May 12, 2023 - 4:15pm
As a professor of sociology, I pay special attention to news about poverty, social inequality, and related topics. For example, just the other day, I spotted a story in the New York Times about the widening “unemployment gap between black and white New Yorkers”.
Although this is obviously an important story to cover, I found it strange that it was framed entirely around the comparison between two racialised groups — black and white people. Having worked in Manhattan, I have first-hand experience of the multicultural character of the local workforce. In addition to black and white people, my colleagues included Koreans, Pakistanis, as well as individuals of Latin American heritage. So why the emphasis on just these two racial groups?
According to the 2020 U.S. Census, close to one third of Americans are neither black or white. Do Hispanics, Native Americans and Asians get the short end of the stick when it comes to news about racial disparities?
As a research assignment in my college course, I instructed students to collect evidence pertaining to this question. We examined news stories from four kinds of American media outlets: newspapers (New York Times, USA Today, etc.), cable news (Fox News, CNN, etc.), network news (ABC, CBS, etc.), and online media (Slate, Vox etc.). Employing a systematic search strategy, we identified a total of 80 reports covering racial disparities. These news stories addressed disparities in health, criminal justice, socio-economic well-being, education, and other outcomes.
What did we discover? In short, we found that by far the most common approach was to focus on black and white people, with this kind of biracial framing applying to five out of eight reports of racial disparity (63%). The next most common angle was to compare black people to all the other groups (14%) or to compare white Americans to non-whites (14%). Taken together, a staggering 90% of the media stories we identified either ignored Asians, Hispanics, and Native Americans or treated these groups as secondary “footnotes” to the primary comparison between black and white people.
This is a problem for three reasons. First, news is supposed to be accurate. It is a demographic fact that the United States includes more than two racialised groups. Ignoring this distorts reality. Second, it is troubling how little attention the national media pays to the 30% of the population that is neither black nor white. Take, for example, the plight of our Native American population: their rates of childhood poverty and unemployment are even higher than among African Americans, but you would be unlikely to learn this information from reading the papers or watching the news. In my data, only three out of the 80 news stories (4%) included Native Americans in the comparisons
Third, by excluding non-black minorities from the conversation, the media plays into the divisive narrative of the United States as a white supremacist country. If comparisons of, say, infant mortality rate included Hispanics and Asians, the readers would note that these other non-white groups do just as well or better than the white population. If the comparisons of median household income included Indian Americans, Filipino Americans, and Chinese Americans, all Americans would learn that those non-white ethnic groups earn higher average incomes than white Americans.
I suspect the dominant focus on black-white comparisons is a deliberate decision. It is not realistic to assume that elite news sources are stuck in the 1950s, when it was somewhat defensible to think about the United States as a nation of only two major racial groups. But whatever the reasons, journalists should be called out for excluding important minority groups in their coverage of social inequalities. Ironically enough, when it comes to news about racial disparities, there is little evidence of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
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SubscribeIf they included other ethnic/racial groupings it might show that the US was not as racist as they want it to be Please remember that the narrative must be maintained.
On the other hand it might show that racial prejudices are more widespread than would suit the media, and are not the exclusive preserve of white people.
I’m not sure you needed the word “might” in your response.
You are quite right.
You are quite right.
It illustrates that there is a war being stoked against white people and it will not be good to be a white American when they become a minority
I’m not sure you needed the word “might” in your response.
It illustrates that there is a war being stoked against white people and it will not be good to be a white American when they become a minority
Add the prevalence of multi-racial families and individuals in U.S. (I cannot speak for other nations, but certainly what I see from BBC appears to parallel) commercials and ads–how does this challenge the black-white default? In researching this factor for my teaching, I haven’t found in-depth analysis given this phenomenon, especially post-summer 2020. I guess mass media can both be lazily reductive and idealistically inclusive. (A colleague whose Mexican wife heads national PR for a major auto company told me she told him that every corporation’s terrified, so they capitulate to DEI dicta.)
