Multicultural Journalism: Critical Reflexivity in News Practice [1 ed.] 9781138066403, 9781138066427, 9781315159171

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MULTICULTURAL JOURNALISM

This book introduces a more collaborative and refexive way of producing news that incorporates concepts of cultural identity and cultural positioning of both journalists and sources using a feminist approach to inclusion of all voices and perspectives. This text proposes a feminist collaborative model of journalism that incorporates critical refexivity, requiring journalists not only to be aware of their own cultural positionality but also that of their sources, as a means of producing more authentic and balanced news coverage. The model is intended for use by journalists as well as journalism education programs to educate future journalists on how to efectively serve audiences with scrupulously investigated, reported, and crafted stories. Chapters explore journalism during the Obama and Trump years, current journalistic trends, and alternative media, and feature topics such as fake news, racism, sexism in news  production and content, and immigration and media. Thompson addresses issues of power and privilege amongst journalists and marginalized groups, and how these implicate power dynamics of journalism practice and reinforce social inequality, particularly relating to race and gender. This book is ideal for advanced undergraduate and graduate students of journalism and media studies, as well as scholars, journalists, and media practitioners. Margaret E. Thompson is Professor Emerita of Multicultural and Global Journalism & Media at the University of Denver, USA. She has also worked as an independent feminist journalist and photojournalist with FIRE – Feminist International Radio Endeavour (Radio Internacional Feminista), located in Costa Rica and produced by Latin American and Caribbean women in Spanish and English. During her time with FIRE, she attended UN conferences and women’s international, regional, and national conferences, providing a channel to amplify women’s voices on all issues.

MULTICULTURAL JOURNALISM Critical Refexivity in News Practice

Margaret E. Thompson

Designed cover image: ivanastar/Getty Images First published 2024 by Routledge 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158 and by Routledge 4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2024 Margaret E. Thompson The right of Margaret E. Thompson to be identifed as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identifcation and explanation without intent to infringe. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Thompson, Margaret E., 1955– author. Title: Multicultural journalism : critical refexivity in news practice / Margaret E. Thompson. Description: New York, NY : Routledge, 2024. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifers: LCCN 2023037743 (print) | LCCN 2023037744 (ebook) | ISBN 9781138066403 (hardback) | ISBN 9781138066427 (paperback) | ISBN 9781315159171 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Journalism—Social aspects—United States. | Multiculturalism. Classifcation: LCC PN4888.S6 T46 2024 (print) | LCC PN4888.S6 (ebook) | DDC 302.230973—dc23/eng/20231106 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2023037743 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2023037744 ISBN: 978-1-138-06640-3 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-138-06642-7 (pbk) ISBN: 978-1-315-15917-1 (ebk) DOI: 10.4324/9781315159171 Typeset in Sabon by Apex CoVantage, LLC

CONTENTS

Preface Acknowledgements Figures 1

Introduction to Multicultural Journalism Introduction 1 Themes of the Book 3 Theoretical Framework 5 Authorial Refexivity 5 Overview of Chapters 6 Chapter 2: The Obama and Trump Years— The Resuscitation of Racism, Sexism, and White Nationalism 6 Chapter 3: Interrogating Journalistic Practices, Part 1—Historical Perspectives on Race 6 Chapter 4: Interrogating Journalistic Practices, Part 2—Historical Perspectives on Gendered News Practices 7 Chapter 5: Journalistic “Ideals” and Practices 7 Chapter 6: Current Journalism Trends—Racism and Sexism 7 Chapter 7: Alternative Journalism and “Ethnic” Media 7 Chapter 8: The Feminist Refexive Model of Journalism 7 Chapter 9: Pedagogical Implications and Conclusions 8

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Note 8 References 8 2

The Obama and Trump Years: The Resuscitation of Racism, Sexism, and White Nationalism

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Introduction 10 Barack Obama and the Era of “Color-Blind Racism” 10 “Post-Racism” or “Color-Blind Racism” 12 The Rise of Black Lives Matter (BLM) 15 Media coverage of the BLM Movement 16 The Election of Donald Trump 17 Controversial Leadership Style 18 Policies Refect Racism and Sexism 19 Rise in Hate Groups and Hate Crimes 21 Governing via Twitter 22 Journalists Struggle to Cover Trump 23 Fox News as Trump’s Private Megaphone 24 Profts Roll in for Corporate Mainstream Media 25 Trump’s Hostility and Attacks on the Press 26 Fake News 27 The “Trump Efect” 28 Conclusion 29 References 29 3

