Intro
Within this project, numerous event-sequences are created from a variety of newspapers in an effort to see what they commonly observe as well as where they differ. This research attempts to identify if and how alternative accounts of contention vary, how they influence what we know as well as how such information can be used to gain a better understanding of why things take place. The project itself concerns contentious interactions between the Black Panther Party and different authorities (from 1967-1973) from 5 different newspapers - varying across ethnic, political and geographic orientation: the New York Times, the Oakland Tribune, the Berkeley Barb, the Sun Reporter, and the Black Panther Intercommunal News Service.
The data provided by this project was initially collected for the purposes of investigating the relationship between dissident rhetoric and state repressive behavior. This was what I received a grant to analyze (National Science Foundation, SBR-9617900). Sorry. Upon collecting the data, however, I became fascinated with the variance identified across sources and decided to make this the subject of my book: The Rashomon Effect in the Social Sciences: The News Media, State Repression, and the Importance of Perspective. Cambridge forced me to call it Media Bias, Perspective and State Repression: The Black Panther Party.
The data provided by this project was initially collected for the purposes of investigating the relationship between dissident rhetoric and state repressive behavior. This was what I received a grant to analyze (National Science Foundation, SBR-9617900). Sorry. Upon collecting the data, however, I became fascinated with the variance identified across sources and decided to make this the subject of my book: The Rashomon Effect in the Social Sciences: The News Media, State Repression, and the Importance of Perspective. Cambridge forced me to call it Media Bias, Perspective and State Repression: The Black Panther Party.
INtro: This book is colloquially known as The Rashomon Effect (to those who heard me talk about the work). This was inspired by the Akira Kurosowa film Rashomon and James Scott's use of the phrase in his book Weapons of the Weak. Cambridge did not like it though, saying that the reference would not be known by my audience. It was my first book, so I went with it. Who was I to question the marketing team. :)
Overview: Within this book, I suggest that incessant attention to "bias" (i.e., what is missed from some account) has compelled researchers to ignore "perspective" (i.e., why specific actors highlight the information that they do). I argue 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 challengers target (government or non-government actors), and which part of the government responds (the police or court). To investigate this argument the 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). Specifically, I find that 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. My findings show 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. The differences in accounts are not noise, they are perhaps the most important sound/signal sent by the actors to their respective sides.
Contents
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.
Overview: Within this book, I suggest that incessant attention to "bias" (i.e., what is missed from some account) has compelled researchers to ignore "perspective" (i.e., why specific actors highlight the information that they do). I argue 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 challengers target (government or non-government actors), and which part of the government responds (the police or court). To investigate this argument the 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). Specifically, I find that 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. My findings show 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. The differences in accounts are not noise, they are perhaps the most important sound/signal sent by the actors to their respective sides.
Contents
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.
Review Excerpts & Full Reviews
- Review in Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media (2011) - "Meticulous" and "Provocative"
- Review in International Journal of Press Politics (2011) - "a distinct contribution, first for its comparative approach—comparing realities across sources brings home the constructed nature even of “factual” chronologies of events—and also for its concrete and careful analysis, which successfully excavates the construction of a critical historical moment"
- Review in Mobilization (2011) - "Davenport's suggestions for the kinds of questions we should ask in the future, and the methodological strategies to answer them, are as important to consider as they will be challenging to execute. For this reason, the book should be required reading...
- Review in New Political Science (2010) - "Christian Davenport has written an intellectually ambitious book that should be or interest to students of social movements, state repression, and the news media."
- Review in Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media (2011) - "Meticulous" and "Provocative"
- Review in International Journal of Press Politics (2011) - "a distinct contribution, first for its comparative approach—comparing realities across sources brings home the constructed nature even of “factual” chronologies of events—and also for its concrete and careful analysis, which successfully excavates the construction of a critical historical moment"
- Review in Mobilization (2011) - "Davenport's suggestions for the kinds of questions we should ask in the future, and the methodological strategies to answer them, are as important to consider as they will be challenging to execute. For this reason, the book should be required reading...
- Review in New Political Science (2010) - "Christian Davenport has written an intellectually ambitious book that should be or interest to students of social movements, state repression, and the news media."
Data
Within the data for this project (which covers the time period from 1967-1973, by the week), the following labels are applicable:
- “bb” = Berkeley Barb - a weekly, white, alternative newspaper published in Berkeley, California. Founded in 1965 by Max Scheer, a long-term bay-area radical, this news source discussed events relevant to counter-cultural attacks on mainstream, American society. The paper, principally directed by the personality of Scheer himself, espoused an interest in “the little movements that are divergent from the mainstream of society” (Peck 1985, 30). Indeed, labeled the “Hefner of the underground”, Scheer covered everybody from civil rights movements, to anti-war groups, to the new left, to anyone taking a position of any kind against the status quo. From stated priorities, it would seem to follow that the source would ignore the actions of those in authority and would merely focus on their constituents – challengers and the dissatisfied.
