Mass Media and New York

Racism and Ethnic Bias in the Media Is a Serious Problem Mass Media,2010 Journalists who think they discern communities of color end up piece stereotypical stories. In the following viewpoint from her interview with Lena-Snomeka Gomes, Elizabeth Llorente states that unequal and inaccurate representations of minorities unbosom persist in the media, and media professionals who argon minorities continue to face prejudice in the industry. In Llorentes view, typographyers of color often feel unwished when entering white communities. In addition, she claims other journalists continue to draw upon harmful ethnic and religious stereotypes.Diversity and opportunities for minorities in newsrooms excessively are lacking, she contends, compounding these problems. Llorente is an award-winning senior reporter forThe Recordin Bergen, untested Jersey. A former news releaser, Gomes is a program support specialist at the Homeless Childrens Network in San Francisco. As you read, consider the fol lowing scruples 1. According to Llorente, why is covering angiotensin converting enzymes own ethnic community non unavoidably easier? 2. What barriers do reporters face when reporting on immigrants, in the authors view? 3. Why are thither still very few minorities in newsrooms, in Llorentes opinion?Elizabeth Llorente, senior reporter forThe Recordin Bergen, refreshful Jersey, was recently honored with the Career Achievement Award from the Lets Do It Better Workshop on speed up and Ethnicity at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Llorente was honored for her more than 10 years of reporting on the nations changing demographics. Her series, Diverse and Divided, documented the racial tensions and political struggles between Latino immigrants and African Americans in Patterson, N. J. Llorente rundle withNewsWatch roughly the nuances of reporting on persist and ethnicity.Lena-Snomeka Gomes What are around of the major barriers journalists face, specially jour nalists of color when physical composition about scarper and ethnicity? Elizabeth Llorente Well it depends on what they look like. For example, I know that some of the African American reporters that I have worked with have spoken about feelings of beingness unwelcome, especially when theyre covering white areas. And on that point are as well as other reporters who feel different beca exercise they stand out from the time they walk into a room. People make assumptions about them. I have been told that its hard to tell what my race is.Is this positive or negative? Maybe it helps when Im doing a boloney about tension and whites are part of the tension. Sometimes, I suspect, they well-defined up more because they dont know that I am Hispanic. Perhaps, they would non have been as candid had they known. However, its not necessarily easier to cover stories in your own ethnic community or communities similar to yours. If you criticize lot and they didnt like it, they are usually l ess forgiving. They take it personal and see you as a traitor, especially when the stories involve a politically charged group.Do you think journalists of color are resistant to writing about race and ethnicity because they dont want to be typecast so to converse? There are population who cogitate that and I dont blame them. Sometimes thats all the papers will let them do, and the papers dont value their work. In that regard, its a thankless job. When you come back with a coarse level, they dont see the skill and the talent it took to report and write that story. They think, of course, you wrote well because youre one of them. They automatically assume it was well-fixed for you to get the story.They may even question your objectivity. But, when Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Rick Bragg went to the South to write about the life he knew, no one said, of course its easy for him because hes from the South. No, they said, wow hes a great writer. Do you think stories about race a nd ethnicity still face being calendared for special events or has there been more sustained coverage and focus? Its gotten much better. Stories used to be covered for Black bill Month or Cinco de Mayo, but now beats have been created nigh race and ethnicity.Beat reporters have to write all year. Reporters are interested in writing about race and ethnicity. They want to cover these issues. Now the next level journalism needs to go to is to spread the province of covering race and ethnicity among all reporters, in all sections of the paper, business section, education, transportation, and municipal. Coverage has to be more comprehensive. It cannot be reserved