Mainstream News Coverage of Rodney King and The LA Riots Intro In 1991 Rodney King was in a high speed chase with the police and when pulled over he was brutally beaten by four white officers , the four officers were acquitted from all charges. The acquittal of the officers led to the 1992 riots in LA. Mainstream media coverage was key role in how the general public received information and how they got information presented to them shaped how people view the situation. Different news outlets portrayed different situations than others such as the riots, King being victimize or being seen as bad. Portraying of the LA Riots During the time of the LA Riots there were many different angles and perspectives of how the LA Riots were …show more content…
When the Koreans decided to take matters into their own hands things got really violent. There were many shootouts between Koreans ,Blacks and Latinos. Everyone one had a gun on in the times of the riots. And that led to deaths that made the situation worst , a korean shop owner shot and killed a 15 year old girl because she thought she was stealing. The shop owner only got short prohibition and a fine. That made the Black community furious, the felt like they were protesting and things were still unequal. When Elaine Kim was asked about the media she said “The media has seemed to always perpetuate the stereotypes with its sensationalism. Kim believed that the media is used to divert attention from the roots of racial violence in the U.S”. The Koreans-America felt as if the media was against them, they felt like the media was only dividing them and making them seem like aliens. In all, mainstream media was a very important way in which the general public received information about Rodney King and the LA Riots. The media was the first source of information that was given to the public , so the media shaped how America and the world viewed the situation. The media portrayed the riots in either a good or bad way , they criminalize or made King a hero and they got the Korean-American