Alex Neason is a staff writer for the Columbia Journalism Review who focuses on the topics of education, diversity and many other subjects. The newest issue of the Columbia Journalism Review is entitled “Unfinished: The stories left untold in America’s newsroom”. Neason’s article in the issue, “We Wish to Plead Our Own Cause” digs deep into the history of the black press, and the lack of diversity that causes major issues in news media. Neason said to the class on Tuesday, “Coverage is suffering because news rooms don’t reflect the people that they serve.” Representation of diverse people in the news rooms is causing separation between journalists and the audience.
There’s a myriad of different human experiences, and they are being left out due to the fact that news rooms usually only include many congruent experiences. An article written by CJR’s Karen K. Ho found, for example, “The New York Times’s newsroom is 78 percent white and 22 percent minorities, while the New York-Newark-Jersey City metro area is 53 percent minorities.”
The People Need the News
Brian Stelter adds to the criticism of the media by saying, “The relation between the press and the government should always be adversarial.” Biased reporting can occur when the government and press get too close to one another. The bias causes obstruction in the news for the public, who need to hear the truth.
Stelter also spoke about the issue of politicians who tear the press down and attempt to ruin the rapport that news media has with the audience. But, by continuing to put accuracy first, the trust will always be there. Stelter sees CNN as a hospital, the people need the news produced by media organizations to survive.
Keeping on the Straight and Narrow
David Folkenflik is an open critic of his peers, as well. In August 2018, one of his coworkers at NPR interviewed a man by the name of Jason Kessler. Kessler was an organizer 2017’s deadly “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. The interview was panned by many, many critics. Folkenflik felt like the interview had no primary goal, or intention.
Folkenflik was quoted saying, “I think you can interview anyone, but you have to be very clear about what you are setting out to accomplish and I think you have to be very clear about how you are going to achieve that.” NPR then decided to ask Folkenflik, to do feedback on the original article.
When Folkenflik was new on the scene as a professional, his editor-in-chief at the time told him, “You don't want to give racists publicity for no good reason.” In Folkenflik’s opinion, the interview with Kessler was, “a tough call”. The interviewer was straddling a very fine line between giving racists a larger platform to spread hate, but also informing the public of dissenting opinions, albeit hateful, racist opinions that are encased as positive.
Sources
https://www.cjr.org/special_report/black-press.php/
https://www.cjr.org/united_states_project/diversity-newsrooms-asne-study.php
https://www.npr.org/2018/08/10/637390626/a-year-after-charlottesville-unite-the-right-rally-will-be-held-in-d-c
https://www.npr.org/2018/08/13/638102276/npr-criticized-for-interview-with-white-supremacist-jason-kessler
Alexandra Neason - Columbia Journalism Review
Brian Stelter - CNN
David Folkenflik - NPR