Case Study #3 - Psychology of Communication

Here are the Media Coverage of each list.
1. Rodney King & Reginald Denny - 21,200
On March 3, 1991, video tape captured Rodney King, an African-American, being repeatedly beaten by a group of LAPD officers. More than a year later, on April 29, 1992, all four officers (three white and one Hispanic) were acquitted when the jury could not reach a verdict. The result sparked outrage about racism across the country, especially in South Central Los Angeles and South East Los Angeles where a largely African-American mob took to the streets shouting "Black justice!" and "No justice, no peace!" in what became known as the 1992 Los Angeles riots. Reginald Denny, a white construction truck driver was beaten nearly to death by a group of black assailants who came to be known as the "L.A. Four". The attack was captured by a Los Angeles News Service helicopter piloted by Bob Tur and shot by Marika Tur. The video was broadcast live on US national television.

2. Channon Christian - 90,400
Hugh Christopher Newsom and Channon Gail Christian were a couple from Knoxville, Tennessee. They were both raped, tortured and murdered after being kidnapped early on the morning of January 7, 2007. Their vehicle had been carjacked.

3. Abeer Hamza - 563,000
Abeer Qassim Hamza, an Iraqi girl who, at the age of 14 was gang-raped and murdered together with her 6-year-old sister, mother and father, in their home, by U.S. soldiers who then set fire to the girl's body before decamping.

4. James Byrd - 1,060,000
James Byrd was an African-American who was murdered in Jasper, Texas, on June 7, 1998. The murderers wrapped a heavy logging chain around his ankles, hooked the chain to a pickup truck, and then dragged Byrd about three miles along a macadam pavement as the truck swerved from side to side.

When you see these accidents, each list has different number of the Media Coverage. It means the media gives different attention. For example, in case of Channon Christian, the media coverage is less than ten thousands, while Abeer Hamza and James Byrd accidents' coverage are much more than this accident. But, the media should not give different attention. If the media gives different attention continuously, people also might focus on what the media tries to gather attention. Thus, the media must give equal coverage.