Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction: Knowing O.J.
- Part I Theory
- Part II News construction
- Part III Audience reception
- Part IV Conclusions
- Appendix 1 Page-one narratives, Los Angeles Times, January 25–October 4, 1995
- Appendix 2 Page-one O.J. narratives, Los Angeles Sentinel, January 25–October 5, 1995
- Appendix 3 Emerging discussion themes, by group, March 30, 1995
- Appendix 4 Emerging discussion themes, by group, August 1, 1995
- Appendix 5 Transcript of Primetime text
- Appendix 6 Transcript of KTLA text
- Appendix 7 Logistic regression of perceptions about Simpson's innocence or guilt on race, gender, education, family income, interviewer race, and perceptions of criminal justice system bias
- Notes
- References
- Index
Introduction: Knowing O.J.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 September 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction: Knowing O.J.
- Part I Theory
- Part II News construction
- Part III Audience reception
- Part IV Conclusions
- Appendix 1 Page-one narratives, Los Angeles Times, January 25–October 4, 1995
- Appendix 2 Page-one O.J. narratives, Los Angeles Sentinel, January 25–October 5, 1995
- Appendix 3 Emerging discussion themes, by group, March 30, 1995
- Appendix 4 Emerging discussion themes, by group, August 1, 1995
- Appendix 5 Transcript of Primetime text
- Appendix 6 Transcript of KTLA text
- Appendix 7 Logistic regression of perceptions about Simpson's innocence or guilt on race, gender, education, family income, interviewer race, and perceptions of criminal justice system bias
- Notes
- References
- Index
Summary
People are murdered every day in Los Angeles. Often, we do not know by whom. Indeed, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) investigated 5,130 murders between 1990 and 1994, but filed charges in only 54 percent of the cases. In this respect, it is rather unremarkable that the murderer(s) of O.J. Simpson's ex-wife and her friend has (have) yet to be convicted in a criminal court. On the other hand, little else about what would be called the “Trial of the Century” was in any way typical.
I do not know O.J. Simpson. And I had rarely given him or the Brentwood scene a thought prior to the murders. But soon after the bodies were discovered, I found myself slowly being pulled into the orbit of this imposing case. Note two of my own journal entries just days after the murders. From June 17, 1994:
What an exercise in contrasts. The last few days have been among the most exciting and depressing of my life. In exactly one week I will be getting married. But for the past five days we have watched evidence mount in the case against O.J. Simpson for the murder of his wife and her friend. This O.J. thing has really upset me. What a thin line between fame, glory, riches, and disaster. I can only hope and pray that O.J. didn't do it, that something good will come from this regarding relations between men and women.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- O. J. Simpson Facts and FictionsNews Rituals in the Construction of Reality, pp. 1 - 14Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1999