Interrogating Journalistic Practices, Part 1: Historical Perspectives on Race Introduction 38 What is History? 39 The Historical Roots of Journalism 40 Positivism and the Social Sciences 40 Feminist Critiques of Science 40 Economic Structures and the Proft Motive 42 Media and Manifest Destiny 43 Gender Ideologies and Manifest Destiny 47 “True Womanhood” Social Norms 47 Media’s Role in Perpetuating Early America’s Economic Engine: Slavery 48 White Supremacist Media Narratives of the Reconstruction Era . . . and Beyond 53 Racial Terror: Lynching 55

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The Fearless Spirits: Ida B. Wells and Rosa Parks 55 Racial Bias in Media: The Tulsa Massacre of 1921 58 Xenophobia and the “Yellow Peril” 60 Conclusion 63 Note 64 References 64 4

Interrogating Journalistic Practices, Part 2: Historical Perspectives on Gendered News Practices

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Gendered History of Journalism 70 Early Women Journalists 70 Women Journalists Confned to Women’s Pages 71 Nellie Bly and Early Investigative Journalism by “Girl Stunt Reporters” 72 Advertising Creates Stereotype of Women as “Ideal” Consumers 74 Women Journalists’ Continued Battle for Respect in Male Turf of the Newsroom 75 Erasure of Black Women’s Activism by Press 76 Media and the Second-Wave Feminist Movement 77 Women Join the Workforce in World War II 77 The Feminine Mystique 78 Push for Gender Equality 79 Tension Between Mainstream Media and Feminist Movement 81 Liberal vs. Radical Feminism and the Media 82 Post-Feminism and Feminist Backlash 83 White Feminism 84 Note 85 References 85 5

Journalistic “Ideals” and Practices Introduction 89 The Impact of Industrialization 89 Emergence of Journalism as a Profession and Professional Identities 90 Journalistic Ideals: Objectivity, Fairness, and Balance 92 Objectivity 92

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A Farewell to Objectivity? 93 The Construction of Knowledge 95 Preserving Ideologies and Power 96 Fairness and Balance 97 “Bothsiderism” 97 Newsworthiness and News Values 99 Newsworthiness 99 News Values 100 Gatekeeping 101 Framing and Agenda Setting 102 Episodic and Thematic Framing 103 Political Framing and Agenda Setting 104 Example: Framing and Agenda Setting with Mass Shootings 105 Gendered Framing and Agenda Setting 106 Sources and Interviews 107 Beats 109 Power Dynamics of Interviews: Avowed and Ascribed Identities 110 Conclusion 113 Notes 113 References 114 6

Current Journalism Trends: Racism and Sexism Introduction 123 Changes in Journalism as a Profession 124 Mainstream Media Use 124 Media Trust 125 Media Monopolization 126 Vulture Capitalism 128 Racism in News as Contradictory: New White Nationalism and Color Blindness 129 Is Neutrality Skin Deep? 130 Amplifying Voices 131 Framing Race in News Coverage 132 Immigration and Media 134 Upsurge in White Nationalism and White Rage 136 Anti-Critical Race Theory Campaign: Fighting Against a “Monstrous Evil” 138

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Patriarchy, Sexism, and Misogyny in News and News Culture 139 “Missing White Woman Syndrome” 141 Gender, Race, and Media in Coverage of the 2016 Rio Olympics 142 #MeToo Movement 144 Sexual Harassment and Abuse of Women Journalists 145 Feminism: The “F” Word as a Commodity 146 Women and Politics 147 Conclusion 149 References 149 7

Alternative Journalism and “Ethnic” Media Introduction 161 What is “Alternative” Media and Journalism? 162 History of Alternative Media 164 “Activist Media” 164 Left Wing vs. Right Wing 165 Characteristics of Alternative Journalism 167 Confronting Media Power, Hegemony, and Representations of Social Reality 167 Developing Alternative Journalism Epistemologies 168 Rejecting or Reformulating Objectivity 169 Expanding the Range of Topics 169 Inclusion of a Wider Range of Sources 169 Reconfguring the Relationship Between Journalist and Sources 171 A Challenge to Mainstream Conceptualization of Professionalism 172 Case Study: Media Coverage of the #NoDAPL Protests 173 White Patriarchy in Alternative Media 176 Digital Media’s Role 176 Ethnic Media and Journalism 177 Brief History of Ethnic Media 178 Conclusion 181 Note 182 References 182

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The Feminist Refexive Model of Journalism

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Introduction 188 Interview with “Lorena” 189 Feminist Refexive Model: The Key Components 190 Sharing the Power of the Microphone 191 Agency 192 Voice 193 Seeking Self-Awareness Through Understanding Cultural Identities and Positionalities 195 Avowed and Ascribed Identities 196 Listening 198 Storytelling as a Means of Engagement and Empowerment 200 Witnessing 201 Witnessing Through Citizen Journalism 202 FIRE—“You are our eyes and ears to the world” 203 An Example of a More Refexive Approach Designed to Amplify Unheard Voices 204 Avoiding Stereotypes 205 Expanding the Choice of Sources 206 Topics and Framing 206 Conclusion 208 Note 208 References 209 9

