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I figured since this blog is dedicated to the discussion of the way the media covers race and gender, I'd end on some of my own personal experiences and thoughts on how the two should be covered. As novice reporters, we are taught to be fair and objective. We seek to have diversity in our reporting but when you are working under the pressure of deadline, these two elements become compromised.

It is becoming more important for journalists to know how to cover diversity because the world itself is continually becoming more diverse and because we are dealing with issues directly related to diversity itself. With this being one of the most historical elections in history because of race, we are now even being prepped on how to cover race.

I feel the best way to ensure diversity in coverage is to have diversity in the newsroom. I once interviewed a reporter at a local station in Virginia, where he was one of the few black journalists. He said that he considered himself a filter in making sure that the stations coverage was fair and objective.

According to the Radio Television News Director's Association/ Hofstra University's annual survey, the percentage of minority news directors in TV has reached an all-time high of 15.5 percent. And overall, minorities in TV news has reached the second highest level ever, not far behind the peak reached in 2001.

Included in the RTNDA's Code of Ethics is Fairness, which states that journalists should "seek to understand the diversity of their community and inform the public without bias or stereotype." These means that journalist should do their best not to further perpetuate stereotypes but should seek to cover both sides equally and fairly and let the public be the judge.

Black in America Review

After weeks of promoting, CNN debuted their series of Black in America this week. I was under the impression that this show would be different than most of the mainstream media's coverage of Black America. However, after viewing both segments of the show, I felt like they also stressed a lot of the negatives. I will say that I felt the first segment on The Black woman and family, was a little more informative than the second segment on the black man.
The first segment focused a lot on education and the importance of it in any racial community, but especially within the black community. One of stories featured on the show was that of a new phenomenon that was begun by a Harvard economist, Ronald G. Fryer. Fryer started the program to enthuse students about learning while also attempting to contribute to the problem of poverty among students in Harlem. The cash incentive program will encourage students to make good grades by rewarding them with a cash reward for their efforts. Critics of the program say its giving students a false hope and good grades should not be sought simply due to the promise of a cash reward. My sentiments are how many of us in our grown-up worlds do things on a daily basis for a cash reward. Every morning we get up and go to work for a cash reward. most people work hard at their jobs to be promoted and receive a raise. The point is, is that most decisions are made based on the bottom line and I don't think its wrong to support a hard working spirit at a young age.
The section on single black women was totally appropiate and shows a lack of equality among educational status and class among black men and women. On an episode of Oprah, she revealed a startling statistic that 70% of African American Women are single. Here are some the audience opinions on ehy they feel that is:

Beauty vs Brains

Why not both? The media has done an excellent job of protrying women as sexual objects. Most of the images we see on tv portray women as blonde hair, blue-eyed beuaties with perfect figure. but there's much more to us than just our physical appearance. However, it was very refreshing to come across a segment on the MSNBC's Today's show entitled "Nerd Girls Show Brains Can be Beautiful." Here is a video clip of the segment:



These women are breaking gender stereotpes and attempting to change the face of average American woman. These women are studying mathmatics, engeniering, and various sciences. One of the girls, Danielle Vardaro, is an engineer for Boeing. Vardaro said that she basically solves problems by crawling around the airplane and working out issues. Most people would assume this to be a masculine job, but these girls are determined to take remove gender from job titles.

Black in America

CNN has produced a documentary that will be airing July 23 and 24 called "Black in America." This will definitely be a momentous occasion. Never, to my knowledge, has there been an entire series devoted to the Black race that not only highlights the negatives, but celebrates the many accomplishments we have made as a race. The 5 hour series will includes 3 segments: The Black Woman and Family, The Black Man, and the King Assassination. Here is preview of the show:



CNN's Soledad O' Brien was interviewed on the Steve Harvey Morning Show earlier this week about the series and she said that the motivation behind the show was there there is s much coverage available highlighting the criminality and negativity of the black community, but the triumphs and successes are rarely covered. According to a majority of media coverage, it would seem that most blacks are poor, imprisoned, and uneducated.
The news media has been accused of further perpetuating these stereotypes so much that the ideas have been embedded in people's mind almost subconsciously. In lieu of the series Essence writer, Cynthia Gordy wrote an article in which she looked at the way black children are treated as a result of these stereotypes. Gordy interviewed a victim who was hauled off two jail after being charged with two misdemeanors. This culprit was 5-years old.
I'm glad that CNN has decided to produce this documentary. Hopefully, it's a move in the direction for more fair and equal coverage.
However, to play the devil's advocate for a moment, are journalists truly further perpetuating societal stereotypes or are they just mirroring the perceptions of society?

Is America Ready for a Black President?

