Media coverage of South Central Los Angeles: 'The Los Angeles Times' and 'The Los Angeles Sentinel', 1990--2000 (California)

A content analysis was conducted of newspaper coverage of the Los Angeles inner-city area of South Central at the turn of the 21st century. Two newspapers were chosen in the analysis to illustrate two different newspaper perspectives of "development news" on South Central, that of a minority, community-based newspaper represented by the Los Angeles Sentinel in contrast to a large, national newspaper represented by the Los Angeles Times. The concept of development news in this study was adapted in part from the development communication ideas presented by post-WWII era theorists such as Everett Rogers, and entails news reporting about social change in support of democratization and economic growth. In addition, a study using qualitative methods was conducted that included focus group interviews with some residents of South Central to determine their perceptions of news media representation of their community. The study as a whole provides a qualitative analysis that illuminates three perspectives or "historical snapshots" of South Central as a community and the changes it experienced from 1990 through 2000.