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Walking in Fear

An Autoethnographic Account of Media Framing of Inner-City Crime

Virginia Tech

For decades, scholars have studied the powerful effects of media. More specifically, researchers have found that media can be considered agents of socialization—shaping and influencing people's identities and identity formations. Because media is often our only "gateway" to witness what occurs outside of our view, it becomes the lens in which we use to view our world—especially when it comes to the framing of crime in the inner city. In this essay, I use the events surrounding Cincinnati, Ohio, and its race riots of 2001 as the case for analysis. Specifically, I use an autoethnographic account to detail the impact that news coverage on crime in Cincinnati can have on minority individuals who do not reside in the inner city. Finally, this essay further establishes the role—intentional or unintentional—that reporters and journalists play in community and public relations issues.

Key Words: media • framing • public relations • crime • autoethnography • race

This version was published on April 1, 2009

Journal of Communication Inquiry, Vol. 33, No. 2, 169-184 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/0196859908329628


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