Speaking of Looting: An Analysis of Racial Propaganda in National Television Coverage of Hurricane Katrina

Few analyses offer statistical support for claims that news broadcasts during Hurricane Katrina propagated racist ideologies. The authors conducted a content analysis of the first week of network and cable television broadcasts from New Orleans after the hurricane made landfall. Although many hurricane victims were low-income African Americans, news of looting and other activities featured disproportionate numbers of Whites, particularly in speaking roles. In general, White journalists and sources were sympathetic toward African American victims but critical of their behavior when it did not conform to White middle-class norms. The authors believe such coverage reflects aversive racism, a subtle and conflicted form of contemporary racial animosity. Accordingly, their work revises Herman and Chomsky's model of news production by considering the racial dimensions of propaganda.