Malcolm X once said “this is the press, an irresponsible press, It will make the criminal look like he’s the victim and make the victim look like he’s the criminal. If you aren’t careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed and loving the people who are doing the oppressing.” Decades later, these continue to be an issue within our society. Minorities have faced tremendous hardships throughout their lives, suffered inhumane punishments, dealt with the legalities of separate but equal and through it all, have continued to fight through this endless oppression.
Black-Americans have been the victim of racism in countless situations throughout the media including protest, crime, and even with the lack of minority workers throughout the media outlets.
To begin, crime statistics in specific cities, such as New York and Los Angeles, have proven that the amount of crime committed by people of color do not match with what's told in the news. For instance, a recent report found that 50% of crimes committed in NYC are by black people while a staggering 75 percent of news coverage is centered around those specific crimes. In LA, statistics also show a very similar correlation. 37 percent of the suspects portrayed on television news stories about crime were black, although blacks made up only 21 percent of those arrested in the city. Clearly, the news outlets have painted a very distinct photo of Black individuals, which has lead about 2/3 of Americans to believe people of color are more dangerous and more likely to get shot.
Also, even the photos that are used when showing criminals can be viewed as racist. For example, the image above shows a group of white and black Americans convicted of the same crime but portrayed very differently in the photos. The white people look nice and clean in their suits while the photos of the black men appear to be mugshots.
Next, the act of rioting is defined as a group who disturbs the peace and used to bring awareness to oppression and also a form of celebration. Yet, in today’s world, when situations like this happen, news coverage tends to be extremely biased. For example, take the riots that occurred in the summer of 2015 in Baltimore, Maryland and compare it to the riots that occurred after Ohio State University’s football team won the national championship earlier that year or when the Giants beat San Francisco in the 2014 World Series.
All three of these riots fit its definition of a disturbance of peace, but what's shocking is how the media portrayed these situations. In Baltimore, rioters fled the streets to protest the wrongful death and treatment of Freddie Gray and the police profiling that led to this. For the other two, the riots were a result of nothing but celebration because their favorite team won.
For the OSU riots, 8,000 fans poured into the streets which resulted in 89 fires, the SWAT team being forced to stop the violence, and police being attacked after having to use pepper spray to calm the citizens down. As for the Giants, 40 arrests were made with two shootings and three police officers being injured- all because of a game.
In Baltimore, the riots lasted last for about three weeks, which obviously resulted in more extensive damage throughout the city, costing them an estimate of about nine million dollars.
The issue here is, and the entire point of this article, is to understand how the media reacted. The rioters of Baltimore were called "thugs" and "hoodlums" by their very own mayor. The media ultimately forgot about the cause that started the riots and instead focused on the damage that was being done against police and to the city itself. President Obama even spoke out on how the nation should focus of the root of the cause and not just the symptoms.
For the other two riots mentioned, the rioters were considered to be "devoted fans" who wanted to "celebrate" and was even considered to be the fault of the policemen for not being able to control their citizens.
Nonetheless, the riots that were the result of a real issue facing out nation received backlash while a championship win was considered could be seen as more acceptable strictly based of the color of the rioters skin.
One of the main issues, and possible solutions for the racism in the media could be based off the percentage of minorities that hold jobs in the media outlets. In 2014, about 22 percent of minorities held jobs as television journalists, 13 percent for radio and local newspapers, and about 90% of newsroom supervisors were white. Here, if the news stations and outlets included a more diverse group of reporters, then the voices of those being affected will no longer be silenced throughout our nation and the voiced we hear today will no longer be biased and misleading.
Overall, The voice of the black community has remained ignored throughout the media and therefore, concealed from the public. The opinions that matter most in situations like the death of Freddie Gray have been pushed aside and instead replaced with a negative image that continues to blind us from reality. The power of the media is indisputable and what we see is what we learn. The world we live in today might be the least racist we have even known but, there is still an insurmountable amount of work to be done before we can live in a complete society where a white man can stand next to a black man and the only difference that is seen is the color of their tie.