On the other hand it might show that racial prejudices are more widespread than would suit the media, and are not the exclusive preserve of white people.
Add the prevalence of multi-racial families and individuals in U.S. (I cannot speak for other nations, but certainly what I see from BBC appears to parallel) commercials and ads–how does this challenge the black-white default? In researching this factor for my teaching, I haven’t found in-depth analysis given this phenomenon, especially post-summer 2020. I guess mass media can both be lazily reductive and idealistically inclusive. (A colleague whose Mexican wife heads national PR for a major auto company told me she told him that every corporation’s terrified, so they capitulate to DEI dicta.)
If they included other ethnic/racial groupings it might show that the US was not as racist as they want it to be Please remember that the narrative must be maintained.
“So why the emphasis on just these two racial groups?”
Journalists and reporters are simply following their dark dictum – If it bleeds, it leads. Happy stories not welcome. Add to the mix: demagoguery – politicos manipulating reality to get votes; and a huge increase in graduates, untrained in critical thinking, bored and looking for a heroic cause (grandstanding will suffice), commensurate with their self-regard. Even better if it kicks older generations in their collective nut-sack (cf Mao’s Red Guard).
There is no clearer example of that than the writer of the British Renters Are Losers article in today’s Unherd.
Manipulating the perception of reality. Reality itself cannot be ma nipulated.
There is no clearer example of that than the writer of the British Renters Are Losers article in today’s Unherd.
Manipulating the perception of reality. Reality itself cannot be ma nipulated.
“So why the emphasis on just these two racial groups?”
Journalists and reporters are simply following their dark dictum – If it bleeds, it leads. Happy stories not welcome. Add to the mix: demagoguery – politicos manipulating reality to get votes; and a huge increase in graduates, untrained in critical thinking, bored and looking for a heroic cause (grandstanding will suffice), commensurate with their self-regard. Even better if it kicks older generations in their collective nut-sack (cf Mao’s Red Guard).
Look at Californias Reparations Task Force with its demands for 800 billion dollars in racial reparations – from a state that was never a slave state. This is more than just an issue of narrow focussed news reporting. Black activists of the extremist inclination have all but declared war on White American society. The determination to reject ‘White’ meritocracy in favour of positive discrimination (for Blacks only of course) is touted as ‘Racial Justice’. If this prevails it may (just may) pacify the activists but the price will be long term decline in America’s institutions.
I think they are pushing hard to get what they can before the changing racial makeup of the country catches up to them.
Democrats NEED black votes in huge proportions to have any chance to win. So, they will do anything to cozy up to them and score points with them until they are no longer useful. That change will occur when they need other votes more and supporting black people costs them those votes.
BTW…I noticed how fast Newsome shot that down.
I think they are pushing hard to get what they can before the changing racial makeup of the country catches up to them.
Democrats NEED black votes in huge proportions to have any chance to win. So, they will do anything to cozy up to them and score points with them until they are no longer useful. That change will occur when they need other votes more and supporting black people costs them those votes.
BTW…I noticed how fast Newsome shot that down.
Look at Californias Reparations Task Force with its demands for 800 billion dollars in racial reparations – from a state that was never a slave state. This is more than just an issue of narrow focussed news reporting. Black activists of the extremist inclination have all but declared war on White American society. The determination to reject ‘White’ meritocracy in favour of positive discrimination (for Blacks only of course) is touted as ‘Racial Justice’. If this prevails it may (just may) pacify the activists but the price will be long term decline in America’s institutions.
The squeky wheel gets the oil.
I would love to see a study on the proportion of black representation in media. I do not know, but I strongly suspect, that we would find that black people are way over represented. But they have yelled and screamed for years, some of those years with justification, that they were underrepresented. Just one example, if black people make up 14% of the US population, if a small fraction of that number are getting degrees, then how is it that there seem to be so many black reporters or news anchors?
