Murder, the Media, and the Politics of Public Feelings: Remembering Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr.

by Jennifer Petersen

Overview

In 1998, the horrific murders of Matthew Shepard—a gay man living in Laramie, Wyoming—and James Byrd Jr.—an African American man dragged to his death in Jasper, Texas—provoked a passionate public outrage. The intense media coverage of the murders made moments of violence based in racism and homophobia highly visible and which eventually led to the passage of The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act in 2009. The role the media played in cultivating, shaping, and directing the collective emotional response toward these crimes is the subject of this gripping new book by Jennifer Petersen. Tracing the emotional exchange from news stories to the creation of law, Petersen calls for an approach to media and democratic politics that takes into account the role of affect in the political and legal life of the nation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780253223395
Publisher:	Indiana University Press
Publication date:	08/18/2011
Pages:	222
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Jennifer Petersen is Assistant Professor of Media Studies at the University of Virginia. Her work has appeared in numerous journals including Media, Culture & Society and Critical Studies in Media Communication.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Media, Emotion, and the Public Sphere
1. Mourning Matthew Shepard: Grief, Shame, and the Public Sphere
2. "Hate is Not a Laramie Value": Translating Feelings into Law
3. The Murder of James Byrd Jr.: The Political Pedagogy of Melodrama
4. The Visibility of Suffering, Injustice, and the Law
Conclusion: Feeling in the Public Sphere
Appendix: Text and Interview Selection
Bibliography
Index

What People are Saying About This

"[Petersen] breaks new ground by showing how national and local media coverage interact and how popular emotion and public legislation work together."

Beth Loffreda]]>

...engrossing and expertly-argued reading. Petersen gracefully blends theoretical investigations with narrative recountings of the two cases.

John D. Peters]]>

[Petersen] breaks new ground by showing how national and local media coverage interact and how popular emotion and public legislation work together.

John D. Peters

[Petersen] breaks new ground by showing how national and local media coverage interact and how popular emotion and public legislation work together.

Beth Loffreda

...engrossing and expertly-argued reading. Petersen gracefully blends theoretical investigations with narrative recountings of the two cases.

Editorial Reviews

"Petersen grounds her study in a wide array of literature about topics including the ethics of mediating suffering, masculinity, gender, class, melodrama, liberalism, the public sphere, imagined communities, reason, and emotion. . . . Graduate students interested in cultural studies, gender and queer studies, and/or advocacy may find Petersen's book useful."—JHISTORY H-Net

"Petersen makes use of an intriguing thesis and presents an insightful source for journalism and broadcasting students. July 2011"—Library Journal

"Petersen offers an impressive reading of media discourses illustrating the value of public feelings and how they can become animating forces in the production of civic action."—Great Plains Quarterly

"...engrossing and expertly-argued reading. Petersen gracefully blends theoretical investigations with narrative recountings of the two cases."—Beth Loffreda, author of Losing Matt Shepard: Live and Politics in the Aftermath of Anti-Gay Murder

"[Petersen] breaks new ground by showing how national and local media coverage interact and how popular emotion and public legislation work together."—John D. Peters, author of Courting the Abyss: Free Speech and the Liberal Tradition

From the Publisher

Petersen offers an impressive reading of media discourses illustrating the value of public feelings and how they can become animating forces in the production of civic action.

Great Plains Quarterly

Petersen grounds her study in a wide array of literature about topics including the ethics of mediating suffering, masculinity, gender, class, melodrama, liberalism, the public sphere, imagined communities, reason, and emotion. . . . Graduate students interested in cultural studies, gender and queer studies, and/or advocacy may find Petersen's book useful.

JHISTORY H-Net

"...engrossing and expertly-argued reading. Petersen gracefully blends theoretical investigations with narrative recountings of the two cases." —Beth Loffreda, author of Losing Matt Shepard: Live and Politics in the Aftermath of Anti-Gay Murder

Beth Loffreda

"[Petersen] breaks new ground by showing how national and local media coverage interact and how popular emotion and public legislation work together." —John D. Peters, author of Courting the Abyss: Free Speech and the Liberal Tradition

John D. Peters

Petersen (media studies, Univ. of Virginia) analyzes the media handling of the murders of Matthew Shepard in Laramie, WY, and James Byrd Jr. in Jasper, TX, and the hate-crime legislation that was passed as a result. She has done extensive research and conducted interviews with some of the key players to trace the trajectory of what eventually culminated in the 2009 Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. Also discussed is how the media uses our emotions to personalize stories and how regionalism can be used to reinforce stereotypes. Taking a scholarly approach, Petersen makes a case that media allows strangers from all over the United States to come together to "form publics" (large groups of people united by a common interest). She argues that the common interest in these murders helped affect "political-legal changes." VERDICT Petersen makes use of an intriguing thesis and presents an insightful source for journalism and broadcasting students.—Barb Kundanis, Longmont P.L., CO

Library Journal