Patterns of Bias: How Mainstream Media Operationalize Links between Mass Shootings and Terrorism

Political Communication. https://doi.org/10.1080/10584609.2022.2111484

59 Pages Posted: 5 Oct 2022 Last revised: 5 Oct 2022

See all articles by Sarah K. Dreier

Sarah K. Dreier

University of New Mexico

Emily K. Gade

Emory University

Dallas Card

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Noah A. Smith

University of Washington - Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering

Date Written: August 25, 2022

Abstract

How do race and/or religion shape news media coverage of mass shooters and whether media associate mass shooters with terrorism? This article combines natural language processing (NLP), statistical analysis of U.S. mass shooting events (1990-2016) and an in-depth case-study comparison to evaluate whether media exhibit patterns in how they frame mass shooters from different racial and/or religious groups. First, we use NLP to target and model the specific adjectives media use to describe mass shooters. We find identifiable text patterns in the adjectives media apply to mass shooters that vary along racial/religious lines. Second, we statistically estimate disagreement between established definitions of terrorism and media associations with the term ‘terrorism’ (excluding negations). This analysis suggests that media disproportionately fail to link non-Muslim white perpetrators to events that should properly be considered terrorism. Our in-depth case-study comparison reinforces and contextualizes these results. This research provides scientific evidence to support the increasingly prominent public speculation that U.S. institutions insufficiently acknowledge the threat of white-perpetrated terrorism. We suggest that biased media coverage reflects and contributes to a process by which certain identity groups are framed as outsiders.

Keywords: Media bias, NLP, mass shootings, terrorism

Suggested Citation

Dreier, Sarah K. and Gade, Emily K. and Card, Dallas and Smith, Noah A., Patterns of Bias: How Mainstream Media Operationalize Links between Mass Shootings and Terrorism (August 25, 2022). Political Communication. https://doi.org/10.1080/10584609.2022.2111484, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4200618 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4200618

Sarah K. Dreier (Contact Author)

University of New Mexico ( email )

Albuquerque, NM
United States

Emily K. Gade

Emory University ( email )

Atlanta, GA
United States
30033 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://emilykgade.com

Dallas Card

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor ( email )

2350 Hayward Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
United States

Noah A. Smith

University of Washington - Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering ( email )

United States

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