- “bp” = The weekly Black Panther Intercommunal News Service was founded in 1967 and publishedinOakland,California. Thisnewssourceperformed“numerousfunctionsfor the BPP that included establishing and maintaining organizational identity, recruiting members, providing information about political events, generating revenue, and most importantly, conveying the message of the organization” (Davenport 1998, 197). The BPP was conscious about these objectives. Within one advertisement, they explicitly state that "(t)he Black Panther Party Black Community News Service was created to present factual, reliable information to the People... The News Service is the alternative to the ‘government approved’ presented in the mass media and the product of an effort to present the facts not the stories dictated by the oppressor, but as seen from the other end of a gun" (The Black Panther 1970, 17)
- “ny” = New York Times - this source is designated as another daily, white, mainstream newspaper founded in 1851, with a national as well as international circulation and an occasional interest in local political behavior outside of New York. The NYT is characterized by four traits in particular. First, in addition to pursuing businesspersons as both readers and supporters (Dinsmore 1969, 22), the paper most clearly “solicited that patronage of intelligent Americans, who desire information rather than entertainment, who want the facts unadorned and who placed first their country and the freedoms which it guarantees” (Shephard 1996, 75). This practice frequently led to the neglect of more marginalized populations within American society. As Shephard suggests (1996, 300) there was a certain “type of ethnic reporting in the New York press (which) affected the Irish, the Italians, the blacks, and others considered too status-poor to warrant dignified notice except as individuals who had risen ‘above’ their own people. Second, the paper was run by a family, which espousedabeliefinpoliticalmoderation. They were generally “zealous about maintaining a patriotic posture” (Shephard 1996, 209) and frequently supporting government in any way possible, attempting not to embarrass it. Third, the NYT was oriented to the East Coast, being based in New York City, and fourth, the newspaper concerned itself with the largest number of topics relative to the other papers discussed within this paper.
- “ot” = Oakland Tribune - a daily, white, mainstream paper run by one of the areas wealthiest families (the Knowlands). In the sixties and seventies, this paper normally espoused a relatively conservative message, speaking out against fair housing laws, free speech activism, and most dissident activities. The level of hostility shown by the paper to participants in contentious politics as opposed to those who employed more mainstream tactics was quite well understood by movement participants across the spectrum (and one must expect their general readership as well). Indeed, the paper was frequently targeted for protest activities for various positions taken within the paper and it was commonly identified as a “mouthpiece” for the status quo.
- “sr” = Sun Reporter - a weekly, African-American moderate5 newspaper which served the greater Oakland-San Francisco population since its founding in 1944.6 Discussing different matters consistent with what has been labeled the “Black press” (e.g., Wolesley 1972), this source addresses numerous subjects regarding African-American life (e.g., announcements of community activities, statistics related to their condition), information about principally civil rights struggles related to improving the African- American condition as well as various other legal/political issues related to the first two categories (e.g., Affirmative Action) and social events.
Enjoy:
- The data represent the number of times that the Black Panthers issued a statement,
- shootings were reported between the BPP and the US government (basically the police),
- dissident activities from the BPP including protests and marches,
- organizational changes within the BPP (e.g., changes in leadership, change of the newspaper editor and organizational structure),
- instances where the BPP engaged in some form of cohesion (e.g., holding a party),
- electoral activity concerns when the BPP voted on something internally (e.g., when to take certain action),
- legal activities concern when the BPP engaged in a lawsuit,
- criminal concerns when the BPP engaged in criminal action,
- police action is obvious,
- court action is when the BPP appeared in court because of some action being undertaken by the state and
- miscellaneous activity involves anything that does not fit into the other categories.
Other Data
- Black Panther Newspaper content
- date
- year
- month
- day
- was violence present
- were there arrests
- 1st page that politics was discussed, politics as percentage of single paper
- 1st page BPP discussed, BPP as percentage of single paper
- 1st page that employment was discussed, employment as percentage of single paper
- 1st page housing was discussed, housing as percentage of single paper
- 1st page education was discussed, education as percentage of single paper
- 1st page health was discussed, health as percentage of single paper
- 1st page criminal justice was discussed, criminal justice as percentage of single paper
- 1st page police were discussed, police as percentage of single paper
- 1st page that social issues were discussed (e.g., parties), social as a percentage of single paper
- 1st page cultural issues were discussed (e.g., death of historical figure or anniversary), culture as a percentage of single paper
- 1st page that someone's struggle is discussed (e.g., protest, revolution), struggle as percentage of single paper
- 1st page obituary appears, obituaries as a percentage of a single paper
- 1st mention of services (e.g., free breakfast program), services as percentage of single paper
- 1st mention of economics, economics as percentage of single paper
- total number of articles
- variety of different topics, paper number as sequence from 1
- court appearance of BPP and
- date of newspaper publication
- Data