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News Release

Last modified: Thursday, November 7, 2002

IU author views news media, militia groups after Oklahoma City, Sept. 11

The news media treatment of militia groups following the Oklahoma City bombing is the subject of a just-published book by Steven Chermak, an associate professor of criminal justice at Indiana University.

Chermak said Searching for a Demon: The Media Construction of the Militia Movement (Northeastern University Press) also discusses parallels in the media treatment of the militia after Oklahoma City with coverage of the al-Qaeda terrorists after the Sept. 11 attacks.

The IU faculty member, whose research expertise includes how the mass media portrays crime, said this 320-page book should appeal to readers interested in the media, militia movements, criminal justice and sociology.

Chermak compares news media views of militia groups with the views of actual militia group leaders and members. He also describes how the militia movement was portrayed in news accounts, films and television following the Oklahoma City explosion.

Chermak has written numerous articles on media coverage of crime, and he is the author of Victims in the News: Crime and the American News Media that was published in 1995 by Westview Press.

For more information, contact Chermak at 812-855-5161 or schermak@indiana.edu.

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