I also think that black people are in for a shock. If trends continue, it appears to me that they are going to be the smallest minority in a country that is majority minority. Whites may remain the largest minority but the argument that they control the country is going to get harder and harder to make. It is also going to be harder and harder for black people to argue that white supremacy is what keeps them down. I think many of them know this and that is why they are going out of their way to make other minorities “white adj acent” so they can lump them in with the black/white dynamic.
Blacks have worked hard to pull other racial minorities into their sphere with such things as People of Color (POCs) against white people in replacement of black v. white. In this, I think they are fast failing and the main reason is that these growing minorities are succeeding, have little respect for the black subculture, which they see as failing and a bad influence on their own children. You here this said occasionally by other minorities, but they seem to want to stay out of the black/white dynamic but they will not be able to do that if they continue to grow, succeed and have influence. At some point, blacks are going to start looking to them to give them what they have been demanding of whites and these other groups are going to have to stand up and push back and I think they will. Only this time, the people in charge are not going to be afflicted with white guilt. I think that this is one reason that black activists are pushing so hard for reparations NOW, before that change in social dynamics and I think it is why their arguments now focus on the COUNTRY, separate from the PEOPLE and white people in particular paying them. It short circuits the counter argument that people of non- white decent make that they had nothing to do with slavery or Jim Crow and owe black people nothing.
White people don’t control anything of significance in the US, its been like that for decades now
Folks who want to control things on behalf of what they regard as the best interests of white people (who whether they really want supremacy or not are vilified as “white supremacists”) most assuredly do not. But… arguably white people qua white people do: Biden is white, majorities of the congressional caucuses of both political parties in both houses of Congress are white, most American corporate CEO, including all of our oligarchs (oh, wait that’s a slur reserved for Russians) tech billionaires are, most university presidents and provosts are white, most CEOs of charitable foundations are white,…
That is for NOW but you have generations coming up that are far more diverse. They just have not matured enough yet to take their place.
We already see very large numbers of Asians and Latino’s rising fast in corporate ranks. And..btw, you are mistaken about the tech billionaires. A whole lot of them are Asian.Why? Because they are some of the smartest guys in the room and have great educations and come from cultures that respect entrepreneurial behavior and getting wealthy.
And, so what? The largest majority of people in this country are white or white Latino. Never mind the ever growing number of biracial people.
What you really mean is that there are not more black people in those positions. But then blacks make up only 14% of the population and given their rates of dropping out of HS and graduating college it should not be surprising that they are not more represented. And when you have places like the National Museum of African American History putting up signs of white culture being a) attention to detail b) perfectionism and describing these traits in a negative way, kinda hard to see how black kids take that and convert it into economic success.
That is for NOW but you have generations coming up that are far more diverse. They just have not matured enough yet to take their place.
We already see very large numbers of Asians and Latino’s rising fast in corporate ranks. And..btw, you are mistaken about the tech billionaires. A whole lot of them are Asian.Why? Because they are some of the smartest guys in the room and have great educations and come from cultures that respect entrepreneurial behavior and getting wealthy.
And, so what? The largest majority of people in this country are white or white Latino. Never mind the ever growing number of biracial people.
What you really mean is that there are not more black people in those positions. But then blacks make up only 14% of the population and given their rates of dropping out of HS and graduating college it should not be surprising that they are not more represented. And when you have places like the National Museum of African American History putting up signs of white culture being a) attention to detail b) perfectionism and describing these traits in a negative way, kinda hard to see how black kids take that and convert it into economic success.
Folks who want to control things on behalf of what they regard as the best interests of white people (who whether they really want supremacy or not are vilified as “white supremacists”) most assuredly do not. But… arguably white people qua white people do: Biden is white, majorities of the congressional caucuses of both political parties in both houses of Congress are white, most American corporate CEO, including all of our oligarchs (oh, wait that’s a slur reserved for Russians) tech billionaires are, most university presidents and provosts are white, most CEOs of charitable foundations are white,…
The logical progression will be a bunch of different tribes jostling for power. Biden has hurried that along with the 6 million he’s let in. He’s got over a year left so could be close to 10 by the time he’s out and I can’t even contemplate the disaster if he wins another four.
