Reporting on Race in a Digital Era by Carolyn Nielsen

Reporting on Race in a Digital Era by Carolyn Nielsen

Author:Carolyn Nielsen
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9783030352219
Publisher: Springer International Publishing


In Traditional coverage, the narrative of the conflict in Ferguson initially focused on problems portrayed as unique to Ferguson: a suburban town segregated on racial lines with poor blacks who attend “crumbling” schools and, on the other side of the tracks, whites who enjoy wine bars and a public pool; a problematic police department that had hired a bad-apple cop who had been booted from another police department; and an African American community that was like a powder keg waiting for a reason to explode. It portrayed all of these problems as things that might be addressed via official channels, that is, by hiring a new police chief, electing a new governor, or through a Department of Justice investigation. After the protests ebbed, coverage turned to focus on the legal actions involving investigations, including the grand jury deciding whether to indict Officer Darren Wilson.

The protests were a response to Wilson killing Brown , but they were also a response to problems that had existed well before August 2014. Yet, few Traditional narratives centered on the stories of people who endured racial profiling. Rather, the coverage positioned the voices of white Ferguson residents as equally troubling, thus equating a threat of racial violence with a threat of being the target of negative thoughts. An October 8, 2014, article in The Washington Post headlined “Racial Fissures Surprise Some Ferguson Whites” focused on how the protests impacted Ferguson’s white population:The situation has forced many white Ferguson residents in this majority-black city—from small-business owners to the mayor and police chief—to question their beliefs about the community’s racial dynamics.

They have discovered that blacks and whites here profoundly disagree about the existence of racism and the fairness of the justice system. And now, whites who once believed their town was an exception in a country struggling with racial divisions have to confront the possibility it is not.68



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