Kobe Bryant, an African-American superstar basketball player of the Los Angeles Lakers, is currently awaiting a preliminary trial for allegedly sexually assaulting a nineteen-year-old Caucasian woman. Mr. Bryant has no previous criminal record. In fact, prior to this arrest, he was considered almost “too squeaky-clean” by some prospective employers (companies wanting Mr. Bryant to endorse their products). Mr. Bryant makes approximately 40 million dollars a year in endorsements. Within a week of his arrest, Mr. Bryant admitted to committing to adultery in a highly publicized press conference. One endorsement company has already terminated Mr. Bryant’s services. The other companies will make their decisions of Mr. Bryant’s employability after a verdict is determined. Thanks to intensive media coverage by seemly every national and local television and newspaper organization in America, we (the American public) think we know just about everything there is to know about this case. Most television viewers believe that television reporting of this case is fair and just and will continue to stay that way. During the next year, how will the media frame this possible crime? “International Superstar, Kobe Bryant is Setup By an Over Zealous Groupie” or “An Alleged Black Perpetrator Victimizes a Young White Woman”. If O.J. Simpson’s court case is any indication, it might be the second headline.
Mr. Simpson, an African American, hall of fame football player, was accused of murdering Nicole Simpson and her friend, Ronald Goldman, in the fall of 1994. The viewing audience for Mr. Simpson’s trial reached historical proportions. Ninety-five million Americans watched the preliminary hearing while 150 million watched the televised verdict. A Newsweek poll of 760 people was taken within a week of the trial. It showed that 68% of Whites disagreed with the not guilty verdict, while 85% of African-Americans agreed with the final outcome. How could the disparity between the...