Policing depictions in news: role priming and attitudes toward Defund the Police

Purpose Research on portrayals of police in the news media often examines cases of wrongdoing, such as corruption or police brutality. The purpose of this study is to determine how these negative depictions of law enforcement may lead to divergent effects compared to positive depictions. Furthermore, this study examines how such depictions may influence attitudes toward police reform. Design/methodology/approach The study features a 2 (Police Depiction: Protector or Aggressor) × 2 (Suspect/Victim Race: White or Black) experimental design. A sample of 200 college students was collected in the fall of 2021, shortly after the rise of the Defund the Police movement. Guided by empathetic concern and priming theory, we seek to understand how emotion can mediate the relationship between news exposure and attitudes toward the Defund the Police movement. Findings The findings demonstrate that news depicting an officer stopping a school shooting led to greater empathetic concern for the officer than news depicting an incident of police brutality. This increased officer empathetic concern was associated with more negative attitudes toward defunding the police. Originality/value This study provides one of the first investigations into the relative effects of positive and negative news depictions of police. The findings build on recent scholarship to disentangle the effect of emotion on public attitudes toward police.