for certain reporters, because race and ethnicity is such a huge area. Immigration Stories How do stories about in-migration differ from other stories about race and ethnicity?If youre writing about second or third genesis Cubans, youre writing about Americans, a minority group that has some stake here. With immigrants, your e writing about people who are newer, who dont necessarily feel American. They are still transitioning into this national culture. They are rebuilding their identities. For example, they may not have a sense of (their) civil rights here or of American racism. What skills do journalists have to winner in order to report fairly and accurately on immigrant communities? First of all, you need to have a completely open mind.This is especially important when youre covering immigrant communities. So many of us think that we know the immigrant groups, but many of us only know the stereotypes. Too often we set out to write stories that end up marginalizing people in harmful ways because the stories tend to exacerbate those stereotypes. Or we usher out the stories that do not conform to the stereotypes. For example, if were going to write about Hispanic communities, instead of looking for Hispanics in the suburbs, we tend to go where we can most readily find them, in Miami, Spanish Harlem, and in the Barrio.We suffer telling the same stories and giving it the same frame, because its an easy thing to do when youre on a deadline. The effect is an ok story. But immigration stories are diverse. They are not only in enclaves, but also in places we never thought about finding them in, such as in once exclusively white suburbs and rural America. Perhaps Hispanics in the barrio is a valuable story, but that is no longer the Hispanic story. It is a Hispanic story. Okay, once you find (immigrant communities) how do you communicate with them? Its tough.Not knowing the language can be difficult. But the key is to start out with the attitude of not settling for less. Start out verbalise with the leaders, but only as a vehicle to reach the other people who are not always in the papers. Too many of us stop with the leaders and that is not enough. Ask them to allege you or ask them if you can use their name to open up a few doors for you to speak with others in the community. Ho wever, covering immigrant communities doesnt mean encountering a language barrier. Many people have a rudimentary knowledge of English.You can still conduct an interview with someone who only speaks survival English. But, you will also run into a lot of people who dont speak English. If you make the effort, if youre patient, if you speak slower and are intended of the words you use, if you make sure they understand what you are asking them, if you tune in, youll make the connection. Finally, if language is a barrier and youre not comfortable, find someone who is bilingual to help you interpret. How can journalists write balanced stories if they buy the farm from the stereotypes?Ask the person youre interviewing to tell on down those stereotypes. You can tell the person that there is a particular(prenominal) stereotype and ask them if it is true or not. Journalists have the unique role and power to help break the stereotypes down. What does receiving the Career Achievement Award mean to you? I was hoping that it would mean that I could retire and go sail and write my novels from a log cabin. After I checked my retirement savings, I realized, that aint gonna happen for a long time. Its nice to get awards, but when you get one its usually for a certain story or project.This is like a wonderful embrace that says, you know, you hit the ball out of the park once again and again. You set a standard in this business. At a career level, you have done great work. Its just a nice sweeping kiss and hug to me. The Culture of Journalism Tell me some of the successes Lets Do It Better has had and some of the ways in which it has impacted the culture of journalism. I think one wonderful thing they did, under Sig Gissler (original founder), was that they targeted the gatekeepers. His model approach was to go directly to the top management.Gissler valued to found them good reporting that reached a higher level and how stories about race were more nuanced. He wanted the m to read the stories and then to talk to the folks who wrote them so they could learn how to do these types of stories. Did the top respond? Yes I saw conversions. People who started out cynically were changed by the last day. They were beginning to look at race and ethnicity stories critically. They were going to raise their standard. They left the workshops