O. J. Simpson Facts and Fictions: News Rituals in the Construction of Reality

by Darnell M. Hunt

• ISBN13: 9780521624688
• ISBN10: 0521624681
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-05-13
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Abundant popular discourses surround the O. J. Simpson double murder case. By contrast, Darnell M. Hunt scrutinizes these very discourses in order to further our understanding of the interests underlying them. Exploring the relationships between O. J.'s trial, the social location of television viewers (their race, gender and class) and everyday consciousness of social issues, his textual and audience analyses consider the incredible allure of the trial as 'media event'. Looking beyond the obvious explanations of celebrity, scandal and voyeurism, Dr Hunt asks: why was America so obsessed by this case? why were so many people intertested in particular outcomes? and what are we to make of the apparent racial divide in attitudes about the case, as shown in the opinion polls? O. J. Simpson Facts and Fictions incorporates insights from sociology and cultural studies to examine the implications for race relations in the United States at the dawn of the new millennium.

Table of Contents

List of figures	ix
List of tables	x
Acknowledgments	xi
Introduction	1	(14)
Knowing O.J.
Part I Theory	15	(70)
O.J. and ritual	17	(32)
O.J. and politics	49	(36)
Part II News construction	85	(94)
Press rites and O.J. wrongs: behind the scenes at ``Camp O.J.''	87	(20)
Celebrating the process: O.J. and KTLA-TV	107	(26)
(Re)affirming official sources: O.J. and the Los Angeles Times	133	(23)
(II)legitimate transgressions: O.J. and the Los Angeles Sentinel	156	(23)
Part III Audience reception	179	(68)
Raced ways of seeing O.J.	181	(35)
Raced ways of seeing O.J.-revisited	216	(31)
Part IV Conclusions	247	(62)
O.J. and reality	249	(60)
Appendix 1 Page-one O.J. narratives, Los Angeles Times, January 25-October 4, 1995	275	(4)
Appendix 2 Page-one O.J. narratives, Los Angeles Sentinel, January 25-October 5, 1995	279	(3)
Appendix 3 Emerging discussion themes, by group, March 30, 1995	282	(7)
Appendix 4 Emerging discussion themes, by group, August I, 1995	289	(5)
Appendix 5 Transcript of Primetime text	294	(7)
Appendix 6 Transcript of KTLA text	301	(7)
Appendix 7 Logistic regression of perceptions about Simpson's innocence or guilt on race, gender, education, family income, interviewer race, and perceptions of criminal justice system bias	308	(1)
Notes	309	(25)
References	334	(10)
Index	344