Journalists
and the Condemned:
The Limits of Media Agenda-Setting in Capital Cases
David L. Protess
Abstract
This study investigated the agenda-setting influences
on gubernatorial clemency decisions in four Illinois death penalty
cases. It found that press coverage of the cases had a limited impact
on the discretionary exercise of clemency power, even when a journalistic
campaign for clemency mobilized public opinion on behalf of the
condemned. Instead, established political, legal, and organizational
considerations tended to prevail. The study also examined factors
that shaped the media's agenda in the final phase of capital cases,
and found that press portrayals were influenced by the same norms
that govern the coverage of violent crime, thereby circumscribing
public discourse about capital punishment.
David L. Protess, Medill
School of Journalism, Northwestern University
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