Have you ever wondered what type of coverage people get in the news? Coverage of different races in the media actually has several stereotypes. I looked at the Florida-Times Union over the period of seven days (Sept. 13 to Sept. 19) and here are my results: Nineteen whites have pictures going with stories about them. Ten blacks have pictures, and only one photo of a few Hispanics.
I found that most of the pictures of blacks were football photos. This is a stereotype because blacks are thought of to be big, strong football players. Most of the time, the football pictures were at the top of the front page near the header with a little blurb next to it.
A black man named Bryan Copeland had a big story on the front page of Tuesday the 14th’s issue. He had $2.7 million in IRS fraud.
On Saturday the 18th, a black woman named Delores Brisbon was featured in a story about South Jacksonville School No. 107 being a black school. The books they received were hand-me-downs from white schools in the area.
A black woman in her 20s, Kamelia Soloman, was pictured waiting for the city bus. The caption mentioned that she takes the bus since losing her job in 2009 and not being able to afford a car payment.
There were also stories about blacks that weren’t stereotypical, such as the one in Wednesday Sept. 15th’s issue. A black couple died in their home during a house fire. Another story was from Sept. 18th. John Megoliki was part of an African tribe when a crocodile bit his arm off. After being hospitalized, Baptist missionaries took him to Florida where he now preaches his story as a miracle.
My point is, when blacks weren’t talked about in a bad, stereotypical way, they were featured in heart-touching kind of stories.
There was only one photo of Hispanics. The article was from Sept. 14. There was a blurb about uninsured children and the photo was of a Hispanic girl getting a shot from a Hispanic nurse. This screams stereotypical.
Whites were features more than any other race in the week I looked into. There were nineteen photos of white people. Most of them were government and military or feature stories. There were a few about whites doing bad things, but not many.
On Monday Sept. 13th, there was an article about Ray Bodden. He was shot by police and the family said he was harmless. There were follow up stories about him on two more days after that. All had photos.
The metro page featured a story about Special Olympics kids learning to surf at Ron Jon’s. The photo had a white girl in it. The same day a man was photographed painting a vehicle pink to raise breast cancer awareness.
Some stories about whites featured their accomplishments. Scott Ragsdale swam the English Channel. His story ran on the 13th. On Sept. 18th a story ran about Emily Lisska winning the Florida Historical Society’s award for 2010 Outstanding Woman in Florida Award.
Then there were bad stories about whites. In Sept. 16th’s issue, an ex-marine was arrested for making a weapon out of firecrackers.
There were numerous heart-felt stories about whites. On Wednesday Sept. 15th, the story about Phyllis Ciresi-Neumann having breast cancer had a bigger article and photo than the story about the blacks dying in the fire. Both were on the front page. On the 14th there was an article about a little boy who has a rare blood condition. The front page on Sunday Sept. 19th had two photos and an article about the Search for Mason McLead in Alaska.
Need I even summarize what I just said? It’s clear that different races get different kinds of coverage. Hispanics are featured as having no health insurance. There was only one photo out of the whole week that featured Hispanics. There wasn’t even an article to go with it. Blacks are portrayed a little better. They mainly had racist and crime stories with a few featuring people who have tragically died or experienced a miracle. The article about the woman remembering getting books from whites was very stereotypical so was the one about the man in trouble with the IRS.
Whites had most of the spotlight. They were featured in the best ways too. The story about the man being shot to death by the cops is a good example. The paper sided with the family saying he was harmless so why was he shot? Whites had more heart-felt stories such as the one about the woman with breast cancer. Whites were also portrayed as having better jobs, like the stories about the men running for governor. They were also featured in more stories about winning things, such as the articles about the man swimming the English Channel and the woman winning the award.
I have made this chart to show just how much coverage certain races got in the week I looked into.
