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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.