Pedagogical Implications and Conclusions

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Challenges to Incorporating Critical Refexivity in Mainstream Journalism 215 Revision of Journalism Pedagogy 217 Adoption of Feminist Pedagogy and Epistemology 218 Concluding Remarks 222 Note 223 References 223 Index

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PREFACE

Despite decades of pledges, manifestos, and diversity training and workshops, representation of Blacks, indigenous, and other people of color (BIPOC) as well as women in U.S. mainstream newsrooms and news content remains imbalanced and replete with distortions and stereotypes. The reasons why are complex, embedded in the historical roots of journalism and socioeconomic evolution. Much bias regarding underrepresentation of BIPOC, perhaps, is unintentional, based on the implicit racism, White supremacy, and patriarchy that infltrates socialization, training, media, and much of society. Consider, for example, that about 77 percent of journalists are White1 and 61 percent are male (Grieco, 2018), which means that news stories are often told through a White male lens. Added to this is a nexus of issues that has created a crisis in journalism, including outdated business models and purchases of media organizations by vulture capitalists, which often means that profts dominate news practices and production decisions. Based on a critical race and feminist critical media theoretical framework, this examination of the historical roots of journalism in industrialization and social sciences assumptions illustrates the evolution of corporate media. I propose a feminist collaborative model of journalism that incorporates critical refexivity with awareness of cultural positionality, including avowed and ascribed identities of journalists and those they interview as a means of producing more authentic and balanced news coverage. My model is intended for use by journalists, but also by journalism education programs, as a path to the complete integration of multicultural journalism into all journalism study rather than holding it segregated, often as

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an elective within the study of journalism. This integration, I argue, is essential, to educate our future journalists how to do their job efectively, to conduct the mission of journalism by serving audiences with scrupulously investigated, reported, and crafted stories founded on inclusion of all voices and perspectives using a feminist perspective. My 15 years as a journalist with the Feminist International Radio Endeavour or Radio Internacional Feminista (FIRE) taught me many things about power, imperialism, and the multiple issues faced by marginalized groups, including women, particularly in developing countries in Central America but also all over the world. It taught me about the U.S. role in creating and perpetuating many such problems. Most importantly, I learned how crucial it is to amplify the voices of women, particularly those from BIPOC communities, because, no matter the obstacles faced by women, they always have strategies of survival. Others may see them as victims, but they are survivors with experiences and ideas for solutions to many problems. At FIRE radio, we produced the stories of survival and solutions that the world needs to hear. I was honored to be able to travel the world with FIRE radio, interviewing women from multiple countries, cultures, and contexts at U.N. conferences, international and national women’s conferences, and political and social movement rallies and other events. I learned about their lives through their stories, but most importantly I learned the critical importance of being aware of my own positionality, cultural identity, and knowledge in any context, well aware that these would shape my way of seeing the world, the selection of the women I interviewed, and the questions I asked. This is cultural refexivity, a concept I develop throughout this book. What this Book Is and What it Is Not

My focus on building my feminist collaborative model of journalism is on race and racism in journalism, with most examples about Blacks because this group has been the topic of most of the research on race and media, but other races and ethnicities are included here as well. I focus also on women, and particularly women of color, but I do not include LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning, and many other terms) issues, because that is a topic requiring another book. My hope is that the book will generate discussions in classrooms and newsrooms about the problematics of race and gender representation in news. I also hope it will encourage journalists to rethink how they frame these issues as well as the role of critical refexivity in their work – that is, how they must become more aware of the ways in which their cultural

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identities and experiences shape their reporting and writing and also how these factors shape sources’ perceptions of journalists and the way they answer questions in interviews. Ultimately, I hope that increased refexivity will provide audiences with greater awareness of racial and gender issues in their world,  and of the importance of all races and ethnicities and all genders and gender identities to work together to promote social change. Note 1 Although controversial, I decided to use the protocol of the Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP) and capitalize the word “White” when referring to people ~ who are racialized as such in the United States. As noted by Nguyên and Pendleton (2020, para. 6), “to not name ‘White’ as a race is, in fact, an anti-Black act which frames Whiteness as both neutral and the standard” and enables Whites to step out of conversations about race.