Now going back to the Presidential election, since it's such a hot news topic right now and seemingly timely for the discussion at hand. As I was watching Reliable Sources this morning on CNN. Howard Kurtz brought up a very interesting argument regarding race and Obama. Also, as a quick side note, In my opinion, here we are in 2008 and race is still such a predominant factor in deciding upon our next president. Why does the question of "Is America ready for a black President" repeatedly keep arising? And what does ready really mean? Jon Meacham, Newsweek Editor, was interviewed by the late Tim Russert on Meet the Press in which they discussed this very question. To answer the question Meacham said, "In theory yes but in practice no." He then went on to further explain. The video can be seen below:



However, I digress. Back to my initial statement, Kurtz asked a rather uncomfortable question, this morning on the show,"Are the media afraid to say that at least for some of Obama's detractors, that this is kind of code for not trusting a black man who grew up in Indonesia?" I feel that this was a rather appropriate question. It seems that the media's coverage and allegations have been unequal. Although all of the candidates, past and present, have had their share of media accusations, however, it seems that for Obama it has been unrelenting. Could this just be a sign that America may be more distrusting or discriminatory towards a black president, which may also answer the burning question of if America is really ready for a black president.

Diversity in the Newsroom?

As a journalist, we are trained to be objective and to also have balance in our stories, but is it ethical to create balance, if the balance isn't there naturally? To take a break from all the racial coverage of the campaign and as I reminisce over my college years, I recall a class in which we discussed if newsrooms themselves are diverse. In the days of old, newsrooms were predominately white, but as the world has become more diverse so have the journalists that cover it. There are many journalistic organizations devoted to minorities, like the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) and even the National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ). In my opinion this creates a filter to make sure that news going out is balanced and diverse.
Do news stations overwhelmingly portray blacks as criminals and whites as victims of crimes, or are they simply delivering the truth? Are whites often portrayed as the experts and blacks usually just as a witness to an event?
In my opinion, I think newsrooms are trying to become more racially diverse in their reporting, but I think part of that is due to the fact that there are so many more minority journalists, who act as filters. In MOST newsrooms there are a fair number of black journalists. According the the NABJ's, blacks make up "22.2% of the tv news workforce." The article reported that this was an increase from 3 years ago. However while the number of black journalists is increasing, there seems to still be few Hispanic and Asian journalists. In a report published by the Asian American Journalists Association, it showed that Asian Americans only make up about 2.7 percent in local television newsrooms. Which may explain why it's not very often you see an Asian represented in the media.
It's important for newsrooms to be diverse in order for coverage to be diverse. Diversity ensures that stories that are important to every ethnicity is covered and that stories are not racially biased.

Presidential "Race" Mishaps

In keeping with the theme of the presidential race. I've decided to highlight one of the most offensive racial moments. I feel that the media has the ability to fuel public outrage by the amount of coverage they devote to a particular issue. For example one of the first major racial offenses was created by Obama's Pastor, The Rev. Jeremiah Wright, who was accused of not only making racial remarks, but also degrading remarks about the United States. While this is a newsworthy story, many have speculated that it may have been overblown to promote negative stereotypes about the "black church." Below is a clip of the sermon:



While, this story did indeed deserve media coverage, I am not sure it deserved all the coverage it received. Obama did not make the statement, Wright did. Although he was Obama's pastor, Obama did not force Wright to make those statement, nor did he stand by the statements once they were made public. I don't believe he should have been held liable for statement Mr. Wright made, especially after he refused to support those remarks. Yet coverage continually linked Obama to Wright's statements. In his speech, "A More Perfect Union" delivered on March 18, 2008 he made many references defending himself against the statements made by Wright and explaining but not justifying why Wright may have made those statements. Many have assumed that the media's abundance of coverage on Wright statements have negatively impacted people's perspectives of black churches. It's important that we not let one person influence the perception of the majority and that goes for all races...

Presidential "Race"

The election on November 4, 2008 will be a historical election. Since the beginning the stars of the show have been Hillary Clinton, a woman, and Barack Obama, a black man. From the very beginning race and gender has played a major factor in this election. The media has been consumed with coverage fueled by racial epithets made about or in some cases by the candidates. Many times the media has even been accused of neglecting the important facts and sensationalizing on the race factor.

Many have even said that Barak will win the vote of many blacks simply due to the fact that he is black. This is a pretty harsh generalization. And while I don't fully agree with that statement, I must admit that I myself have heard people admit to voting for Obama because he is black with no recollection at all of his policies.

However, the astounding fact is that for the first time in history, an African American has clinched the democratic nomination and actually stands a chance of becoming America's next president. This in itself shows how far we have come as a nation. Or have we? Just last year we were dealing with the Don Imus issue and this year we could potentially have a black president.

While many are embracing Barack and his rhetoric for change, there are still those who can not quite come to qualms with the idea of having a black president.

At times however, it seems that the news media has become obsessed with the race factor in the election and neglect to report on the race itself. Its became a race about "race."
Back in March, Obama delivered a powerful speech confronting Americans about their racial issues. We should be able to look past color and gender issue and accept the candidates for what they have to offer.