This study explores the issue of tabloidization as it intersects with race, class and gender. Taking ethnographic elements from qualitative research design, 12 members of a local African-American audience were individually interviewed to understand how they interpreted the local press coverage of the Duke Lacrosse news story of 2006. Specifically the following research questions were asked: which media did respondents use to follow the case; did media change the way they thought about race, gender and class; and did media change the way they thought about politics? Additionally, sub-questions were asked to supplement the research questions in an effort to gain more linkages to race, class and gender relating to the press coverage of this news story.

The findings of the study suggest that television was the primary means subject members used to stay informed about this news story; however, the literature of African-American audience reception, namely Entman and Rojecki (2001), suggests that there exists a longstanding distrust of traditional news by African-Americans. The findings also suggest that the respondents' claims of media bias by traditional press were supported by various studies within the research literature of media studies, feminist studies and critical race theory.