ABSTRACT
The painful process of readjustment that is required of the American news media must begin. This chapter focuses on the treatment of race/ethnicity, gender, and violence in local television news. It has three objectives: a review of the disparate research literature, a proposal and design for replicating the major findings, and the development of a new interpretive framework that shifts focus to institutional discrimination and its pathological consequences for the social capital of the local community. Television plays a pivotal role in the dissemination of news. The direction of study proposed in this chapter is unique from two perspectives. First, the fundamental concern is the degree to which constructed news stories discriminate in their choices of newsworthy subjects. Second, the authors need to examine the implications of the stories told from the standpoint of the community. In particular, they are concerned with the balance of social capital in these daily news transactions.
