Graduation Term
2014
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Department
School of Communication
Committee Chair
Joseph P. Zompetti
Abstract
This thesis examines how the relationship between crime and poverty is rhetorically constructed within the news media. To this end, I investigate the content of twelve news articles, published online, that offered coverage of crime in the city of Detroit, Michigan. I employ three methods in my criticism of these texts: ideographic analysis, critical framing analysis, and an approach that considers ideographs and framings elements to be rhetorical constructions that function together. In each phase of my analysis, I developed ideological themes from concepts emerging from the texts. I then approached my discussion of these findings from a perspective of Neo-Marxism, primarily using Gramsci's (1971) critique of cultural hegemony to inform my conclusions. I ultimately argue that, through their dissemination of these representations, the news media function as a mechanism to perpetuate an ideology of classism.
Access Type
Thesis-Open Access
Recommended Citation
Nickell, Jacob Jerome, "Crime and Poverty in Detroit: a Cross-Referential Critical Analysis of Ideographs and Framing" (2014). Theses and Dissertations. 167.
https://ir.library.illinoisstate.edu/etd/167
DOI
http://doi.org/10.30707/ETD2014.Nickell.J