Abstract
Through an intersectional framework, this study examines how the print news media not only cover mass shootings, but may also influence public opinion through its biased coverage and framing of events. Perpetrators of mass shooting are usually the center of discussion, and the media’s portrayals of these offenders can reinforce stereotypes, e.g., White male offenders can be portrayed as “mentally ill” and non-White Black offenders can be portrayed as “dangerous” (Frisby 2017; Wheeler 2017; Chen et al. 2015; Duxbury, Frizzell, and Lindsay 2018). To further understand the media’s portrayal of mass shooters, this study examines a few research questions: 1) How does the media cover mass shootings with White and non-White shooters? 2) How are mass shootings covered in different regions? 3) Did the frequency of mass shootings spike during the Trump administration? A content analysis examines newsprint media taken from a Mother Jones’ data set that details coverage on mass shootings that occurred between 1982 and 2021. Intersectional theory helps analyze the portrayals of mass shooters and the relationships between the media, race, gender, and class. Findings reveal that mass shootings increased significantly during Donald Trump’s presidency, and that the majority of mass shooters were White males. Moreover, Black mass shooters were more often labeled as having “anger issues” and having engaged in “misconduct” than White mass shooters. Simply, mass shootings are a predominately a White male phenomenon that gets framed by the media as connected to mental health issues, while Black shootings are largely attributed to Black threat stereotypes.