*According to two studies, Black Americans are more likely than Asians, whites, and Hispanics to report seeing racist news coverage.
A 2023 Pew Research Center survey on Black U.S. adults’ experiences with the media found “about four-in-ten Black Americans (39%) say they extremely or fairly often see or hear news coverage about Black people that is racist or racially insensitive,” the study states, noting that “(41%) say they sometimes see this kind of coverage.”
A separate Pew Research Center survey suggested that “other racial and ethnic groups are less likely to say they often see racially problematic coverage of Black people.”
Per the review: “Among White Americans, 21% report seeing this kind of coverage extremely or fairly often, while an additional 30% see it sometimes. And about three-in-ten Asian (30%) and Hispanic (27%) adults say they often see racist coverage of Black people.”
The results also show that 41% of Black adults prefer their news to come from journalists of the same race or ethnicity. “That compares with just 5% of White Americans, 20% of Asian Americans and 25% of Hispanic Americans. The only exception is sharing political views, where Black Americans are on par with other groups,” per Pew Research Center.
Pew said 46% of Republicans and 44% of Democrats believe news coverage of Black people is mainly stereotypical.
In a separate Pew study, 57% of respondents said the media only covers specific segments of Black communities.
“It’s not surprising at all,” said Charles Whitaker, dean of the Medill journalism school at Northwestern University, per pbs.com. “We’ve known both anecdotally, and through my personal experience with the Black press, that Blacks have long been dissatisfied with their coverage.
“There’s a feeling that Black Americans are often depicted as perpetrators or victims of crime, and there are no nuances in the coverage,” Whitaker said.
Per PBS, Richard Prince, a columnist for Journal-isms, noted that “Blacks and other people of color want to be portrayed as having the same concerns as everybody else, in addition to hearing news about African American concerns,” he said.
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