Racism in the Media: Hurricane Katrina
Coleman, R. 2003, "Race and ethical reasoning: The importance of race to journalistic decision making", Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, vol. 80, no. 2, pp. 295-310.
The author, Renita Coleman, is an Associate Professor at the University of Texas' School of Journalism with a B.A., M.S. and Ph.D. in Journalism (Coleman, R. 2012). Her academic achievements assures credibility in regards to the importance of ethical reasoning to journalistic decision making. In the article, Coleman gives possible explanations behind ethical reasoning, focusing principally on the prejudice against African Americans. Citing the schema theory as the main reason behind race perceptions, the article describes an experiment conducted in which participants were judged on their ethical reasoning (Coleman, R. 2003). Coleman's hypothesis revolves around the theory that a journalist's racial schemes will lead them to make poorer ethical decisions when African Americans are involved, as opposed to Caucasians. The participants, made up of journalist majors at a prominent university, were to judge whether a photo should be released based on content and social issues presented. The race of the subjects in the photographs were altered using technology in order to test Coleman's hypothesis (Coleman, R. 2003). The results were displayed in a table format at the conclusion of the article. Coleman deducted that the study supported her hypothesis as participants showed lower standards of ethical reasoning when the subjects were African American.
Solnit, R. 2009. Four years on, Katrina remains cursed by rumour, cliche, lies and racism, The Guardian. Retrieved from: <http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/aug/26/katrina-racism-us-media>
Rebecca Solnit, the writer of this article, has published 13 non-fiction books and prides herself in being an activist and cultural historian. As an editor for Harper's and a frequent writer for political website Tomdispatch.com, Solnit has gained a reputation as hard and just and was named a 'visionary' by Utne Reader Magazine (Solnit, R. 2012). She opens the article with the current racial issue surrounding President Barack Obama's birthplace, but quickly moves on to the issue of racism during Hurricane Katrina in 2005. She describes the racist representation of African American in the media, giving the example that they were often presented as criminals (Solnit, R. 2009). Solnit then goes on to describe the impact this media representation had on the worldwide perception of New Orleans, explaining that it was seen as a prison city and hostile land. This leads us to believe that a lower level of ethical reasoning was used in the writing of this article. The main point expressed throughout the article is that Hurricane Katrina transitioned into a social catastrophe as bad decisions were made by the people in power and rumours were spread by the media. After quick examples of racial prosecution and a summary of the violence during the hurricane (Solnit, R. 2009), Solnit concludes the piece with warnings of natural disasters to come and a question as to how man will act when those storms come.
Jones, V. 2005. Black People "Loot" Food … White People "Find" Food. Huffington Post. Retrieved from: <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/van-jones/black-people-loot-food-wh_b_6614.html>
The author of this short article, Van Jones, has been named by Times Magazine as one of the top 100 influential people in the world. He is the founding president of Rebuild the Dream, as well as being the co-founder of three other successful organizations, including the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights (Jones, V. 2012). These attribute lead him to be a very credible source. Jones begins by stating that Hurricane Katrina has brought out the worst in the media, referring to black people being presented as looters as an example. He compares the way the media has portrayed white people as opposed to black people, specifically saying that white people are seen in a more positive light and displayed as "survivors" whereas black people, who have a very negative image, are branded "criminals" (Jones, V. 2005). The main focus of the article revolves around two separate pictures from yahoo.com with similar actions being presented. One photo, showing white people, is positive, while the other, the focus of this picture being black people, is negative. These photos are a clear example of poor ethical reasoning in relation to race. In his conclusion, he links the bias of these representations to the reason why countries are often divided (Jones, V. 2005).
Rubio, T. 2005. Katrina Uncovers: Activism, Racism and Environmental Justice. National Radio Project. Retrieved from: <http://www.radioproject.org/2005/09/katrina-uncovers-activism-racism-and-environmental-justice/>
International Media Project, the organization behind this radio broadcast, is known for its commitment to journalistic investigation and in-depth analysis. They have been recognized as excellent journalists around the world and have received many different awards for this reason (Law, P. 2012). This leads them to be a credible source for information and a positive light in the media industry. The 29-minute segment starts with a description of the situation in New Orleans after the hurricane, in particular the mistreatment of survivors by the people in power. The first person interviewed in Van Jones, founder of the Ella Baker Center, who expresses his hope for immediate charitable and political action. He discusses human contact and briefly touches on the subject of ethnic groups in the area (Rubio, T. 2005). The second interviewee, Curtis Muhammad, the Director for Community Labor United, briefly discusses plans on redeveloping the city before delving into the topic of racism at 15:54. He expresses anger towards the government and their lack of support, using the comparison of the World Trade Center, and the immediate aid they received, to boost his argument (Rubio, T. 2005). The last speaker, Dr Craig Colten, is a professor at Louisiana State University. He discusses environmental justice and the rebuilding of New Orleans before presenting his concerns for the misconceptions in media coverage in regards to Hurricane Katrina at 24:40. He cites the notion that certain ethnic groups are unwilling to move as incorrect and states that other ethnic groups, giving the examples of Asians and Hispanics, have been ignored by the media throughout the ordeal (Rubio, T. 2005). The prejudice presented by the media in this fashion leads us to believe a lower level of ethical reasoning was used on people of these races. To conclude the piece, the song "George Bush doesn't care about black people" by The Legendary K.O. is played.
Reference List:
- Coleman, R. 2003, "Race and ethical reasoning: The importance of race to journalistic decision making", Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, vol. 80, no. 2, pp. 295-310.
- Coleman, R. 2012, Renita Coleman,
School of Journalism, The University of Texas at Austin. Retrieved
from: <http://journalism.utexas.edu/faculty/renita-coleman>
- Jones, V. 2005. Black People "Loot" Food … White People "Find" Food. Huffington Post. Retrieved from: <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/van-jones/black-people-loot-food-wh_b_6614.html>
- Jones, V. 2012. Van Jones. Huffington Post. Retrieved from: <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/van-jones>
- Law, P. 2012. About Us, National Radio Project. Retrieved from: <http://www.radioproject.org/aboutus/>
- Rubio, T. 2005. Katrina Uncovers: Activism, Racism and Environmental Justice. National Radio Project. Retrieved from: <http://www.radioproject.org/2005/09/katrina-uncovers-activism-racism-and-environmental-justice/>
- Solnit, R. 2012. Bio, Rebecca Solnit. Retrieved from: <http://www.rebeccasolnit.com/bio>
- Solnit, R. 2009. Four years on, Katrina remains cursed by rumour, cliche, lies and racism, The Guardian. Retrieved from: <http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/aug/26/katrina-racism-us-media>
