Police Prejudice and Racism Essay

Within Joyce Nelson’s essay, “TV News: A Structure of Reassurance”, Nelson criticizes the TV news structure that perpetually disconnects current events from their historical background through comforting anchorpeople partnered with advanced technology to create a TV program that minimizes the important implications of current events. Though lacking the amount of information that a print news publication can maintain, the TV news can convey immediate information through technological advances of modern TV equipment to allow the medium to remain competitive. The façade of in-the-moment international information broadcasted directly to viewers enables anchorpeople to maintain the feeling of immediateness, keeping the viewers believing the program

While the media might not directly contribute to discrimination, the media is undoubtedly a significant aspect of modern day society that influences how people think about racial issues (Royce, 2009, p. 1, 17). Many people claim that racism no longer exists; however, the minorities’ struggle with injustice is ubiquitous. Whites are attempting to keep blacks and other minority families locked into an impoverished political and economic position by using various tactics to isolate them, such as mass incarceration that stems from the War on Drugs. The New Jim Crow helps us in seeing how history is repeating itself and how to legalized discrimination among the blacks and Hispanics by implementing the mass incarceration.

One night in April 1998, two New Jersey state troopers pulled over a van containing three black men and one Hispanic man, all in their early twenties and all unarmed. During the stop, the van began to roll backwards. Although the van's driver would later claim that he put the vehicle into reverse by accident, the troopers believed he was attempting to intentionally back over one of them. In response, the troopers—both white males—fired 11 shots at the van, hitting three of the men inside, one of whom was severely wounded. Many African Americans and Latino face racist police officers. Not much they can do about it either besides sit there and take it. The topic of racism in police officers has deep history to consider, and there will always be both supporters and critics who continue to debate this topic.

Media tends to cover police racial profiling although they have failed to recognize their own practice of media racial profiling. Racial profiles projected are indirectly related to punitive public policies giving the mainstream news media the 'out' of deniability (Eisenstein and Jacob 30). Media tends to over-represent the number of black people in the issue and becomes black stigmatized and is further racialized (Eisenstein and Jacob 30). A study was done by Physician Leadership on National Drug Policy. It showed drug addicts are not primarily members of minority racial and ethnic groups and Caucasians are more likely to be addicted (Graham 62). These findings were never covered by Time, U.S. News and World Report, and Newsweek. News media plays a major role in promoting racial stereotypes.

Media bias is displayed repeatedly in news coverage of black tragedies and in the persecution of black bodies. From protest following the non indictments of cop killing unarmed black men to the uninformed persecution of the BlackLivesMatter movement, mainstream media is constantly standing in opposition to anything that threatens the status quo. My five articles assessed said media bias, and if that bias whether negative or positive affected the African-American community.

"There were two cops. One said 'You niggers have to learn to respect police officers.' The other one said, 'If you yell or make any noise, I will kill you.' Then one held me and the other shoved the plunger up my behind. He pulled it out, shoved it in my mouth, broke my teeth and said, 'That's your *censored*, nigger.'"(Abner Louima) The police officers that allegedly performed this act of racial violence on August 9, 1997 had no reason to brutally beat and sodomize Abner Louima. They beat him for the fact that he was an African-American. I will show how I researched a poem by Maya Angelou and how racism occurred in "The Bluest Eye". First, we need to understand what racism is.

In chapter two, Wattenberg discusses television broadcasting and its impact with news networks such as NBC, CBS, and ABC. He quotes a 1972 study by Patterson and McClure in which they believed that although broadcasting allowed for Americans to see the campaign, it did not help teach voters anything of importance (32). TV news has become increasingly directed towards the elderly, with young people elsewhere or watching something else when politics are broadcasted (33). He illustrates this point with an example of the types of commercials aired for medications that while are suited for any age group, they are remedies for maladies or health concerns that older generations experience more than younger ones. Today, there are multitudes of television channels available for specific topics such as sports and music rather than the general topics the original major networks broadcasted, making it easier for young people to avoid the political events that once captivated the attention of Americans in previous generations. One study found that 21% of respondents under 30 years of age learned about the Presidential campaign or candidates from a comedy show instead of from newscasts (40). Although some find information indirectly through entertainment TV, a 2004 survey proved that 7% of respondents who followed the campaign closely enjoyed it and were familiar with facts heavily relied on cable news channels as a source of information, proving that if

In the late 1950s and into the 1960s responsibility played a large role in how news was distributed. Three television networks, ABC, CBS, and NBC, were among the outlets with formally trained news anchors who brought forth a sense of unity in the country. But, as the years progressed and people began to develop special interests, the ways news was relayed transformed (Turow, 1997, p. 40).

The popularity of television developed in the 1950’s, but the power of television as a medium secured its place in the 1960’s. This is demonstrated statistically in a Roper research poll aimed to investigate American television habits and related attitudes (Small 12). Adult participants were asked how they received most of their news about world current events and were then given options including television, newspapers, magazines or radio. In 1959, 57% identified newspapers over television; by 1969, television had taken the lead as the preferred source as stated by 64% of individuals (13). Participants were also asked which source they would be more inclined to believe if they experienced conflicting reports of the same news story. In the 1959 poll, the results showed television slightly behind newspapers, but the 1969 responses showed an increase of 44% choosing television as a more trusted source over 21% identifying newspapers. Again, the enchantment with television was revealed when more than half of the respondents identified TV as the option most likely to keep if forced to choose between the four previously mentioned mediums (13). The changes exhibited over a decade reveal the public’s budding dependence on television broadcast news.

Prior to the invention of the television, people rely on a limited number sources to draw conclusions. However, after the creation of the television, people were more connected to politics. As Source A states, “ The televising of important congressional hearings, the national nominating conventions, and most recently the

According to research obtained by Cornell University scientists, 92% of Americans watch TV, 87% read newspapers, and 81% specifically watch local or national televised news stations…

According to the book Celebrity Politics, approximately 10 percent of Americans get national political news from nightly entertainment shows such as the Tonight Show. For Americans under 30, the number is nearly five times as many (Orman and West 100). Citizens are looking to be entertained rather than simply educated by the nightly news. As David Schultz aptly put it, “ The new media cover politics, but only politics as it entertains, in part, because the audience the new media attract is a less politically interested audience than traditional news audiences” (20). The fact is that this American audience is less interested in hard news and more interested in

The uniform worn by a police officer often psychologically embodies each individual’s stereotype about the officer’s authority, status, and motivations. In this formal paper, will explore the cause of the negative perceptions that Canadian minorities have on police uniforms.

In my review of two local newspapers, I found that there were both similarities and differences in the types of stories that were included. Many of the differences between these two newspapers could be attributed to the fact that the first paper, the Southern Illinoisan, is a more rural newspaper while the other, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, is a more metropolitan newspaper. There is also an interesting correlation between the types of reporting styles and the areas of news coverage. Overall, while there are similarities between the two papers, the biggest differences appear to be location related.

With the introduction of the internet news consumption and peoples news consumption has changed significantly, as well as the way in which news organizations provide content to the public. The author of this study seeks to investigate the consumption methods of individuals, and compare the rate at which news is collected through the traditional print-based medium, and also the new online format. In order to do this they use the incredibly popular CNN.com as well as www.nytimes.com and their print-based counter parts to investigate determinants of international news reporting.