This research examines how racism is hidden and denied by the press, and how blame is attributed to individuals in crime news stories. This research heavily relies of van Dijk's (2015) six discursive strategies to reveal how racism is hidden and denied in the press: positive self-presentation, denial and counter-attack, moral blackmail, subtle denials, mitigation, and defense and offense. Specifically, the Chapel Hill shooting is used as an example of a crime news story for my case study. This study will use framing as the primary method, and critical discourse analysis will be used to guide my interpretations of the frames. Frames are defined by Entman (1993) as texts that select "some aspects of a perceived reality and make them more salient" in such a way as to promote a particular problem definition, causal interpretation, moral evaluation, and/or treatment recommendation for the item described. I will examine words and phrases used when referring to the perpetrator and the victims in the crime story, and examine manifest frames. I begin by explicating terms that my research is founded upon: ideology, critical discourse analysis, race and racism, blame, and framing. Newspaper articles are collected and analyzed for van Dijk's six discursive strategies. The difference between national and regional news coverage is also examined. My findings suggest there are two gaps in van Dijk's six discursive strategies. I propose the addition of two discursive strategies that the press use to deny racism: negative self-presentation and contradiction.

This study examines and analyzes the treatment accorded Alger Hiss by the American press from August 3, 1948, to January 25, 1950. Information sources included the forty-one newspaper articles submitted by Hiss's attorneys in their motion for a change of venue at the second trial, and those sections of books, newspapers, and magazine articles relative to the press's coverage of the case. Six chapters cover the changing press image of Hiss, newspaper articles submitted in evidence, and the relationships of Richard M. Nixon and Whittaker Chambers to the press. The study analyzes historically the differing attitudes toward Hiss and concludes that since the press reflected the nation's fears that its leaders had Communist ties, press coverage of the case lessened Hiss's chances for a fair trial.