Savage portrayals
Subtitle: race, media, and the Central Park jogger story
By: Natalie P. Byfield
Publisher: Temple University Press
Published: 2014
Language: eng
Number of pages: 233
ISBN-13: 9781439906330; 9781439906347; 9781439906354
Subjects: Violent crimes; African Americans in mass media; Discrimination in criminal justice administration; Press coverage; Racism; Case studies; Rape; Central Park Jogger Rape Trial, New York, N.Y., 1990; Hispanic Americans in mass media
Description: In 1989, the rape and beating of a white female jogger in Central Park made international headlines. Many accounts reported the incident as an example of "wilding"--Episodes of poor, minority youths roaming the streets looking for trouble. Police intent on immediate justice for the victim coerced five African-American and Latino boys to plead guilty. The teenage boys were quickly convicted and imprisoned. Natalie Byfield, who covered the case for the New York Daily News, now revisits the story of the Central Park Five from her perspective as a black female reporter in Savage Port.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 215-226) and index.
Table of contents: title: Reconnecting new forms of inequality to their roots; title: A jogger is raped in Central Park; title: The position of the black man in the cult of white womanhood; title: Salvaging the "savage": a racial frame that refuses to die; title: A participant observes how content emerges; title: The "facts" emerge to convict the innocent; title: The case falls apart: media's brief mea culpa; title: Selling savage portrayals: young black males in the carceral state; title: They didn't do it!