I found this post that I thought was incredibly relevant to some of the conversations we’ve been having in class. It relates to the Baltimore riots and media’s portrayal as the people rioting as thugs, giving them an overall very negative image.
Basically, a Baltimore resident is confronting Geraldo Rivera, a reporter “covering the story” in Baltimore. The resident is trying to explain to Rivera that what the media is doing is not right. Representing the protestors as purely negative and destructive is completely wrong. The resident is highlighting the main issues with news coverage of everything that is going on in Baltimore currently, and also media coverage in general. The post ends with a gif where he says “I want the white media out of Baltimore city until y’all are here to report the real story”. I think that really spoke to the nature of media coverage and to what is and isn’t covered .
http://mediamattersforamerica.tumblr.com/post/117774090273/you-need-to-watch-this-full-video-video
This reminds me of one of the presentations last night that talk about the 60 minutes case with their fact checking error. The media has so much influence and power over its viewers that they can manipulate news and media to portray things with a bias.
The riots and Baltimore are a really good representation of ‘history repeating itself.’ Riots and equal rights movements throughout history have always been reported in a negative light.
Riots in Baltimore are working to get their voices heard to make a positive change in society. It’s frustrating that the news wants to label them as the ‘bad guys.’
“I want the white media out of Baltimore City until y’all are here to report the real story”…. I agree that the coverage of the protesting should be objectively reported and ideally free from bias, but I disagree with the racial tone the citizen took with his comment. While the riots and protesting originally stemmed from a racial issue, I believe they have developed into an issue that should not act as a barrier for anyone wishing to voice their opinion. The issue of police brutality is a huge issue, but the protesting and rioting are subset issues stemming from the police brutality. Because of this fact, whites, blacks…everyone should be allowed to voice their opinions and protest in support or opposition of the rioting and peaceful protesting. Because the media is white is not the inherent issue with the media, but is seen as the causation due to the racial issue nature of the original act of violence. The issue materializes when what the media is reporting is biased, skewed, or falsified. This issue is entirely uncorrelated to the color of their skin.
I agree with Will, I feel that the media is skewing everyone away from the issues at hand but I don’t think the media doing that is a racial issue. I believe that it is because the media mostly shows the worst of society no matter what color skin. It is a tragedy that the media is turning people away from reporting on the peaceful protest for an unjust kill by the police officers, but that has no correlation to the color of skin. The act of police brutality towards certain races does involve racism and needs to be stopped, but I don’t think the media showing the riots over the cause of the protest is because of racism.