#JournalismSoWhite: DEI Is MIA In American Media

The New York Post has come under fire for racial bias in two stories. The first titled “Trayvon Martin had traces of marijuana in system at time of death, autopsy reveals” presents 17-year-old Martin, black, unarmed, and murdered near his home in 2012, with a negative, or prejudicial, bias. The second, a recent story, titled “Suspected teen gunman Kyle Rittenhouse spotted cleaning Kenosha graffiti before shooting” presents the white, heavily-armed, alleged murderer, also 17, with a positive, or confirmation, bias. The images set side-by-side bring to mind Alexandra Bell’s bracing Counternarratives, which “interrogates and revises racial bias in media.”

In countless ways, direct and subtle, the American media industry has kept Jim Crow alive: “If you’re white, you’re alright; if you’re brown, stick around; if you’re yellow, you’re mellow; but if you’re black – oh,  brother! – get back, get back, get back.” This demands immediate redress by the industry, and aggressive reversals of status quo, beginning with those who hold the pen.

“It’s really, really hard to write a 10,000-word cover story. There are not a lot of journalists in America who can do it. The journalists in America who do it are almost exclusively white males,” says Jeffrey Goldberg, Editor-in-chief at The Atlantic (NeimanLab). Goldberg probably thought he’d never hear the end of this, but he wasn’t wrong. He was simply telling an ugly truth that he, and so many others in his position, have the power to change – yesterday. But then, in his next breath, he emphasized gender, not race, as the corrective path. “We have to be very deliberate and efficient about creating the space for more women to develop that particular journalistic muscle.”  

The persistent conflation of anti-black racial discrimination with gender discrimination deprioritizes injuries specific to anti-black racism. Raising alarms about “The Patriarchy” instead rapidly produces adjustments that provide equity benefits to white and white-proximate women, and still leaves black women out of this ancient equation. (Black men too, for that matter.) Goldberg and other whites who hold the power to force change in American media consistently get this calculus wrong. Is it intentional?  

The Atlantic’s 2020 Report on Diversity and Inclusion represents its race and gender composition over the past seven years. Black people held 7% of staff positions as of June 30, 2020, up just two points from 2013 – for those keeping track, that’s a two-tick increase over 7 years. Blacks comprised 10% of the publication’s editorial leadership, according to its oddly-named report.

Howard French, graduate professor at Columbia Journalism, said it best. Blacks “who make their way [in] are heavily concentrated in stereotypical roles. [They’re] essentially absent from large swaths of coverage, and even more sparsely represented among the ranks of editors. This problem is obvious to anyone who cares to look…” (The enduring whiteness of The American media)

More than three-quarters (77%) of newsroom employees – those who work as reporters, editors, photographers and videographers in the newspaper, broadcasting and internet publishing industries – are non-Hispanic whites.” (Pew Research)

This means that, with 77% certainty, stories about black life and experience, when told through American media, have first been pitched by white writers to white editors who serve the best interests of white corporate sponsorship, white media owners, and white media managers. Then, if those black stories are accepted for publication, they’re filtered through white life experience and steeped in white perspective. This journalistic gate-keeping mechanism is hard at work even in my hometown, ultra “progressive” Seattle, and often working overtime at national platforms. Unsurprisingly, the resulting content can feel superficial, contrived, distant, and thin.

“What we should be most concerned about […] is the narrowing of choices, because that removes from […] the full spectrum of views and information …” (PBS Independent Lens)

The broad daylight murder of George Floyd, an unarmed black man, by white former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin kicked off a boom of diversity initiatives across corporate America. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion heads were quickly brought on board and tasked with negotiating quick fixes for decades-long shortfalls in corporate leaderships’ responsibility and accountability.

Right on trend, mainstream American media has been saturated with proclamations that Black Lives Matter, but where are their black editors-in-chief, black managing editors, black staff writers, and black freelance writers?

When Black Lives Matter in American media, black people will finally be well represented, and taking up substantial space across the newsroom and across the page.


Speak Your Mind

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Get in Touch

350FansLike
100FollowersFollow
281FollowersFollow
150FollowersFollow

Recommend for You

Oh hi there 👋
It’s nice to meet you.

Subscribe and receive our weekly newsletter packed with awesome articles that really matters to you!

We don’t spam! Read our privacy policy for more info.

You might also like

Target Hits Sales Record on Online Surge, Says August...

Target Corp on Wednesday reported its best quarterly comparable sales growth and online revenue...

New Zealand central bank expands bond-buying, warns of negative...

WELLINGTON/SYDNEY New Zealand’s central bank surprised markets on Wednesday by expanding its bond-buying...