believing that their news organizations needed more diverse voices.Why, are there still so few people of color in newsrooms today? Too many employers are prejudiced. Too many minorities are still being hired under a cloud of doubt. I dont think many minorities are hired with the notion that they will be star reporters. They are not nurtured. Then when minority journalists leave its seen as a betrayal, but when whites leave, its considered a good career move. I have worked with many white reporters who have had many opportunities in training and promotions, and nobody says theyre ungrateful s. o. b. s when they leave.Can we kee p doing it better? Of course. There are still so many stories we are not get that are out there. Journalists who think they know communities of color end up writing stereotypical stories and they use word pictures to make people look exotic. In fact, we need to pay more attention to photojournalism. A story can be fair and balanced, but if that picture projects the exotic stereotype, the story loses its value. Dont bypass a photo of a person because they dont look ethnic enough. Take a picture of the blonde Mexican or the Muslim women wearing Levi jeans.Further Readings Books * Bonnie M. AndersonNews Flash Journalism, Infotainment, and the Bottom-Line Business of Broadcast News. San Francisco Jossey-Bass, 2004. * Ben BagdikianThe New Media Monopoly. Boston radio beacon Press, 2004. * Michael A. BanksBlogging Heroes Interviews with 30 of the Worlds Top Bloggers. Indianapolis Wiley Publishing, 2008. * Pablo J. BoczkowskiDigitizing the News Innovation in Online Newspapers. Cambridg e, MA MIT Press, 2004. * L. Brent BozellWeapons of Mass torture The Coming Meltdown of the Liberal Media. New York Three Rivers Press, 2005. Asa Briggs and Peter BurkeA Social History of the Media From Gutenberg to the Internet. 2nd ed. Malden, MA Polity, 2005. * Thomas de ZengotitaMediated How the Media Shapes Our World and the Way We Live in It. New York Bloomsbury Publishing, 2005. * David Edwards and David CromwellGuardians of bureau The Myth of the Liberal Media. London Pluto Press, 2006. * Robert Erikson and Kent TedinAmerican Public Opinion Its Origins, Content, and Impact. Updated 7th ed. New York Pearson/Longman, 2007. * Dan GilmoreWe the Media basic Journalism by the People, for the People.Sebastopol, CA OReilly, 2006. * Tom GoldsteinJournalism and Truth Strange Bedfellows. Chicago Northwestern University Press, 2007. * Doris A. GraberMedia strength in Politics. 5th ed. Washington, DC CQ Press, 2007. * Neil HenryAmerican Carnival Journalism under Siege in an Age of New Media. Berkeley, CA University of California Press, 2007. * Henry JenkinsConvergence Culture Where Old and New Media Collide. New York NYU Press, 2006. * Steven JohnsonEverything Bad Is Good for You How Popular Culture Is Making Us Smarter. New York Riverhead Trade, 2005. Lawrence LessigFree Culture How galactic Media Uses Technology and the Law to Lock Down Culture and Control Creativity. New York Penguin, 2004. * Charles M. Madigan, ed. 30 The Collapse of the American Newspaper. Chicago Ivan R. Dee, 2007. * David W. MooreThe Opinion Makers An Insider Exposes the Truth Behind the Polls. New York Beacon Press, 2008. * Patrick R. ParsonsBlue Skies A History of transmission line Television. Philadelphia Temple University Press, 2008. * Neil PostmanAmusing Ourselves to Death Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business. twentieth anniversary ed.New York Penguin Books, 2005. * Metta SpencerTwo Aspirins and a Comedy How Television Can Enhance Health and Society. Boulder, CO icon Publ ishers, 2006. Periodicals * Dennis AuBuchon Free Speech and the impartiality Doctrine,American Chronicle, March 19, 2009. * Greg Beato The Spin We Love to Hate Do We sincerely Want News Without a Point of View? Reason, December 2008. * Jeffrey Chester Time for a Digital rectitude Doctrine,AlterNet, October 19, 2004. * Edward W. Gillespie Media Realism How the GOP Should Handle Increasingly Biased Journalists,National Review, April 6, 2009. Nicole Hemmer Liberals, Too, Should Reject the Fairness Doctrine,Christian Science Monitor, November 25, 2008. * R. apostrophize Kirkwood What Did or Didnt Happen at Duke,New American, September 18, 2006. * Richard Perez-Pena Online Watchdog Sniffs for Media Bias,New York Times, October 15, 2008. * Eugene Robinson (White) Women We Love,Washington Post, June 10, 2005. * Joseph Somsel Megaphone Envy and the Fairness Doctrine,American Thinker, March 19, 2009. * Adam Thierer The Media Cornucopia,City Journal, Spring 2007. * Evan Thomas The Myth of Objectivity,Newsweek, March 10, 2008.