Impacts of increased news media coverage on police officer decision-making and use of force situations

Brown James (Ph.D. student) (2024, August). [Forthcoming] “Impacts of increased news media coverage on police officer decision-making and use of force situations,” paper presented to the Newspaper & Online News Division at the 107th annual meeting of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Conference (AEJMC), Philadelphia.

Abstract: News coverage of police officers has become more frequent in the 21st century, especially since 2020 with the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and others. However, little research has been conducted into how this increased news coverage impacts police officer decision-making and use of force situations. By interviewing 10 police officers from Gulf Coast states, this study finds that such news coverage does impact officer decision-making and causes hesitation in use of force situations.