Murder, the Media, and the Politics of Public Feelings: Remembering Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr.

In 1998, the horrific murders of Matthew Shepard—a gay man living in Laramie, Wyoming—and James Byrd Jr.—an African American man dragged to his death in Jasper, Texas—provoked a passionate public outrage. The intense media coverage of the murders made moments of violence based in racism and homophobia highly visible and which eventually led to the passage of The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act in 2009. The role the media played in cultivating, shaping, and directing the collective emotional response toward these crimes is the subject of this gripping new book by Jennifer Petersen. Tracing the emotional exchange from news stories to the creation of law, Petersen calls for an approach to media and democratic politics that takes into account the role of affect in the political and legal life of the nation. (2011) In 1998, the horrific murders of Matthew Shepard- a gay man living in Laramie, Wyoming- and James Byrd Jr.- an African American man dragged to his death in Jasper, Texas- provoked a passionate public outrage. The intense media coverage of the murders made moments of violence based in racism and homophobia highly visible and which eventually led to the passage of The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act in 2009. The role the media played in cultivating, shaping, and directing the collective emotional response toward these crimes is the subject of this gripping new book by Jennifer Petersen. Tracing the emotional exchange from news stories to the creation of law, Petersen calls for an approach to media and democratic politics that takes into account the role of affect in the political and legal life of the nation. -- Back Cover. Cover......Page 1 Contents......Page 6 Acknowledgments......Page 8 Introduction: Media, Emotion, and the Public Sphere......Page 12 1 Mourning Matthew Shepard: Grief, Shame,and the Public Sphere......Page 34 2 “Hate Is Not a Laramie Value”:Translating Feelings into Law......Page 72 3 The Murder of James Byrd Jr.:The Political Pedagogy of Melodrama......Page 103 4 The Visibility of Suffering, Injustice, and the Law......Page 134 Conclusion: Feeling in the Public Sphere......Page 162 Appendix: Text and Interview Selection......Page 178 Notes......Page 182 Bibliography......Page 204 Index......Page 214 Introduction: media, emotion, and the public sphere Mourning Matthew Shepard: grief, shame, and the public sphere "Hate is not a Laramie value": translating feelings into law The murder of James Byrd Jr.: the political pedagogy of melodrama The visibility of suffering, injustice, and the law Conclusion: feeling in the public sphere.