List of Illustrations Foreword, by Allissa V. Richardson Preface Introduction 1. Mediating Realities: The Social Construction of Problems in the Media Arena 2. Making a Problem of Brutality 3. Normalizing Coercion: Competing Claims about Police Use of Force 4. Setting the Agenda: Rodney King and the Los Angeles Times 5. Making Big News: Story Cues and Critical Coverage of Policing 6. Struggling for Definition: Policing Problems in the New York Times 7. Interpreting Rodney King: Police Brutality in the National Media Arena 8. Accidents Will Happen: The News and Event-Driven Problem Definition Epilogue Appendix: Research Strategy Notes References Index

Regina Lawrenceâs model of the constraints on use of deadly police force has enduring explanatory power. With clarity and economy of expression, Lawrence applies the model in the new hybrid information environment and finds progress as well as potential setbacks. An essential book for students of the interaction of politics, communication, and public policy on racial justice.

"Regina Lawrenceâs model of the constraints on use of deadly police force has enduring explanatory power. With clarity and economy of expression, Lawrence applies the model in the new hybrid information environment and finds progress as well as potential setbacks. An essential book for students of the interaction of politics, communication, and public policy on racial justice." -- Andrew Rojecki, Professor of Communication and Political Science, University of Illinois at Chicago "When The Politics of Force first came out two decades ago, it made a significant theoretical and empirical mark on a topic that had long been neglected in the political communication literature. Lawrence's updated edition of this landmark publication is even more relevant today than the original was then. This book deserves the full attention of anyone who wants to understand how and why news media so often cover controversies involving police uses of force in ways that avoid shining needed light on systems that are badly in need of reform." -- Scott Althaus, Merriam Professor of Political Science and Professor of Communication, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign "The problem of police violence has never before received as much media coverage as it did in 2020. Lawrence's analysis helps answer why. Why, of the countless number of people who have been injured, harmed, and killed by police, did George Floyd's murder grasp the world's attention? Her book meticulously describes the process of select news events becoming 'iconic moments,' and provides a convincing framework for understanding how the past can help frame the present." -- Danielle K. Brown, Cowles Professor of Journalism, Diversity and Equality, University of Minnesota "The Politics of Force grapples with fundamental problems around the construction of the public agenda that have only become more urgent over time." -- Benjamin Toff, Assistant Professor, Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Minnesota, and Senior Research Fellow, Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, University of Oxford

Regina G. Lawrence is Associate Dean of the School of Journalism and Communication at the University of Oregon and Research Director for the Agora Journalism Center. She is a nationally recognized authority on political communication, civic engagement, gender and politics, and the role of media in public discourse about politics and policy. Her two latest books are Hillary Clinton's Race for the White House: Gender Politics and the Media on the Campaign Trail and When the Press Fails: Political Power and the News Media from Iraq to Katrina. From 2011 to 2015, Lawrence directed the Annette Strauss Institute for Civic Life at the University of Texas-Austin. She has served as chair of the political communication section of the American Political Science Association and as a research fellow at the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics, and Public Policy at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. She is currently the editor of the journal Political Communication.

Selling point: A significant and compelling update that contextualizes and extends the contributions of the first edition Selling point: Considers the changes in media studies and the media system itself since the year 2000 Selling point: Examines recent incidents of police violence and the way citizen activists are treated in the news today Selling point: Includes a foreword by Allissa V. Richardson on news media coverage of police brutality and black citizen journalists' counternarratives