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ABSTRACT
Media representations of prison have been cited as a source of information for those who do not have personal experience with these institutions. While found in various facets of the media, the news media can offer immediate information about prison-related issues. Traditionally, news coverage of prison has featured negative stories about escaped inmates, riots, and abusive guards, and their messages have served to justify get tough policies. Combined these types of news stories have contributed to penal populism. In recent years, efforts aimed at fixing the damage done by the imprisonment binge have become prevalent. What is not known is how the news media are covering these reform efforts. This study examines prison news articles published in The New York Times during 2015 to determine if and how prison reform efforts are being covered. While traditional prison news stories are still being published, prison reform was newsworthy. Readers were exposed to bipartisan arguments supporting prison reform, while simultaneously receiving messages that these changes would not apply to violent offenders.
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Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1. While traditional letters to the editor were removed from the sample, articles within the Op-Ed section of The New York Times were retained. These pieces are written by a board of 13 journalists who work independently from the rest of the paper. In addition, they publish articles written by experts. According to Tumin (Citation2017), the goal of this section is ‘to afford a greater opportunity for exploration of issues and presentation of new insights and new ideas by writers and thinkers who have no institutional connection with The Times’ (6). James Bennet, editor of this section, states that the pieces published are meant to make readers consider ‘points of view just outside their comfort zone’ (7). If readers are learning about prison and possibly prison reform, these articles are an important contribution to the conversation, which is why they were included in the analysis.
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Notes on contributors
Dawn K. Cecil
Dawn K. Cecil is an Associate Professor of Criminology at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg. Her primary area of research is media representations of prison, including Prisons in Popular Culture: From The Big House to Orange is the New Black.