Crosshairs on Our Backs: The Culture of Fear and the Production of the D.C. Sniper Story

Abstract

This paper examines the ways in which the DC area sniper story of October 2002 was constructed by the media. Utilizing a grounded approach, we conducted a content analysis of over 500 Washington Post articles published during the attacks. We contend that the newspaper emphasized fear, drama, and feelings of vulnerability in order to heighten the marketability of the narrative. It also constructed a binary rubric under which people were channelled into one of two competing camps. Those who felt vulnerable and reproduced preferred meanings of crime were most commonly cited in the paper. Less fearful voices were given little attention and, when present, were dismissed, marginalized, and rebuked. Such constructions simply reproduce dominant discourses and do little to inform the public. We conclude our article with suggestions for reducing the public’s anxiety from the media’s misrepresentation of crime.