Media framing of attacks raises the ambient level of bigotry driving hate crimes

Evidence

Williams and Burnap (2015) argue that the media play a role in ‘setting the agenda’, ‘transmitting the images’ and ‘claims making’ following ‘trigger’ events of local, national or international interest. According to Hanes and Machin (2014), if attitudes towards Muslims are influenced by ‘trigger’ attacks and by media coverage of these attacks, then this finding fits with the proposition of ‘attitudinal shocks’, where a driver of hate crimes is the level of hatred or bigotry for a particular group in society, which may be influenced by media framing and coverage of attacks. — Irene Zempi and Imran Awan, Islamophobia, 119

Categorization

• DEFINE: Introduces ‘attitudinal shocks’ as the mechanism linking media coverage to hate-crime rates.
• XREF: Echoes the crisis-scapegoating argument that bigoted episodes mask and are mobilized by underlying political causes. — connects to: Infiltration and media ridicule neutralized Klan violence in late-1940s Atlanta. — Kevin M. Kruse, White Flight: Atlanta and the Making of…, 128