Building boundaries: A case study of the use of news photographs and cultural narratives in the coverage of local crime and in the creation of urban space

Abstract

This case study of two Iowa cities argues that news images hold cultural representations that can easily be defined within dominant society and the news institution itself. News narratives, the telling of a common story to help readers and journalists alike understand a current news event, have traditionally been identified within the words of news texts. This paper furthers the understanding of news narratives by looking through the lens of an event framed by news images.

Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank the following reviewers for their comments and suggestions and colleagues for their support: Judy Polumbaum, Frank Durham, Jack Lule, Dan Berkowitz, Kelly Giese, and Etse Sikanku. In addition, the author thanks the newspapers mentioned in this study for their cooperation.