Media Bias, Perspective, and State Repression
The Black Panther Party

This book examines the information reported by the media regarding the interaction between the Black Panther Party and government agents in the Bay Area of California (1967–1973).

Christian Davenport (Author)

9780521766005, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 23 November 2009

262 pages, 9 b/w illus. 9 tables
23.5 x 15.8 x 1.8 cm, 0.47 kg

'This meticulously researched, well-written and broadly integrative book is simultaneously about a chief methodology used by scholars of contentious politics, and state repression of the Black Panther Party in the Bay Area during the late 1960's. On the methodological level, the book illustrates the pitfalls of relying on single news source accounts of conflict and repression and it clearly delineates the sources of bias related to such news accounts. As such, the book stands out as a new and exciting addition to the growing literature on media bias and will become a classic text on this subject. On a substantive level, Davenport describes important events and details related to the state repression of a hitherto understudied social movement. Indeed, this work contributes to a much deeper and nuanced understanding of this movement during this period of time. Media Bias, Perspective and State Repression should be read and digested by political scientists, sociologists, historians, communications scholars and laypeople alike.' Sarah Soule, Stanford University

This book examines information reported within the media regarding the interaction between the Black Panther Party and government agents in the Bay Area of California (1967–1973). Christian Davenport argues that the geographic locale and political orientation of the newspaper influences how specific details are reported, including who starts and ends the conflict, who the Black Panthers target (government or non-government actors), and which part of the government responds (the police or court). Specifically, proximate and government-oriented sources provide one assessment of events, whereas proximate and dissident-oriented sources have another; both converge on specific aspects of the conflict. The methodological implications of the study are clear; Davenport's findings prove that in order to understand contentious events, it is crucial to understand who collects or distributes the information in order to comprehend who reportedly does what to whom as well as why.

Introduction
Part I. Conceptualization: 1. Objectivity and subjectivity in event catalogs
2. The Rashomon effect, observation and data generation
3. Understanding state repressive behavior
Part II. Cases: 4. The Black Panther Party vs. the United States, 1967-73: background
5. An event catalog of dissent and repression: the BPP in the Bay Area
6. A mosaic of coercion: five cases of anti-Panther repressive behavior
Part III. Conclusion: 7. Conclusion: conflict, events and catalogs
Appendix 1: The Black Panther-U.S. Government event catalogs.

Subject Areas: Comparative politics [JPB], Politics & government [JP]