ABSTRACT

This book examines how the media approached long-standing and long-simmering issues of race, class, violence, and social responsibility in Baltimore during the demonstrations, violence, and public debate in the spring of 2015. Contributors take Baltimore to be an important place, symbol, and marker, though the issues are certainly not unique to Baltimore: they have crucial implications for contemporary journalism in the U.S. These events prompt several questions: How well did journalism do, in Baltimore, nearby and nationally, in explaining the endemic issues besetting Baltimore? What might have been done differently? What is the responsibility of journalists to anticipate and cover these problems? How should they cover social problems in urban areas? What do the answers to such questions suggest about how journalists should in future cover such problems?

chapter 1|18 pages

News of Baltimore

Journalism and Public Expression About a City’s Problems

part 1|81 pages

News and the Politics of Place

chapter 2|22 pages

Renewing the Lease

How News Characterizations of Baltimore Realigned White Reign of US Cities

chapter 4|19 pages

The Sociological Eye in the News

Covering West Baltimore in the Aftermath of the Death of Freddie Gray

chapter 5|19 pages

Order in Baltimore?

On Place-Frames in US Journalism

part 2|75 pages

Voices, Visibility and the Public Sphere

chapter 6|19 pages

“It’s not a pretty picture”

Visualizing the Baltimore Crisis on Social Media

chapter 7|19 pages

Linked Fates

Social Media as a Framing, Tactical and Witnessing Tool in the Black Lives Matter Movement

chapter 8|19 pages

The Black Press and Baltimore

The Continuing Importance of African American Journalism During Urban Uprisings

chapter 9|18 pages

The Case of “Misguided” “Thugs”

Baltimore Youth, Activism, and News

part 3|79 pages

Journalistic Discourse and Criticism

chapter 12|21 pages

Who Speaks for Baltimore?

How Journalists Understood their Authority and Ability to Represent “Place” During the 2015 Unrest

chapter 13|21 pages

“I don’t want him to be a Freddie Gray”

The Hero Mom on Trial

part 4|16 pages

Conclusion

chapter 14|15 pages

Why Baltimore Matters

Lessons for Journalism Studies