America’s Media Disparity Must End To Refine Public Perception of Black Males

Subject

Media; Public Perception; Black Men and Youth; Racial Profiling

Description

Black men and boys in America have long been a subject of racial profiling in various sections of the media. How people are portrayed across print and TV is important because it aids in forming the public perception of a community, race, or ethnicity.

Black American men, in particular, are portrayed as perpetrators of crime but the American news media; according to a report by the research center Media Matters, television stations in New York City were disproportionate to covering crimes that involved black suspects. Between August 18 and December 13, 2014, four late-night broadcasters (WNYW, WNBCV, WCBS, WABC) showed more assault, murder, and theft incidents with African Americans as suspects. 

The rate of naming African American suspects stood 14% higher than the arrests made in those cases. Per the news and opinion website Vox, New York City Police Department’s stats revealed that African Americans were suspected for 54% of reported murders, 55% of theft crimes, and 49% of assault cases. However, television stations showed black suspects featured in 74% of murder stories, 84% of theft-related accounts, and 73% of reports regarding an assault. 

While reporting a crime, the racial bias in the news wasn’t just centered on New York City. A study focused on Los Angeles, and Orange Counties revealed that media platforms were more likely to report people of color as perpetrators of a crime. Similarly, researchers at the Pittsburgh-based Heinz Endowments’ African American Men and Boys Task Force found that stories linked to crime topics often led in the news when they featured black men. Per the report. These stories received more “prominent play” in the media as they headline news pages during the evening newscast.

Consequences of misrepresentation.

The misrepresentation of Black men and boys in the media also relates to lower life expectations. A 2011 study by Media Representations & Impact on the Lives of Black Men and Boys conducted by The Opportunity Agenda revealed that these negative portrayals reinforced on TV, fiction shows, video games, print advertisement, and media helped create views and attitudes towards men of color. Which eventually posed barriers to their advancement in society.

The disparity in the portrayal of Black men extends beyond crime reportage to paint a gloomier socially-impaired picture. A 2012 study at the College of Wooster in Ohio by political science professor Bas W van Doorn analyzed 474 poverty-related stories in the U.S. published in Newsweek, U.S. News, Time and World Report between 1992 to 2019. The analyses found out that Black people were overrepresented and appeared in over half of the images used in the story, even though only a quarter of the people fell below the line of poverty at that time.

Media portrayals of black people, alongside pushing false narratives towards them, make them appear as the perpetrators of interracial crime. Homicide is primarily known to be an intraracial crime. However, the media portrays less common cases where black people are suspected of committing homicide against white people. 

Framing a harsher public opinion.

The public opinion formed through such portrayal has harsher consequences. The perception leads to false assumptions in people who have not often interacted with African American individuals. It widens the cultural divide, demoralizing people and adding stereotypes that later form social structures. Through the guise of such perception, Black men and boys find themselves struggling to find jobs and take loans. They might even be subjected to longer sentence terms in a court of law. According to a study of Philadelphia, Black defendants were 3.9 times more likely to be sentenced to death than others found guilty of committing similar murders.

Major media outlets are also responsible for portraying dysfunctionality in black families. According to a report by racial justice organization Color of Change and diverse family arrangements advocate Family Story, the media illustrated black families as more dependent and dysfunctional when compared to white families. Such portrayals could be why people might assume that black families are poorer, have absentee fathers who are criminals, and are dependent on welfare. 

“This leaves people with the opinion that black people are plagued with self-imposed dysfunction that creates family instability and, therefore, all their problems,” said Travis L. Dixon, a communications professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign who conducted the study. Dixon added that fueling such stereotypes might also form a gateway to black people accessing public policies. For example, Congress, inspired by such media portrayals, considered to “gut social safety net programs.” It could also result in strict work requirements and enhancing drug testing, further limiting black families’ opportunities. 

“There are dire consequences for black people when these outlandish archetypes rule the day: abusive treatment by police, less attention from doctors, harsher sentences from judges,” Rashad Robinson, executive director of Color of Change, wrote in the report.

Creeping into the cultural lens.

The lens overlooking Black people also finds fitting in their representation in television and films. According to research published in 2021 by McKinsey, not many Black-led stories are told in the industry. The ones that find portrayal are often underfunded. Per the report’s finding, the industry could make an additional $10 billion in revenues annually if it managed to address such racial inequity. The revised revenue would be 7% greater than the baseline of $148 billion. 

The findings also revealed that Black talent doesn’t often manage to find a way in the cast unless one senior member — producer, writer, creator, or director — of the production team is Black. Emerging Black actors found fewer chances at leading roles to make noteworthy career moves than white actors. With over 13% of the U.S. population comprising Black Americans, the industry was said to “leave money on the table” if it failed to represent Black individuals in film and television. 

The road to eliminating social inequality in a country with a history sees its roots in improving media coverage and public perception of African American men and boys in society. According to New York-based non-profit organization The Opportunity Agenda, the communication to improve media coverage of Black men and boys must include a “full and accurate” portrayal of information, rather than “positive” or “negative.” Emphasizing truthfulness, fairness, accuracy, and impartiality could eliminate the chances of misrepresenting facts in news items. In the face of the unresponsiveness of executives, editors, and producers, media shareholders and advertisers must be made aware of this social and economic responsibility. 

Recommendations also revolve around avoiding leading news items, conversations, and discourse with a historical appeal around past discrimination, slavery, and racism. Such style categorizes Black people and makes the discussion irrelevant to a younger audience. Removing media disparity can go a long way in refining public perception, and this could begin with more participation of Black individuals in the media. Stories emerging from neutral portrayals, seeping through the fundamentals of journalism, invite an unbiased consumption.

Creator

The Black Male Archives Team

Publisher

Preservation Media

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