White people don’t control anything of significance in the US, its been like that for decades now
The logical progression will be a bunch of different tribes jostling for power. Biden has hurried that along with the 6 million he’s let in. He’s got over a year left so could be close to 10 by the time he’s out and I can’t even contemplate the disaster if he wins another four.
The squeky wheel gets the oil.
I would love to see a study on the proportion of black representation in media. I do not know, but I strongly suspect, that we would find that black people are way over represented. But they have yelled and screamed for years, some of those years with justification, that they were underrepresented. Just one example, if black people make up 14% of the US population, if a small fraction of that number are getting degrees, then how is it that there seem to be so many black reporters or news anchors?
I also think that black people are in for a shock. If trends continue, it appears to me that they are going to be the smallest minority in a country that is majority minority. Whites may remain the largest minority but the argument that they control the country is going to get harder and harder to make. It is also going to be harder and harder for black people to argue that white supremacy is what keeps them down. I think many of them know this and that is why they are going out of their way to make other minorities “white adj acent” so they can lump them in with the black/white dynamic.
Blacks have worked hard to pull other racial minorities into their sphere with such things as People of Color (POCs) against white people in replacement of black v. white. In this, I think they are fast failing and the main reason is that these growing minorities are succeeding, have little respect for the black subculture, which they see as failing and a bad influence on their own children. You here this said occasionally by other minorities, but they seem to want to stay out of the black/white dynamic but they will not be able to do that if they continue to grow, succeed and have influence. At some point, blacks are going to start looking to them to give them what they have been demanding of whites and these other groups are going to have to stand up and push back and I think they will. Only this time, the people in charge are not going to be afflicted with white guilt. I think that this is one reason that black activists are pushing so hard for reparations NOW, before that change in social dynamics and I think it is why their arguments now focus on the COUNTRY, separate from the PEOPLE and white people in particular paying them. It short circuits the counter argument that people of non- white decent make that they had nothing to do with slavery or Jim Crow and owe black people nothing.
As Hans Rosling illustrated in Factfulness common perceptions of statistical relationships between different groups tend to be decades out of date. Part of this is that people tend not to mentally update the common perceptions of their youth and part of it is that there are large numbers of people who have based their careers on seeking to correct the injustices of the past and are reluctant to acknowledge new facts that may make their positions less secure.
As Hans Rosling illustrated in Factfulness common perceptions of statistical relationships between different groups tend to be decades out of date. Part of this is that people tend not to mentally update the common perceptions of their youth and part of it is that there are large numbers of people who have based their careers on seeking to correct the injustices of the past and are reluctant to acknowledge new facts that may make their positions less secure.
There’s also the fact that Latin Americans muddle the water by virtue of not being, well, a skin-colour. I’ve had this conversation quite a few times and the reaction is a variation of “but don’t they all speak Spanish?”. Most Americans are yet to understand that we come from countries as diverse as their own, with their own internal inequalities. The reasons and ways of migration are widely different between groups, and that can persist for generations in the host country.
Most Americans have also yet to understand that Africa is a continent made up of very diverse countries and populations. They patronisingly love to stick the same label African (with a “black” connotation) on all, be they from Tunisia, Sudan, Egypt, Malawi… And they certainly seem ignorant of the fact that there are many (often warring) different tribes within these countries. Their lack of historical/geographical knowledge is astounding.
If you’re getting your information about Americans from the media, you are most assuredly misinformed.
Indeed. Read this astonishingly arrogant comment from the American directors of Netflix’s new Cleopatra series:
“Perhaps it’s not just that I’ve directed a series that portrays Cleopatra as Black, but that I have asked Egyptians to see themselves as Africans, and they are furious at me for that.”
If you’re getting your information about Americans from the media, you are most assuredly misinformed.
