On March 3, 1991, Rodney King was pulled over by the Los Angeles Police, which four police officers beat him for refusing to follow the officer’s instructions (Martin, 2005). These four individuals are Sgt. Stacey C. Koon and Officers Laurence M. Powell, Theodore J. Briseno, and Timothy E. Wind (Martin, 2005). A videographer was able to capture the event that was aired on the KTLA news channel. It became a controversial issue that caused the LA Riot of 1992. Furthermore, Rodney King’s case demonstrated the challenges and consequences that held the media, the law enforcement, and the public responsible for the LA Riot of 1992. These challenges were examined by focusing how the media chronologically reported Rodney King’s trial and the portrayal …show more content…
The public socially led each other to misbehave, such as looting, beating citizens, and damaging buildings. L.A. Riots Revisited (1999), noted that individuals who misbehaved had the interest to get filmed by the news media. Moreover, they saw themselves as a third-person point of view where they refused to hold their actions accountable. For instance, truck driver, Reginald Denny was dragged out of the truck and was physically beaten. The protestors had forgotten the rules of society that abusing an individual was an outlet for justice. However, the media portrayed African American as criminals, but there were African American residents who helped the injured citizens escape (L.A. Riots Revisited, 1999). The media stated that the Hispanic population was involved in the protest. According to Katz (2016), the Hispanic population was less likely to protest due to their resident legal status. The Hispanic population was vulnerable to deportation so they evaded from protesting. All things considered, the media, law enforcement, and the public are interconnected to the Los Angeles riot. To point out, the police officers had other strategies to contain Rodney King, the media may have prevented the riot by reporting the original footage of the video, and the public was able to protest due to the media and law enforcement lack of understanding of