Perceiving Hate Crimes: A Comparative Analysis of Major Newspaper Coverage of Hate Crimes in the United States and the United Kingdom

Abstract

This study examines a year of major coverage of hate crimes across select United States (US) and United Kingdom (UK) newspapers. Historically, scholars have gained valuable insights into American perceptions pertaining to crime through a critical examination of American newspapers' reportage of crime. The central argument of this research is that the amount of press coverage of hate crimes isa determining factor in the formation of public perceptions, values, attitudes, and behaviors regarding hate crimes in the short run as well as in the long run. Previous studies reveal the existence of a unidirectional relationship between both news content and public opinion regarding social issues. The findings of this study suggest that the print media in the UK reports more stories of hate crimes than the print media in the US. The author concluded that the UK's more stringent laws regarding hate crimes might have contributed to the greater amount of print media coverage of hate crimes in the country.