death of Michael Brown

• DOI: 10.1177/1043986218787732
• Date: 01 November 2018
• Published date: 01 November 2018
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/1043986218787732

Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice

2018, Vol. 34(4) 421 –441

© The Author(s) 2018

Article reuse guidelines:

sagepub.com/journals-permissions

DOI: 10.1177/1043986218787732

journals.sagepub.com/home/ccj

Article

A Black Teen, a White

Cop, and a City in Turmoil:

Analyzing Newspaper Reports

on Ferguson, Missouri and the

Death of Michael Brown

Jebadiha E. Potterf1 and Jason R. Pohl1

Abstract

Understanding how newspapers depict fatal shootings of minority men by police,

and how this affects implicit biases, may offer insight into why such shootings

continue to occur. Through an analysis of national newspaper articles immediately

following the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, we investigate how

these events are framed regarding the use of victim-supporting, social justice frames

or law enforcement–supporting, law and order frames. We then theorize how this

might contribute to the perpetuation of implicit biases. We find social justice frames

appear more frequently than law and order frames during this period. This shift in the

presentation of information might affect the reinforcement of implicit biases that the

news media is often accused of causing.

Keywords

policing, police shootings, race and media, Ferguson, Missouri, Michael Brown

Introduction

Moments after shots echoed through the streets of Ferguson, Missouri on August 9,

2014, it became clear a public spectacle was imminent. The details of the situation

leading to the shooting remain unclear, even years later and after multiple investi-

gations. The Department of Justice provides multiple official, yet conflicting

1Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA

Corresponding Author:

Jebadiha E. Potterf, Department of Sociology, Colorado State University, B258 Clark Building, Fort

Collins, CO 80,523-1784, USA.

Email: jpotterf@colostate.edu

787732CCJXXX10.1177/1043986218787732Journal of Contemporary Criminal JusticePotterf and Pohl

research-article2018

422 Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice 34(4)

accounts, built largely upon police testimony. Briefly, according to the report,

Officer Darren Wilson said he tried to stop two Black men who were walking down

the middle of Canfield Drive (Department of Justice [DOJ], 2015). After telling

them to move to the sidewalk, and their failure to comply, Wilson attempted to exit

the vehicle. A struggle ensued, and one of the men, 18-year-old Michael Brown,

reportedly assaulted the officer. According to investigators, Brown tried to grab the

officer’s gun at which point a shot was fired (DOJ, 2015). Brown ran on foot and,

after a brief pursuit, began motioning toward the officer. After several warnings,

and reportedly seeing Brown reach toward his waistband, the officer fired several

shots. Brown kept coming toward him. During another series of shots, with Brown

less than 10 ft away, a shot hit Brown in the head. He was pronounced dead moments

later (DOJ, 2015).

Brown’s companion at the time, Dorian Johnson, disputed this account, as did

several of Brown’s friends and family who characterized him as passive and nonvi-

olent—a claim corroborated by his lack of prior trouble with police or in school

(Alcindor, Bello, & Fazal, 2014). According to Johnson, the officer did stop them for

walking in the middle of the street. But that it was the officer instead of Brown who

became angry. The officer opened the sport-utility vehicle’s (SUV) door, hitting

Brown with it, and then reached through the unrolled window, grabbed Brown

around the neck pulling him part way into the vehicle (Alcindor et al., 2014). During

the confrontation, a shot was fired, and Brown was released. The two men ran.

Johnson ducked behind a car while Brown ran down the road. That’s when Wilson

shot Brown in the back. He turned around and, with his hands, showed he was

unarmed. The officer kept shooting at Brown, even though Brown was no longer a

threat (Alcindor et al., 2014).

Other witnesses gave conflicting statements. Some supported the officer’s ver-

sion, while others aligned with Johnson’s version. Ultimately, several shots hit him

in the chest, and the fatal shot struck him in the head (DOJ, 2015). Autopsies per-

formed by two state employees and one independent investigator failed to resolve

many of the disputed points. Gun residue on Brown’s hand and cuts to his forearm

confirmed that he was in close proximity when the first shot was fired, supporting

claims that he was leaning through the vehicle’s window (DOJ, 2015). Bruising to

the officer’s face seemed to confirm Brown had struck him, but a lack of bruising on

Brown’s knuckles questioned the force of the strikes. He had a bullet wound on the

back of his right forearm, but investigators could not determine whether he was fac-

ing toward or away from the officer at the time of impact. Blood at the scene and

several witness statements supported the officer’s claim that Brown was approach-

ing him as he fired but could not determine the rate of approach or Brown’s intent

(DOJ, 2015).

Racial tensions quickly mounted as crowds gathered on the street near Brown’s

body (Fisher, 2014). In the days that followed, the shooting gave way to civil unrest and

criticism that the incident was merely the latest racially motivated case of wrongdoing

by Ferguson police (Vega, 2014). Massive demonstrations in the streets were mostly