Accidents, icons, and indexing: The dynamics of news coverage of police use of force

This study explores the construction of news about police use of force in the Los Angeles Times over a six-year period culminating in the crisis generated by the Rodney King beating. The data presented here indicate that the ''indexing'' norm may not fully explain the pattern of inclusion of nonofficial voices and challenging views in the news. Dramatic news events apparently can license journalists to usher challenging views into the news in significant proportions, even in the absence of or prior to elite conflict. These findings are explained in part by the characteristics of police brutality news itself and in part by news organizations' conversion of dramatic ''accidental events'' into ''news icons.'' A comparison of media treatment of two dramatic cases of alleged police brutality, however, suggests that while dramatic events can bring challenging ideas into the news, both the characteristics of events and the presence of elite conflict are crucial to the ultimate effect of those events on the construction of public problems in the news.