The Authoress
Posted on 09/16/2014 1:18:31 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
If your life came to a tragic end, how would you want the news to tell your story?
This is a question news organizations must constantly ponder when covering victims of gun violence.
Following the Aug. 9 death of Michael Brown, an unarmed black 18-year-old male shot in Ferguson, Missouri, news outlets such as USA Today pulled photos from Brown’s Facebook page, showing him displaying what can be interpreted as a gang sign.
As a result of the media coverage of Brown’s death, social media users have flocked to Twitter and Tumblr announcing their outrage using the hashtag #IfTheyGunnedMeDown to call attention to the media’s negligence when portraying people of color.
News outlets should exercise great caution in the language and imagery used regarding crime stories. Neglecting to do so will only perpetuate stereotypes stigmas surrounding race and alienate people of color from mainstream media outlets.
News coverage in black communities needs to reflect what is really happening within them. After examining news stories in Boston during a 30-day period in 1986 and again in 2001, researchers from the University of Mississippi and University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign found that though crime concerning black people was less frequent in 2001, it dominated mainstream news coverage in both years.
If crime in black communities is declining, then the news needs to reflect positive change in the community and examine more closely what is causing violence, poverty and unrest.
Repetitive negative coverage of some blacks in the news perpetuates stereotypes of all blacks. The results of a random survey published in a June 2008 issue of the Journal of Communication show that network news coverage increased the endorsement of black stereotypes, particularly suggesting that blacks were poor and intimidating. The survey results showed network news exposure negatively related to estimates of black income. The results also demonstrated that exposure to network news is positively related to the prevalence of racism.
By not covering more optimistic developments in the black community and taking a closer look at the factors surrounding violence in these neighborhoods, the media is doing a disservice to consumers. The role of journalism is to inform the public, not to inadvertently persuade them to believe false stereotypes.
How the news portrays blacks affects news outlets’ viewership. The results of another study published in a June 2013 issue of the Journal of Communication showed that black readers were more likely to select and read positive and negative stories featuring their race; however, whites’ story preferences were not affected by a story angle or the race of the subject.
If mainstream media covered more stories involving people of color, they would appeal to more black readers at a time when most media outlets need as many viewers and readers as they can get.
The black community currently has a buying power of $1 trillion, and that is expected to reach $1.3 trillion by 2017, according to a September 2013 report from Nielsen. The report found that black consumers watch more TV, read more financial magazines and spend more than twice the time at personally hosted websites than any other group in the nation.
Perhaps more telling, an Aug. 14 Huffington Post article recounted headlines from major media outlets describing white shooting suspects with more uplifting language than black victims. For example, a March 26, 2012 headline describing the late Florida teenager Trayvon Martin in NBC News said “Trayvon Martin was suspended three times from school.” In contrast, this June 12 Fox News headline about an armed white 15-year-old said, “Oregon school shooting suspect fascinated with guns but was a devoted Mormon, his friends say.”
The headline describing Trayvon Martin was meant to grab readers’ attention by revealing a little-known detail, but it alludes to Martin being a troubled kid.
Though the Oregon High School suspect killed two people and himself, the headline presents him as a victim of mental illness. Regardless of skin color, the media should not depict victims of gun violence in a worse light than suspected perpetrators.
Doing so indirectly implies that they somehow deserved or caused the violence they endured and that their lives do not matter as much.
With these social media campaigns, the public is crying out for better news coverage. After reviewing photos of Brown following his tragic death, it is easy to see why negative news stories can be contributing to racial stereotypes, further dividing our country and reopening festering wounds brought by racism.
The Authoress
Translation: facts are now racist.
This kind if social engineering is doomed to failure . All it does is cause people to realize the media does not fairly report stories, but rather tries to shape thought.
In a way, it’s good because the media used to do this more subtlety and got away with it. Now it’s hubris has exposed it for what it is.
That is about the truth. I want to take another breath, therefore, I must be a racist. S/
Comparing apples to oranges and ending up with a fruit salad.
Boy that was difficult to read. One tortured excuse after another.
also photos with a pistol, dupe, and alcohol
18 yrs old
illegal, illegal, illegal
err, “dope”
Gentle giant sob story.
“The black community currently has a buying power of $1 trillion, and that is expected to reach $1.3 trillion by 2017, according to a September 2013 report from Nielsen.”
Is this their own money, or ours via wealth redistribution?
“The report found that black consumers watch more TV, read more financial magazines and spend more than twice the time at personally hosted websites than any other group in the nation.”
I can certaily believe the first point (teachers in urban districts can vouch for that - it shouldn’t be a point of pride, but shame; too many watch TV instead of reading.
Does the authoress hang out where these victims of biased reporting do their thing? I doubt it.
I was shocked at the racism when they showed Unarmed Gentle Giant Michael Brown shoving that little store owner as he robbed the store, when they showed Unarmed Gentle Giant Michael Brown flashing gang signs, and when they showed Unarmed Gentle Giant Michael Brown lying dead in the street for hours after the gentle giant’s unsuccessful attack on a police officer. If they had covered or removed unarmed Gentle Giant Michael Brown’s body to contaminate the scene and hide evidence, that racism would have shocked me too. Is there no limit to American racism?
Hyphenated names are a dead giveaway.
How many articles do we read about crime when the race of the suspect is not given? If anything, the media bends over backwards to avoid making blacks look bad. Put the facts out there. Otherwise, it isn’t journalism - it’s propaganda.
Stop committing crime and you won’t be featured as a criminal in news stories. Study hard, learn English, don’t make babies, get a job, don’t do drugs and don’t steal and you’ll stay out of the news. But you won’t be able to boo hoo your way to victimhood.
Brown has to be described like this:
Michael Brown, a long-armed, 300lb black 18-year-old bullying behemoth!
Oh, you mean like every single out of work black youth is apparently an "aspiring rapper" ...??? Those kinds of stereotypes? That's not me, that's their friends and family.
...and alienate people of color from mainstream media outlets.
Now that would be a good thing. The sooner anyone of any race, creed, ethnicity, religion, gender, age, etc. wakes up and realizes the MSM is feeding them a bunch of BS the better. Alienate away! Now!
They are upset because this story has mostly gone away after people found out the gentle giant was no gentle giant. People were sickened by the looting and lying that went on in Ferguson. People also realized it was another dem attempt to get out the vote.
It was a truly disgusting spectacle. I don’t expect to hear much until after the elections because another riot and looting could backfire on democrats.
The authoress missed as essential fact: what people post about themselves on Facebook is how they WANT to be seen by others. Was Michael Brown an exception?
It’s pretty obvious that anything youo put on Facebook is how you want the world to see you. What’s to be outraged about?
“The black community currently has a buying power of $1 trillion,”
Your tax dollars at work ...
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