Jack Demmler
jd050918@ohio.edu
As a student of journalism, I have learned an important role of journalists is to give a voice to the voiceless. Journalists are tasked with sharing truth and sharing the public's stories. However, it seems there is a discrepancy among whose story gets told and how it is told.
For example, in the article "'Lone Wolf' or 'terrorist'? How Bias can Shape News Coverage," Indira A.R. Lakshmanan talks about the massacre in Las Vegas. One of the important aspects of the report was that it was labeled as a "mass shooting" rather than "domestic terrorism." The way in which this tragedy is reported brings up a huge discrepancy in reporting. Lakshmanan describes that "When a Muslim person mows down innocent victims and terrorizes a community, media and authorities are quick to declare it terrorism; when a white, non-Muslim attacker does the same, the attacker is described as a disturbed loner in a freak incident."
The example provided by Lakshmanan is one example of a much bigger issue: the lack of diversity in news coverage. Two important areas where news coverage differs is in gender and race.
According to Margaretha Geertsema-Sligh's article, Gender Issues in News Coverage, "Scholars argue news media ignore, ridicule, and trivialize women." The article discusses many studies that expressed how the news media tends to include men more than women. An important statistical studies point out is that most of the news coverage have men as the subject.
Race is another important factor that illustrates a lack of diversity in coverage. According to the article Race and Local Television News Crime Coverage, "In American mass media, African-Americans have been portrayed stereotypically." One of the most common stereotypes the mass media portrays is that minorities are criminals and they emphasize conflict. It is rare to see media coverage of minority groups participating in everyday community life activities. The media presents two extremes of minority groups: celebrities/public figures or criminals, there is no in between.
A possible explanation for the lack of diversity in news coverage comes from the lack of diversity in staffing. A majority of journalists are white men. This plays a major role in what stories get told and how they get told.
A major issue with the lack of diversity in both staffing and coverage is that many important, newsworthy stories get overlooked or are not 100% truthful.
While it may be true that news has grown increasingly diverse over the years, diversity in staffing and in coverage remains a crucial issue in the journalism industry.
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