Framing Race: An Analysis of Media Coverage of the Racially Motivated Murders of Emmett Till and Trayvon Martin

In August 1955, Emmett Till, a 14-year-old Black boy from Chicago, was brutally murdered by two white men for “wolf whistling” at a white woman. 57 years later, 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was shot and killed by a neighborhood watchman on February 26, 2012. Till’s death happened in a time of racial discord and segregation. Martin’s death happened in what many people called a “post-racial” society. The media had the responsibility of reporting these crimes thoroughly and objectively. However, as victims of murders surrounded by race, were Till and Martin represented correctly? Traditionally, Black youth have been represented in the media as deviant and lawless. They are mainly shown in crime news as the perpetrators. Journalists were challenged with framing a crime story in a way that was not the norm, showing Black boys as the victims instead of the perpetrators. This study analyzes three mainstream newspapers that published articles on both Till and Martin to see how journalists report on stories about racially motivated murders. The research is important because these types of crimes are still happening today, and if journalists do not properly frame the stories, Black people’s fight for justice, safety, and equality will continue to be misunderstood.