Here we go again. Black leaders in Pittsburgh are complaining that local TV news misrepresents African-Americans. “I’m tired of turning on the news and seeing a sister with her hair all over the place, five teeth missing and looking like she just stepped out of the bedroom,” one activist said at a recent Black Political Empowerment Project summit on media portrayal of violence.
Community groups said TV stations only show up for bad news–crime and court stories, in particular. Local news directors responded that they go where the news is, without regard to race or neighborhood. It’s a debate that’s come up in every market he’s ever worked in, says Mike Goldrick, now the news director at WPXI, who attended the summit. What’s different this time is that local stations are discussing the possibility of a joint plan of action to improve coverage of minority communities.
Bad news is easy to find, Goldrick told NewsLab. It comes into the newsroom on the scanner every day. But he said it’s harder to find good news to cover in minority communities because the stations don’t always know about it. “People assume we know and they don’t think it’s their responsibility to tell us,” he said.
To help those stories get on the assignment sheet, Goldrick is proposing that local stations work together to train non-profits and other groups on how to pitch stories. Other ideas that were discussed in small groups at the summit are still being developed. ”It’s a work in progress,” Goldrick said. But he’s heartened that the meeting wasn’t just an opportunity for people to yell at the news media but also focused on finding solutions.
The idea Goldrick shared may have some promise. But I’d argue that more enterprise on the part of journalists also would go a long way toward changing the picture TV conveys of communities of color. That means spending time getting to know what really matters to different communities in your coverage area. Talk to experts and community leaders, but don’t stop there.
Find a listening post and really listen, advises Victor Merina, a former investigative reporter at the Los Angeles Times. It could be a barbershop, a church, a mosque, a coffee shop or a park. “Just go there and keep your ears open,” he says.
Among his other tips:
Do your homework. Read widely, especially special interest publications, ethnic media, community newsletters and websites.
Go with a guide. Find someone in the community who can act as an intermediary, can help put sources at ease, and can assist you in avoiding cultural landmines.
Never assume. Making assumptions can betray your ignorance and lead to unfair or inaccurate stories.
What suggestions would you add to improve cross-cultural reporting?
We have come to the point where just because someone complains we think that is reason to react and do something. What if what the news is showing in terms of stories reflects the truth in these crime ridden communities? Seems to me that worrying about image is useless and superficial in actually helping people.
No news TV organization can survive doing “community news” or “good news”. It’s not in their DNA.
Good news is boring and viewers and readers don’t want it. And people doing what they are supposed to do (good news) is not necessarily news.
TV news has always fed on a steady diet of blood, guts, murder and mayhem. The color of the perpetrators or the victims doesn’t matter.
If there was a steady diet of murder and mayhem in a wealthy white neighborhood the news stations would be all over that too.
Maybe if the people complaining were less focused on “image” and more concerned with the criminals they might not have to worry about TV news coverage.
As for all this talk of community meetings and local stations working together…..please. Local stations working together to put a TV happy face of crime ridden communities? That’s what “journalists” are supposed to do? Sounds like more PR than news.
How would this “joint plan of action to improve coverage of minority communities” work? Would they refuse to do a story on a black family that just lost a loved one to a black killer that is on the run because some white news directors decide they don’t want to make the community look bad that day?
This is going to get sticky for Mr. Goldrick.
We face this same issue in our DMA. We DO have a couple of local black ministers who do an excellent job of keeping us up to date on the GOOD things going on and we cover them. But the truth hurts. For whatever reason, the young black population is living up to the stereotype. robberies, murders and drive by shootings almost always involve the black population, at least in our area. We have gone to the extreme of not mentioning race unless its relevant to the story. I guess the real trick is to develop the ability to listen to your audience. How many times do we get a call from someone and we assume they are a crackpot? Or in the rush of the moment, simply not really pay attention to what they are saying? There ARE good voices out there in the black and hispanic community, the trick is to be able to figure out the ones that are genuine versus the troublemakers who simply want to see themselves on the news.
I disagree with the comments made by “James Petersen” and “Steve” in two earlier posts. Public airwaves are just that–PUBLIC airwaves. The television stations that utilize these airwaves have a responsibility to make sure that all communities are covered in a comprehensive fashion. Does this mean just doing “happy news” in low-income, crime-ridden neighborhoods? No. However, it does mean making sure that all aspects of a given community–both good and bad–are given fair and equal treatment. That’s not PR…but good journalism.
In his earlier post, James Petersen stated that, “No news TV organization can survive doing ‘community news’ or ‘good news.’ Well, quite frankly, television news organizations are barely surviving now. Local television new audiences are declining at an alarming rate across the country. Obviously, the internet plays a role…but I also think its because most people–including myself–don’t really see local news providing any type of essential information–outside of weather and traffic reports. Local newscasts are all the same just about everyday–entertainment news and a steady stream of murders, house fires, and car accidents. Meanwhile, investigative journalism at local television stations has been reduced to consumer reports about which new cookie or coffee/latte can pass a taste test. This type of “news you can use” falls far short of anything that can be remotely called investigative or essential to anyone’s life.
“Steve,” in his post, said that in his DMA there are a couple of black ministers who “do an excellent job of keeping folks up to date.” Shouldn’t it be the other way around? Aren’t reporters the ones who should keep communities up to date? Is it not the reporter’s responsibility to know and establish contacts on his/her beat(s)…and get the story before it arrives at the station via a press release? When “press release” journalism replaces enterprise reporting no one is served–least of all those who live in low income communities that don’t have a solid PR machine like the ones that exist in more affluent neighborhoods.
I certainly understand that television news organizations are a business and have to meet a bottom line. But I also understand that those who own and operate these stations knew about their community responsibilities going in. You can’t decide to abandon those responsibilities just because your profit margins are not big enough. If that’s the case, perhaps in addition to a licening fee, the government should start charging stations for actual use of the public’s airwaves. That’s right. Make them pay for actual usage–in addition to access. This way television news operations can cover what ever they want as long as they pay the price.