Final published version
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Zombies, drugs & Florida weirdness
T2 - ‘Imaginative power’ & resonance in coverage of Miami’s ‘Causeway Cannibal.’
AU - Gutsche Jr, Robert
PY - 2013
Y1 - 2013
N2 - On a steamy May 26, 2012 in Miami, Florida, police officers found Rudy Eugene viciously eating another man's face. Police shot Eugene at least four times, killing him, to stop the attack. Over the next month, the story of the “Causeway Cannibal” (a.k.a. the “Miami Zombie”) fueled debate about what spawned the attack. News explanations included synthetic drugs, cannibalism, Voodoo, and zombies. This textual analysis of immediate news explanations to the attack explores and speculates on why some explanations, such as mental illness, were ignored. By distinguishing between journalistic sensationalism and Ettema's journalistic “imaginative power,” this paper presents possible cultural reasons to explain why news media all but excluded mental illness as a dominant explanation for Eugene's actions.
AB - On a steamy May 26, 2012 in Miami, Florida, police officers found Rudy Eugene viciously eating another man's face. Police shot Eugene at least four times, killing him, to stop the attack. Over the next month, the story of the “Causeway Cannibal” (a.k.a. the “Miami Zombie”) fueled debate about what spawned the attack. News explanations included synthetic drugs, cannibalism, Voodoo, and zombies. This textual analysis of immediate news explanations to the attack explores and speculates on why some explanations, such as mental illness, were ignored. By distinguishing between journalistic sensationalism and Ettema's journalistic “imaginative power,” this paper presents possible cultural reasons to explain why news media all but excluded mental illness as a dominant explanation for Eugene's actions.
KW - mental health/illness
KW - Miami
KW - news narratives
KW - qualitative textual analysis
KW - resonance
KW - violence
U2 - 10.1080/1461670X.2013.779106
DO - 10.1080/1461670X.2013.779106
M3 - Journal article
VL - 14
SP - 555
EP - 567
JO - Journalism Studies
JF - Journalism Studies
SN - 1461-670X
IS - 4
ER -