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Cited by 74Cultural and political discourse analysisMedia Discourse and Social AnalysisMedia Studies and Communication

Framing Ferguson: Fox News and the construction of US racism

Mills, Colleen E.·2017·Race & Class
DOI 10.1177/0306396816685030
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Abstract

In August 2014, police officer Darren Wilson shot unarmed Michael Brown, sparking months of protests in Ferguson, Missouri and other American cities and capturing worldwide media attention. This article presents a critical discourse analysis of Fox News Channel’s segments from August 2014 to March 2015. It systematically uncovers themes and larger discourses within five major areas: blaming black victims in the characterisation of Michael Brown and his shooting death, blaming black leaders, blaming the black community, attacking the black protesters and their movement against police brutality, and discrediting attempts to address issues of racism as the ‘politics of racial division’. Several major emergent discourses include: the criminal black (wo)man, blaming the victim, projection of racism on minorities, denial and counterattack, minimisation of racism, redistributing responsibility, personal responsibility, and deadbeat dads and unwed mothers. The author argues that Fox News in perpetuating these racist discourses helps to obstruct the addressing of racism in the criminal justice system.

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Crossref · 10.1177/0306396816685030

Cites

26 of 26 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

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  • Right-wing media outlets leaned heavily into racist framing when reporting on the BLM movement using five key tropes: discrediting racial politics, and blaming Black victims, Black leaders, the Black community, and Black protesters.

    “Mills (2017) found that right-wing media outlets, such as Fox News, leaned heavily into racist framing when reporting on the BLM movement using five key tropes: discrediting racial politics, and blaming Black victims, Black leaders, the Black community, and Black protesters.”

    From Reporting on Black Lives Matter in 2020: How Digital Black Press Outlets Covered the Racial Uprisings (2025) · cites this paper as Mills (2017)

  • Early news coverage of the protests was racially and politically biased.

    “Research has shown that early news coverage of the protests was racially and politically biased.”

    From Reporting on Black Lives Matter in 2020: How Digital Black Press Outlets Covered the Racial Uprisings (2025) · cites this paper as Mills 2017

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Authors
Mills, C. E.
Affiliations
The Graduate Center, CUNY (US)
Corresponding author
Mills, Colleen E.
ORCID
Mills, Colleen E.
Venue
Race & Class
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Published
2017-04
Volume
58
Issue
4
Pages
39-56
ISSN
  • 0306-3968 (ISSN-L)
  • 1741-3125
DOI
10.1177/0306396816685030
OpenAlex
W2605341220
Cited by
74
References
28
Citations by year
2026: 7 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 17 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 3
FWCI
23.55
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license (tdm)
Locations
Race & Class (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Linguistics and Language › Cultural and political discourse analysis
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Media Discourse and Social Analysis
  • Social Sciences › Communication › Media Studies and Communication
Keywords
Fox News, Ferguson protests, Michael Brown, Darren Wilson, racism, media framing, police brutality, criminal justice system, victim blaming, racial division, news discourse, media coverage of race

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