Local News Tracking

Extra Credit Assignment--

By tracking seven news broadcasts, I'd like to say that I was completely shocked by my findings, but I think they just reinforced what I had previously assumed would be the outcome.

First of all, I would like to point out that out of 21 crime stories that I tracked during the A segments, I had less than five that were led-in or reported by an African American reporter. I've grown up in Oklahoma my entire life and watched local news pertaining to the Oklahoma City-metro area. I was unaware to what extent minority groups are underrepresented in the delivery of news through our local media.

Another finding, most of the news stories that I tracked showed a suspect in a mug shot or a still-picture. It did not matter what race the suspect was, a picture was generally shown. I did notice that white males, another comment coming soon about this, were shown more frequently in video (of them walking into the jail, being hauled off to jail, etc. ) as opposed to other races. The second comment about white males, they were most prominently shown in crimes that were of high status. Black and Hispanic males were portrayed in literally every aspect of crime in the 21 crime stories I tracked.

During my tracking, I came across very few crime stories that had to deal with women. I don't know if this is because women are less likely to commit crimes versus men, but it's something I noticed. Ironically, one of the last days I was tracking stories, there was a broadly publicized criminal incident involving a woman. An African American female had robbed four metro banks and was eventually identified and taken into custody. I found it interesting that this was such a popular story, because it had 1) a catchy news element 2) the fact that the suspect had yet to be caught and 3) she was a woman! Definitely a story that all three local news channels were broadcasting because it was so rare.

Here's the video of her arrest (it's around the five minute mark):



I really liked this assignment because it made me pay attention to how people of different races were being portrayed, how neighborhoods were shown, etc. I had never really paid attention to things like that while watching a local broadcast. But, now that I have.. I will never look at local news again without paying attention to the little things.

News & the Media

Blog assignment & reflection 3

1. The news and agenda is ultimately decided by the governement. The government sets the rules which in turn are followed by media outlets. By allowing a select number of media outlets to monopolize over smaller interests allows for the setting of the agenda. These outlets then get to choose what news is "newsworthy" and what news is "not newsworthy." The FCC, in particular, is responsible for what is chosen to be broadcast to the public.

2) We need media that are specifically directed to people of color because they are greatly misrepresented and underrepresented in mainstream media. When was the last time you heard of a black NPR being broadcasted that dealt with African American neighborhoods, issues and politics? Positive, intellectual stories of the minority are often overlooked. When asked, "aren't the interests of people of color the interests of everyone?," I would like to say yes. Unfortuantely, I don't think our society has this parallel perspective that we should all care about one another's interests. As Melody Spann Cooper explained, her radio broadcast is solely to inform and educated of urban issues in Chicago (the only one of its kind). The other urban radio stations, which are not owned by African Americans, are there to entertain. As if African Americans don't need to have a venue to discuss matters important to them.

3) The war was essentially reported as a script, with certain reporters already determined to be picked for questions by the White House. The questions being asked during the first press conference after 9/11 didn't get to the nitty gritty and vaguely discussed what the American people were about to face. The idea of fear was put into our faces from both the media and the government. We were then implanted with the idea that patriotism was our major weapon, that we were willing to do anything to get the country (or specific people of that country) that was responsible for the most devistating massacre on our soil. As the video explained, this was the perfect opportunity for our government to go after Saddam Hussein and the media was the perfect platform to initiate this task.

4) It's interesting, and disturbing, to know that the media picks and chooses what we hear about our country, or broadly--our world. As Bill Moyers asks, why was it not publicized that 100,000 people in 11 MAJOR cities gathered together to protest the occupation of Iraq? I certainly don't recall hearing of these protests, which is shocking. Is it because the media is lined up with governmental interests? I think so.

5) To say that the media wasn't beneficial to the Civil Rights Movement, I believe, would be incorrect. If the media was to not cover this movement at all, how was the American public to know of the situations being faced by African Americans? Sure, they were aware of what was going on around them, but some may have not. Now, did the media pick and choose what they showed? Yes. The media could and should have been more objective by showing all of the dimensions of the movement.

6) All of these videos were very interesting because I a) was unaware of the "behind the scenes" media and governmental coverage of post 9/11 and b) I was completely blind to the fact that our government has such a large effect on the coverage of certain minority groups. The FCC, for one, needs to change their limiations on how many stations one business can own, allowing for smaller entities to target other audiences. I was also very shocked that we, as a society, are so shaped in our conceptions of what the media is telling us and how it's sometimes orchestrated by the one entity that we should have full trust in--our government. Wouldn't our world be so much more colorful if social and political issues were being openly discussed among every racial group via the mainstream media?