Race Colors How Americans React to Newsworthy Events

If you look at this case's coverage in context to how most cases are covered, one recognizes that the race card being played up so much is not only typical, but what most Americans expect and what many desire.

Let us not underestimate that even before the discovery the case was a national press phenomenon. Murder, mystery and paranoia will always catch America's attention, and this case has all those aspects, but it takes more than that to make a lasting impression.

Even when the profilers' predictions of a white sniper were being accepted, the case was front and center on every station. Therefore, with or without the race feature, we certainly would have another infamous serial killer story.

But with race added into the mix, we have notoriety and a case that will be added to the top-10 list of the infamous cases because of the peculiarity of a black serial killer alone.

It is important to look at the sniper case through the lens of how most major cases are profiled. One must remember that all forms of media are businesses first and protectors of reader interest second.

Heads of major news companies want money and ratings and will produce whatever will achieve those ends. If you consider other prominent cases in the past decade, you will find easily that murder, race and public fear work together harmoniously and that they generate the ratings and readership the media is looking for.

Of course, the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks serve as the most obvious example of this blend.

It left widespread paranoia and thousands dead. But race played no less of a part in the story's appeal. If the event truly mirrored the threat on American freedom regardless of race, the backlash against Muslims, especially on American soil, would not have ensued. As the Islamic faith and Afghanistan came under public scrutiny, racial, ethnic and religious differences were present.

Then there is the O.J. Simpson trial. Deemed "the trial of the century," it had the same elements as the other major cases. A black man was on trial for allegedly killing a white woman. It had all the makings of a press feast. The trial itself was intense, and race cards flew all over the place during the coverage. Interestingly, the words "not guilty" caused more divisiveness among Americans than the trial ever could.

When O.J. Simpson was acquitted of murder there was a distinct difference in white opinion and black opinion on the decision. This difference was probably best illustrated by the Time magazine photo of black students at Howard University cheering for the verdict and white Harvard University students in a state of shock. According to both sides, a black man had beaten the system -- guilty or not.

There was also a disparity in the reactions to both the sniper and Sept. 11, 2001. While almost everyone was disheartened by the terrorist attacks, blacks were reported to be more susceptible to understanding the apparent hatred toward America than whites were.

While the mainstream press focuses on the race issue in the sniper case mostly in reference to profilers being wrong, the black press is addressing the question of what the suspects' race means for blacks in America.

So on all avenues, we as Americans are divided, and the press plays on it. America to this day has an obsession, good and bad, with racial identity. As long as the interest is there, it will always be played up. And even though race itself does not make for an intriguing story, it makes an already-intriguing story more so when it is added.

Reach Tiffanie Drayton at drayton@email.unc.edu.