All News is Political

What are we if not angry about something

As the Trump administration continues to enact its campaign promises quickly and dramatically, it is important to examine the racial stereotypes that the new policies reflect. Furthermore, we should be critical of news media’s ability to hold politicians accountable and explicitly analyze both systemic racism and their own schemas within their publications.

In week one of his second term in office, President Donald Trump signed 37 executive orders. Twelve of these involved policies that disproportionately affect people of color (immigration, ending DEI, and restriction healthcare aid). These executive orders, primarily those involving immigration and encouraging mass deportations, are imbalanced in comparison to those preventing domestic violence. That is, the vilification of immigrants takes priority over issues like gun violence, unethical corporate activities, or healthcare deserts.

Inaccuracies

Just as these policies misrepresent the proportion of citizen caused crime to “immigrant crime” in the US, news coverage misrepresents crimes involving people of color. In earlier studies of news content diversity in the US, people of color (black and latino) were often largely overrepresented as suspects and criminals and underrepresented as victims and officers (Lind 20). However, a more recent study found that, while black people are more accurately represented in crime stories, Latino people are still underrepresented as victims and police officers (Dixon). As journalists we must acknowledge that our coverage, whether we do it consciously or not, has blind spots toward minority communities.

Solutions 

The easiest way to rectify these racial blind spots, is to hire with diversity, equity, and inclusion in mind. Good news represents all of its readers and therefore must be written by a diverse team of journalists that represent their readership’s demographic. By not covering stories that affect people of color a paper is participating in symbolic annihilation. We are telling those communities that they are unimportant.

As we begin to acknowledge and repair equitable representation, we must also reframe unconscious stereotypes that have plagued the industry. Journalist should take into account the different ways we describe suspects and criminals depending on their race. This should not be difficult when you begin to disregard race as personal characteristic and confine it to a physical description.

 Media Recommedations

For fiction enthusiasts who would like to explore these ideas more I recommend the shot Interior Chinatown on Hulu. The show takes a satirical perspective on crime television, and explores how media and law enforcement neglect some communities, specifically Chinatown, when it comes to the safety of its civilians.

Sources

Dixon, Travis L. “Good guys are still always in white? positive change and continued misrepresentation of race and crime on local television news.” Communication Research, vol. 44, no. 6, 2 Apr. 2015, pp. 775–792, https://doi.org/10.1177/0093650215579223. 

Race/Gender/Class/Media : Considering Diversity Across Audiences, Content, and Producers, edited by Rebecca Ann Lind, Taylor & Francis Group, 2023. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/unt/detail.action?docID=7195865.