On August 9, 2014, Missouri police officer Darren Wilson shoots down a black teenager by the name of Michael Brown in downtown Ferguson, Missouri. Brown, having been shot six times, was killed on...Show moreOn August 9, 2014, Missouri police officer Darren Wilson shoots down a black teenager by the name of Michael Brown in downtown Ferguson, Missouri. Brown, having been shot six times, was killed on the spot. The shooting sparked two weeks of violence and looting, a civil unrest that became known as 'the Ferguson riots'. In its aftermath, theorists have argued that the riots have ultimately resulted in "The Ferguson Effect": the belief that crime numbers have risen due to police's incompetence to retain authority. However, this belief appears to be false, as crime statistics show that crime had already started to rise in the months prior to the police shooting. Nevertheless, the term still circulates in the media on a regular basis. This thesis will take a more rational approach towards the supposed “Ferguson Effect”. First, I will focus on historical crime data, provided by the Uniform Crime Reporting Statistics (UCR). Furthermore, this thesis will focus on comparable statistics of a similar civil unrest, the 2001 riots of Cincinnati, in order to spot potential similarities and/or disparities. The findings will invalidate the hypothesis of a “Ferguson Effect”, while at the same time prove the existence of a rise in crime in the years following the 2001 riots in Cincinnati -- “the Cincinnati Effect”, if you will. But as opposed to "The Ferguson Effect", the term has never been introduced by the media. In terms of civil unrests, this thesis will focus on the changes in media coverage by comparing the reports of four newspapers (Cincinnati Enquirer, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, New York Times and the Los Angeles Times) on both the Cincinnati riots in 2001 and the Ferguson riots in 2014. Furthermore, a cross-sectional analysis will be conducted to find out the extent to which coverage has transformed, both in the case of regional and national coverage specifically as well as comprehensive coverage. Ultimately, these analyses will confirm the following thesis statement: the term “Ferguson Effect”, introduced by the media in its coverage on the 2014 riots in Ferguson, Missouri, is a result of the media’s growing involvement in police brutality against black citizens, as compared to the coverage on the 2001 riots in Cincinnati, Ohio.Show less
