Privilege in journalism graphic. Stephen Smith // Publicity Center
Content warning: This story discusses racial violence and police brutality, specifically against Black individuals during nationwide protests.
By MacKenzie Dexter
Entering the final days of school, we are in a world of chaos. The COVID-19 pandemic has taken over 100,000 lives, 23% of those lost being Black individuals. Along with that, millions are protesting police brutality after the death of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and numerous others. As a student and a journalist my brain is flooded by the news stories born from these tragedies. And I’m not alone.
As student journalists at Western, we are pridefully told to follow the Society of Professional Journalists [SPJ] code of ethics. The four pillars of this code include: seek the truth and report it, minimize harm, act independently and be accountable and transparent. After taking classes filled with law, ethics and hands-on experience, we are expected to tackle reporting and write news stories as professionals. However, in the case of recent protests, a common element tweaks the narrative of our audience at a local and national level, white journalists.
According to the Pew Research Center, 77% of U.S. newsroom journalists are white and 61% are male. While journalists strive to be unbiased, there is obviously bias in who reports, especially due to the lack of diversity. Implicit bias refers to the thoughts, feelings and even the angle taken on news stories that we unconsciously make due to years of repeated ideologies, stereotypes, etc. The lack of diversity, implicit bias and outdated reporting styles of predominantly white reporters ultimately determines how the audience will see, hear and interpret the news. These factors also project onto the individuals who teach journalism and law classes. With these facts, white journalists must do better to listen to people of color [POC] in our newsrooms and our audience.
Seek Truth and Report It
Within recent news following nationwide protests, the world watched protesters fight for Black lives as police arrest, tear gas and shoot at protesters. Countries from around the world have held their own protests in support of Black Lives Matter, horrified by what they are seeing in the U.S. Journalists, specifically Black journalists, are also being arrested, tear gassed and shot at, violating First Amendment Rights as both press and individuals. These acts of violence initiated by the police are unnecessary and unacceptable. For example, tear gas is a chemical weapon that is banned in war. However, it is being used to target protesters and anyone else in its path, such as medical workers and residents of the area. Not to mention that the world is also facing a global pandemic that impacts the respiratory system, just like tear gas.
As the violence continues, our protected rights are being pulled out from under us.
Since May 26, over 10,000 protesters, including Black protesters fighting for their human rights, which are laid forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, have been arrested. On June 5, the United Nations also called for a “systemic reform and justice” in the U.S. in response to the “recent spate of killings of African-Americans.” While the declaration can’t enforce domestic law, it shines light on how the U.S. unethically treats Black individuals and protesters. This isn’t a political violation, it is a human rights violation.
Along with that, our First Amendment rights are jeopardized due to the arrest of journalists, including Black journalists, covering protests, which goes against the freedom of the press.
For protesters’, their rights to peacefully protest and petition the government are also being infringed upon. Instead, they are being met with violence and arrests.
However, in a time of unfairness, injustice and confusion, journalists must make sure that their sources, sources’ experiences and stories are not trophies. They are not meant to be applauded in a newsroom and crowned as the “best story of the day.” Their stories are supposed to represent the atrocities that are happening to people who fight for their rights. It is an honor and privilege to hear and share the stories and experiences of people in the community, country and abroad.
But in order to gain the trust to share stories, white journalists need to respect our sources and acknowledge the vulnerable position we are putting them in. Especially when harm, such as potential arrests, being tear gassed and being shot at with rubber bullets, is apparent in protests. We would be nothing without our sources and audience, so don’t ruin their trust with outdated ideology and without acknowledging the white privilege that got us on this platform.
The current situation is not the first time police brutality and racial injustice has been reported on, but it is one of the few times it has been acknowledged. In the 1960s following the protests conducted by Black individuals calling out the injustices and violence by police, the 1968 Kerner Commission acknowledged it was white racism, not Black protesters that was at fault. However, the findings of the report seem to have been buried and our ideologies continue to avoid blaming white supremacy and a faulty justice system.
It is our job to seek the truth and report it, even if it’s a story that is hard to hear, write or share due to violence and injustice taking place. Just because these stories make us uncomfortable doesn’t mean we ignore them. When we don’t report the truth, the truth gets buried within outdated ideologies and racism, much like with the 1968 Kerner Commission.
Minimize Harm
The phrase goes, “a picture is worth a thousand words.” But for the safety of protesters and our sources, write up the thousand words or re-think how we visually document these events. Even with a mask to protect individuals from the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19, protesters can still be identified, which could potentially put them in harm’s way.
The Federal Bureau of Investigations [FBI] issued a statement asking people to send tips and/or images of protesters who were unlawfully violent at protests. However, unless the video or image is clearly showing someone being violent, then all protesters in the photo are being put at risk of being accused of violence, even the nonviolent ones.
While it is important to document historical events, it’s more important to make sure we aren’t putting people at risk. Some individuals documenting protests have focused on protecting identities by angling or editing their images so faces aren’t shown.
