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“The Right Exploits Nashville Shooting to Escalate Anti-Trans Rhetoric.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 31 Mar. 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2023/03/30/nashville-shooting-transgender-shooter/.

“Why the News Is Not the Truth.” Harvard Business Review, 1 Aug. 2014, https://hbr.org/1995/05/why-the-news-is-not-the-truth.

McGill, Andrew. “U.S. Media’s Real Elitism Problem.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 21 Nov. 2016, https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/11/fixing-americas-nearsighted-press-corps/508088/.

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I remember how quickly the news changed their tune about their support of the Black Lives Matter Movement when reports of riots and destruction came in. It seemed as though the essence of the activism boiled down to an act of violence and a threat to our safety rather than the push for equality and awareness it’s been fighting for. Behind almost every activist movement in history, effects like unrest, division, and violence come as an unfortunate byproduct of the movement’s need for change (Civil Rights, Tiananmen Square, Arab Spring, Myanmar, etc.).

Through my research on the media’s impact, I realized their misrepresentation carries more influence than I previously thought. While this source dives deep into tactics these corporations employ to manipulate stories, recognizing their role as a for-profit organization is essential. The news contributes significantly to this polarization with its eye-catching hysterical coverage, using reports for their benefit through views, clicks, and traffic.

To better understand the extent of news media’s impact in this regard, I’d like to further my research by looking at more specific movements in history and following how they were reported. I’m curious how coverage will differ based on race, gender, ethnicity, or socio-economic status. Furthermore, I’d like to look into other factors that may influence the editorial decisions of media outlets, such as large corporations funding their organization (Gun, Oil, or Politicians).

While I intend to learn more about the influence of news media over communities and social activism, I want to advance the study by looking at a broader scope of minority populations and considering more factors as to their motivation.

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Covering incidents/movements with more than just one event.

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Reports directly from protests so the dynamic can be seen firsthand.

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More fair coverage with more black organizers as sources.

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Media Sources antagonize social movements by framing them as sinister resistance to the status quo or an attack towards authority.

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Media Sources antagonize social movements by framing them as sinister resistance to the status quo or an attack towards authority.

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Using quotes of officials to describe protesters as "anarchists" and "outside agitators," even though they were state residents.

The Minnesota governor backtracked his claim, but outlets like USA Today received no backlash.

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Passing off words of authority, even if misleading, as the central claim of a report to avert blame

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Implanting narratives through images: the use of pictures, including riots, broken stores, and chaos in order to antagonize the movement's intentions.

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For Five Months, BLM Protestors Trashed America’s Cities. After the Election, Things May Only Get Worse

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This week marks the first time in living memory that widespread violence was widely viewed as a foreseeable, and even expected, outcome of an American national election.

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Sensationalism: Sacrificing information regarding a movement in favor of shocking details to provoke public interest

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Sensationalism: Sacrificing information regarding a movement in favor of shocking details to provoke public interest

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#1 - sources like NBC, Slate, and the Atlantic frame stories to be more representative of the facts and more critical of sources of authority.
#2 - Journalists are calling out the hypocrisy of the values the law is supposed to uphold but are actually stripping away.
#3 - Freedom's Journal, an African-American newspaper made in 1827 that successfully brought more black perspectives to the realm of news.

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Impact: negatively affects the public's assessment of protests' intent or validity.

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Impact: negatively affects the public's assessment of protests' intent or validity.

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Describing conflict between officers with military weapons, tear gas, bullets, and protesters with signs and water bottles as an equally matched "melee/scuffle."

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Misleading titles tell the wrong story. Using the phrase "officer-involved shooting" instead of "shot by a police officer." A photojournalist blinded by a rubber bullet shot by police was described as "a photographer shot in the eye."

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Minneapolis: A photographer was shot in the eye.
 
Washington, D.C.: Protesters struck a journalist with his own microphone.

Louisville: A reporter was hit by a pepper ball on live television by an officer who appeared to be aiming at her. https://t.co/bXfZOUilOG

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Minneapolis: A photographer was shot in the eye.
 
Washington, D.C.: Protesters struck a journalist with his own microphone.

Louisville: A reporter was hit by a pepper ball on live television by an officer who appeared to be aiming at her. https://t.co/bXfZOUilOG

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Minneapolis: A photographer was shot in the eye.

Washington, D.C.: Protesters struck a journalist with his own microphone.

Louisville: A reporter was hit by a pepper ball on live television by an officer who appeared to be aiming at her. https://t.co/bXfZOUilOG
— The New York Times (@nytimes) May 31, 2020

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Minneapolis: A photographer was shot in the eye.
 
Washington, D.C.: Protesters struck a journalist with his own microphone.

Louisville: A reporter was hit by a pepper ball on live television by an officer who appeared to be aiming at her. https://t.co/bXfZOUilOG

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Minneapolis: A photographer was shot in the eye.
 
Washington, D.C.: Protesters struck a journalist with his own microphone.

Louisville: A reporter was hit by a pepper ball on live television by an officer who appeared to be aiming at her. https://t.co/bXfZOUilOG

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Minneapolis: A photographer was shot in the eye.
 