Indeed. Read this astonishingly arrogant comment from the American directors of Netflix’s new Cleopatra series:
“Perhaps it’s not just that I’ve directed a series that portrays Cleopatra as Black, but that I have asked Egyptians to see themselves as Africans, and they are furious at me for that.”
Most Americans have also yet to understand that Africa is a continent made up of very diverse countries and populations. They patronisingly love to stick the same label African (with a “black” connotation) on all, be they from Tunisia, Sudan, Egypt, Malawi… And they certainly seem ignorant of the fact that there are many (often warring) different tribes within these countries. Their lack of historical/geographical knowledge is astounding.
There’s also the fact that Latin Americans muddle the water by virtue of not being, well, a skin-colour. I’ve had this conversation quite a few times and the reaction is a variation of “but don’t they all speak Spanish?”. Most Americans are yet to understand that we come from countries as diverse as their own, with their own internal inequalities. The reasons and ways of migration are widely different between groups, and that can persist for generations in the host country.
“Second, it is troubling how little attention the national media pays to the 30% of the population that is neither black nor white”.
A book by Kenny Xu – An Inconvenient Minority articulates this problem.
If I had to turn the silly idea of equity as opposed to equality of opportunity, the non-black populations will need to increase their criminal activity by a few magnitudes to get equity.
“Second, it is troubling how little attention the national media pays to the 30% of the population that is neither black nor white”.
A book by Kenny Xu – An Inconvenient Minority articulates this problem.
If I had to turn the silly idea of equity as opposed to equality of opportunity, the non-black populations will need to increase their criminal activity by a few magnitudes to get equity.
Ah. A sociologist with academic integrity.
Ah. A sociologist with academic integrity.
And, in the UK, it’s rare to see research broken down into Black African and Black Caribbean. When that does happen, for example in educational outcomes, the children of black African immigrants usually out-perform the children of white British parents, while the children of black Caribbean immigrants underperform them. Either the teachers are adept at telling the difference between the two immigrant groups, or the issue is not just about colour of skin.
And, in the UK, it’s rare to see research broken down into Black African and Black Caribbean. When that does happen, for example in educational outcomes, the children of black African immigrants usually out-perform the children of white British parents, while the children of black Caribbean immigrants underperform them. Either the teachers are adept at telling the difference between the two immigrant groups, or the issue is not just about colour of skin.
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but media reports are not representative of the real world. Formerly “all white” neighborhoods have become “minority majority” neighborhoods down through the decades. (I should know… I live in one.)
Beyond the media headlines, the real world is more inclusive than you think.
HOW DO I CANCEL MY f*****g ACCOUNT?
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but media reports are not representative of the real world. Formerly “all white” neighborhoods have become “minority majority” neighborhoods down through the decades. (I should know… I live in one.)
Beyond the media headlines, the real world is more inclusive than you think.
HOW DO I CANCEL MY f*****g ACCOUNT?
While I agree with the main thrust of the argument, its conclusions, and its importance, I don’t agree with the analysis of its own data. In particular, I don’t agree with the following paragraph:
“Taken together, a staggering 90% of the media stories we identified either ignored Asians, Hispanics, and Native Americans or treated these groups as secondary “footnotes” to the primary comparison between black and white people.”
The red section of the ring diagram represents whites compared with non-whites. This category does not privilege blacks as a ‘special’ minority to the detriment of other non-whites and should not be included in this claim.
So the correct figure should be “a staggering 77%”, not 90%.
While I agree with the main thrust of the argument, its conclusions, and its importance, I don’t agree with the analysis of its own data. In particular, I don’t agree with the following paragraph:
“Taken together, a staggering 90% of the media stories we identified either ignored Asians, Hispanics, and Native Americans or treated these groups as secondary “footnotes” to the primary comparison between black and white people.”
The red section of the ring diagram represents whites compared with non-whites. This category does not privilege blacks as a ‘special’ minority to the detriment of other non-whites and should not be included in this claim.
So the correct figure should be “a staggering 77%”, not 90%.