Reporters and photographers have to be conscious of what they capture because they could unintentionally put protesters, including those being peaceful, in a potentially dangerous situation with local police or the FBI.
Act Independently
When acting independently, white journalists must take the time to examine and understand their own privilege and how it internally and externally influences our coverage.
We are supposed to report the facts and keep opinions out of it so we don’t mislead our audience, but it is impossible to report without implicit bias. The angle we choose to take on a story is biased.
However, it is not biased to stand up for human rights. When individuals, including the press, stay silent on such matters, we are allowing the silence to speak for us. Instead, our lack of participation comes across as not caring for or not supporting human lives and rights. Journalists arguably have the most powerful platform to share how our community is being impacted by these injustices. Journalists also get the opportunity to research and educate themselves and the audience. Journalists get to make the choice when we become part of the conversation and engage with their audience. The audience, victims and survivors of violence do not get to make that decision when there is a threat to their rights.
While we are encouraged to act independently, that does not mean we should ignore our audience. When a reader tells us that our story didn’t send the correct and factual message, listen to them. Not everyone is going to support the story a journalist is sharing. However, we have to ask ourselves why the audience isn’t positively reacting to the story. Is it because they might disagree with the topic? Is it that the journalist misunderstood or misrepresented the point of view and experience of the source or situation? Or is the journalist just not listening to what their audience is saying? No matter the painful truth the story entails, such as police brutality, it doesn’t mean that the story should be silenced or altered to fit the narrative the journalist thinks is best for the audience. But it does mean that the journalist should be reporting consciously, ethically and accurately. Don’t always assume that you know what is best for your audience, take the time to listen to them.
And as journalists share stories from the Black Lives Matter movement, specifically white journalists sharing stories of Black individuals, it is crucial to be conscious of how we share their story without altering it. Whether we mean to or not, what white journalists choose to write, capture and edit can alter the story of the source or the experience. It is not our story, it is our sources’ or those participating in protests’ story. It is our job to report on what we’re seeing, not skew the narrative.
Be Accountable and Transparent
Be accountable when you mess up and be transparent about the privilege you hold, especially among your peers and coworkers who are POC.
We have to own up to unethical practices initiated by white journalists in the past and the present while in the newsroom and on the job. It is not the job of POC to tell us how to report stories about minorities. It is also not the job of our peers who are POC to teach us. It is our job to be conscious of when we are imposing on journalists of color and communities of color. It is our job to educate ourselves and demand that education within our colleges and newsrooms change and become more inclusive. We need to give our audience the accurate news they deserve and make sure that it accurately represents them, not our idea of them. White journalists have to become conscious of how our whitewashed history impacts us and others, and how our implicit bias changes how we report the news.
Speak up when you see injustice and violence targeted at innocent Black lives. Show when police vehicles plow through peaceful protesters or when a child is maced. Question the system that journalism is built on and how it continues to be taught.
If you are still hesitating to speak up about injustice or participate in a protest for Black lives lost, then donate to an organization fighting to protect Black lives or to bail funds for protesters exercising their First Amendment Rights. It is not biased, it’s empathy.
As a white journalist taking the time to educate myself, it is also important for me to take the time to analyze the impact my own field is having on the Black Lives Matter movement. While there is so much chaos in the world due to the pandemic, fighting for human rights/lives and our own personal battles, it is a journalist’s job to share stories in an ethical, factual and transparent way. It is crucial that I approach the overall story, sources and those impacted by the story in a conscious and sensitive way. That starts with educating myself, reflecting on past mistakes and acknowledging my privilege. I hear and see your frustration with the media and the coverage of the current protests, and I know we need to do better. I know I need to do better. To journalists of color, I also see and hear your frustrations with the journalism field and I support you and promise to do better.
News and media must do better to report the truth, minimize harm, act independently without isolating ourselves from outside ideas and take accountability while being transparent.
Below are some petitions, funds and resources to look into. We encourage our readers to share any other information, petitions or funds in the comments.
Resources by State
Petitions
Raise the Degree of Derek M. Chauvin
Minneapolis Police Officers to be charged for murder
Black Lives Matter, Coronavirus: Demand More From the Government
Black Lives Matter, Demand Racial Data on Coronavirus
Places to donate
Official Gianna Floyd Fund (George Floyd’s child)
Official George Floyd Memorial Fund
Resources
National Police Accountability Project
Ethical Ground Rules for Handling Sources
If you’re planning to protest, know your rights
Tear Gas Effects: symptoms, treatments
What to do if you get hit by a rubber bullet
Black Emotional and Mental Health
On-campus resources
WWU Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Education
“When They See Us,”– series
“1619”– podcast
“White Fragility”– book
“So you want to talk about race,” – book
“White Rage,” – book
“The New Jim Crow,”– book
“Between the World and Me,”– book
“Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race,”– book
“An Anti-Racism Reading Guide for Bookish Allies,” – list of books