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It's Monday and today's news cycle has a lot of news about, well, the news. Today we're addressing how representation in the media can shape our implicit bias when it comes to race, and the importance of reading media from a wide range of journalists to fully understand and respond to the current events.
I guess we're a news platform now, too (although 11 days old). Why aren't there more publications covering anti-racism on a daily basis? Thank you to everyone that has contributed one-time or monthly to keep this going! You can make a contribution via PayPal, Patreon or Venmo (@nicoleacardoza).
– Nicole (@nicoleacardoza on IG)
TAKE ACTION
1. Add one of the recommended news sources below to your reading list.
2. Replace a lifestyle magazine subscription to one with a more diverse lens. Here are my favorites >
3. Reflect on your go-to news source:
How many articles do I read by people of color? By women?
Who is on the executive leadership team of this news organization?
What stories, if any, have come up in the past two weeks about representation and equity in their workplace?
GET EDUCATED
How journalism influences our perception of race
The media industry is reckoning with representation and equity in how they do their work. From Refinery29 to Bon Appétit, The New York Times and ABC News, major media institutions are being questioned about whether their workplace culture and staff diversity can fairly and accurately report on the most pressing issues in today's time. It’s a fair question: how can media companies can hold space for deep cultural conversations externally if they’ve got a toxic culture internally?
I’ve had my own experience with the media after Yoga Journal, a popular wellness magazine and digital platform, initially signed me to be on the cover of their magazine, but then, without consent, asked their community to vote on this photo as to whether I should be on the cover, citing that they needed to make sure my issue would sell. It’s been a year and they still haven’t fulfilled their promises to mitigate harm in the future.
But despite the headlines, lack of representation in news is hardly news. And as of 2018, 83% of all journalists were white, according to the Columbia Journalism Review. Between the protests and the disproportionate impact of COVID-19, Black reporters are overwhelmed with reporting on their own communities while navigating difficult work spaces. You can read their perspective in this Glamour article.
When it comes to dismantling systemic oppression, representation and equity in media reporting is essential. Historically, the media has done more to uphold racial bias against people of color than dismantle it. Racial bias is a form of implicit bias, or the unconscious attitudes or stereotypes that distort our understanding, actions and decisions. Our racial biases are largely influenced by the media and how it chooses to center and elevate people and conversations.
“Not understanding the country’s racial history can unwittingly convince even the best journalists to write about minority groups in ways that can lead to harmful racial stereotypes—or exclude them from coverage all together.
That’s why implicit bias researchers are more concerned with providing journalists with tools to help them recognize their biases than expecting training to automatically lead to changed behavior.”
Issac J. Bailey in How Implicit Bias Works in Journalism in Neiman Reports
Take this study from the Sentencing Project, that looked at the relationship between racial bias and media in crime reporting. Racial distortions are pervasive in crime news. In Los Angeles, 37% of the suspects portrayed on television news stories about crime were Black, but made up of only 21% of those arrested in the city. 42% of televised reports were about a Black person victimizing a white person, but those types of crimes were only 10% of all total cases. Read the full report >
If you prefer, you can listen to a podcast with Nazgol Ghandnoosh, a research analyst for the Sentencing Project, discussing this report on WNYC. Listen >
“Progressive media tends to pat themselves on the back quite a bit because they are comparing themselves to non-progressive media. We could see in the last few weeks how we still have a lot of work to do as a media industry to ensure that stories are told accurately and with respect.”
Morgan DeBaun, founder of Blavity, in an interview with Forbes
And this, of course, isn’t limited to the Black experience. Researchers at the University of Alabama found that terror attacks committed by Muslims received 357 percent more coverage than attacks committed by others. And gender bias has defined how women are treated in the media too, especially as political candidates.
It’s easy for our implicit biases to go unchecked in offices with little diversity, inadequate training on equity, diversity and implicit bias, and an inclusive and welcoming culture…which continues the system as it grows. Like all anti-racism work, it needs to start from the inside out – dismantling the core beliefs, values and habits inside ourselves and the organizations we’re a part of to do this work as fairly as we can.
Diverse media resources (a VERY non-exhaustive list):
Blavity
The 19th
them
Zora
Univision
NYTimes Race Related
NPR Code Switch
Women's Media Center SheSource
(which highlights diverse female voices to go to as experts for specific subjects)
List of black-owned local publications
Media Bias Fact Check, that analyses implicit bias in news
13 Women Of Color In Journalism You Should Know
Thank you for all your financial contributions! If you haven't already, consider making a monthly donation to this work. These funds will help me operationalize this work for greatest impact.
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