Washington, D.C.: Protesters struck a journalist with his own microphone.

Louisville: A reporter was hit by a pepper ball on live television by an officer who appeared to be aiming at her. https://t.co/bXfZOUilOG

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News Media's use of ambiguous language that causes misinterpretation of events

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News Media's use of ambiguous language that causes misinterpretation of events

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Main Argument: To embrace racial progress, "newsmakers must recognize the weight of their editorial choices." (Jackson 5)

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Main Argument: To embrace racial progress, "newsmakers must recognize the weight of their editorial choices." (Jackson 5)

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Lisa Maree Williams / Getty / The Atlantic

In light of the recent police killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Tony McDade, journalists are faced, once again, with the task of making sense of black protest for the American public. It bears asking what media professionals have learned, not just in the six years since the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, spurred national outrage, but also in the decades, and centuries, of black American resistance.

How the news covers activism matters profoundly to a democracy because the media can influence public support or rejection of policies that might solve social ills such as racism and police brutality. Following the dozens of uprisings that swept U.S. cities after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968, Lyndon B. Johnson's National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, commonly known as the Kerner Commission, reported on the cause and possible future prevention of such unrest. The commission asserted that, in addition to generational poverty, housing and employment discrimination, and over-policing, the media was partially responsible for the neglect felt by black communities.

The commission wrote:

Along with the country as a whole, the press has too long basked in a white world, looking out of it, if at all, with white men's eyes and a white perspective. That is no longer good enough. The painful process of readjustment that is required of the American news media must begin now ... They must insist on the highest standards of accuracy-not only reporting single events with care and skepticism, but placing each event into meaningful perspective. They must report the travail of our cities with compassion and in depth.

Yet in recent investigations of post-civil-rights-era protests (from Watts, Los Angeles, in 1992 to Baltimore in 2015), researchers found that media coverage continues to reinforce stereotypes of black incivility and denigrate the legitimacy of black outrage. For instance, news that denies black agency by fixating on supposed "outside agitators"-a common insult lobbed at the northern students and clergy who joined forces with black southerners in the 1960s-came roaring back with a vengeance over the past week. USA Today and other outlets ran headlines that uncritically repeated officials' lines, such as "' There are anarchists': Minnesota officials say 'outside agitators' are hijacking peaceful protests." Later, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz was forced to backtrack on this claim, as the large majority of those arrested in Minneapolis had local driver's licenses.

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possible future prevention of such unrest

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madison journalism professor douglas mcleod

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range of media coverage of public activism

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The Headlines That Are Covering Up Police Violence

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In light of the recent police killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Tony McDade, journalists are faced, once again, with the task of making sense of black protest for the American public.

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Problem - The media played a significant role in the neglect of black communities during the Black Lives Matter Movement.

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Problem - The media played a significant role in the neglect of black communities during the Black Lives Matter Movement.

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A long-standing problem applicable to more than just BLM movements, Lyndon B Johnson's Kerner commission wrote about how the press is presented through a "white perspective." (1968)

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How has the media framed activist movements in support of LGBTQ rights?

Stories of media sources being manipulated due to a conflict of interest (the party in question holds influence over the media organization)

How can the media’s incentive for profit influence their reporting of events?

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Whether it’s CNN, Fox News, Wall Street Journal, or BuzzFeed, media sources significantly influence how people receive information on current events. The public relies on these corporations to deliver objective reports on the world's news, its impact on society, and its effect on communities. However, we must take into consideration the factors that may stain the objectivity of these outlets, such as biases and political affiliation.

The following article by The Atlantic grapples with the complex realities of protest coverage in the media. These sources employ tactics that may misinterpret the details of an event, causing the spread of skewed information. Sarah J Johnson’s writing aims to address this problem by outlining its impact on movements toward racial justice, specifically the Black Lives Matter Movement.

With 28 million participants of #BlackoutTuesday, a means to spread awareness of BLM, the movement had gained significant traction. BLM aimed to demand justice for those wronged by institutional racism and police brutalities, like George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, and Michael Brown; with the media tasked with sharing their intentions with the world, Jackson brings attention to how they have responded to “black American resistance” all these years (Jackson 1). Although not a direct causation, this response has given rise to strong polarization and animosity within communities. These effects are further made evident through the growing tensions and creation of counteractive movements such as All Lives Matter.

The portrayal of current events through news media, especially activism, can carry a large influence on the public’s understanding of the movement, and it’s important for these outlets to value the accuracy of their reporting. As Sarah describes it, “how the news covers activism matters profoundly to a democracy because the media can influence public support or rejection of policies that might solve social ills such as racism and police brutality" (Jackson 2).

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Black Agency: Power or control held by black people.

Protest Paradigm: A pattern of misrepresenting the efforts and complexities of protests through the perspective of legal authority.

Euphemism: The usage of mild or indirect language instead of ones considered more charged or harsh.

Black Lives Matter (BLM): A movement that seeks to highlight racism, discrimination, and racial inequality experienced by black people through efforts like spreading awareness, organizing protests, and inciting institutional change.

Activism: The policy or action of using vigorous campaigning to bring about political or social change. This can be through rallies, campaigns, petitions, marches, strikes, etc.