References Grieco, E. (2018, November 2). Newsroom employees are less diverse than U.S. workers overall. Pew Research Center. www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/ 11/02/newsroom-employees-are-less-diverse-than-u-s-workers-overall/ Nguyê˜n, A. T., & Pendleton, M. (2020, March 23). Recognizing race in language: Why we capitalize “Black” and “White.” Center for the Study of Social Policy. https://cssp.org/2020/03/recognizing-race-in-language-why-we-capitalize-blackand-white/

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I want to thank my dear family, friends, and colleagues, who supported me throughout the work on this book in so many ways. MaryJane Collier, Marty Patton, and Lynn Clark reviewed drafts and provided valuable feedback, but they also served as mentors for the overall process of writing a book. Monica Emerich has been instrumental as my organizational editor, helping me organize an enormous amount of research material and write. I also want to thank my Dr. Margit Cox-Henderson for her ongoing guidance and support, through sharing her wisdom and her own writing experiences. I also extend my heartfelt thanks to my editors at Routledge, Sheni Kruger and Rhona Carroll, and my editorial assistants, Emma Sherrif and Grace Kennedy, all of whom have been extremely patient and supportive throughout this process. I owe an enormous debt of gratitude to the feminist journalists of FIRE radio, particularly María Suárez Toro (of Puerto Rico/Costa Rica) and Katerina Anfossi Gómez (of Chile/Costa Rica), founders and longtime directors of FIRE radio. I have long admired their creative energy and enduring commitment to the objectives of their work in the face of social and political resistance. Well aware of being a White “gringa” from the United States, I learned humility, cultural sensitivity, and the importance of power dynamics and critical refexivity. I also want to thank Jeanette Vizguerra, a longtime immigration-rights activist and brilliant community organizer who also happens to be undocumented. Through her friendship and many hours of interviews, I have learned much about feminist power dynamics, including the importance of listening to the voices of those directly afected by issues and centering news from these standpoints.

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In addition, I am grateful to my colleagues and chairpersons in the Department of Media, Film & Journalism Studies at the University of Denver, who supported me in my travels and journalistic work with FIRE radio in Costa Rica as well as my work throughout Latin America and beyond. Also, thanks to the DU Ofce of Internationalization and the College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences, which provided me with funding for my research, journalism and photography work, and travel. I am truly thankful to my students who joined me in my journey in creating and teaching courses related to multicultural and global communication and media, learning how to generate critical and constructive discussions about race, ethnicity, gender and gender identities, sexuality, class, dis/abilities, and other issues. They listened to my many stories of FIRE radio with examples of these issues. My three sisters were saints, cheering me along with the ups and downs through encouragement, love, and humor along with a number of dear friends. I am also forever grateful to my parents, who supported me and my younger sister in grade school when we decided to create a neighborhood newspaper to sell for 10 cents to buy horse statues for our Horse Club (to honor our horses). Along with two friends, we spent hours pounding away with one fnger on an old manual typewriter with fve sheets of carbon paper and had to put Band-Aids® on our fngers to continue. Always in my heart and mind is my mother, who was an early feminist and women’s education professor, as well as my original writing teacher and editor for papers for school, staying up for hours as I discovered my passion for research and writing. My father encouraged me to further develop that passion in college by writing press releases and news articles for his work as a longtime progressive state senator in Wisconsin.

FIGURES

3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5

3.6 3.7 4.1 4.2 4.3

4.4

An advertisement and headline refect the arrogance and hatred of White settlers toward Native Americans. “Auction & Negro Sales.” 1923 newspaper ad for Aunt Jemima’s pancake four. Ida B. Wells, investigative journalist, educator, and early civil rights activist, c. 1893. Rosa Parks being fngerprinted by Deputy Sherif D.H. Lackey after being arrested on February 22, 1956, during the Montgomery bus boycott. Tulsa Race Massacre headline, The Boston Daily Globe, June 2, 1921. Forced evacuees of Japanese ancestry in Los Angeles, Calfornia, 1942. Miriam Michelson, novelist, journalist, and sufragist (1870–1942). Elizabeth Cochrane “Nellie Bly,” nationally signifcant journalist, and investigator, 1890. “Round the World with Nellie Bly.” Nellie Bly’s trip around the world attracted worldwide media attention, and even the creation of a children’s game, c. 1890. Rally for the Equal Rights Amendment in Springfeld, Illinois, May 16, 1976.

44 49 52 56

57 59 61 71 73

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1 INTRODUCTION TO MULTICULTURAL JOURNALISM

Introduction

Several high-profle stories of sexual assault and rape on U.S. colleges generated heated debate about how campuses should deal with these issues and how they should be covered by the media. Two particularly notable cases, one at Stanford and another at Duke, focused on the (alleged) male perpetrators rather than on the female survivors. In both cases, the men involved were successful White athletes: a swimmer at Stanford and three lacrosse players at Duke. They were presented as maligned victims of unfair charges and, further, as victims whose reputations and futures were threatened should they be convicted. News coverage of the female survivors (one Black, one White) revealed stark diferences by race and class (Appiah, 2020). In the Duke case, the Black survivor was Crystal Mangum, a female dancer and Duke student hired by the Duke lacrosse team, who became “hypervisible as a vilifed object and invisible as a credible subject” (Phillips & Grifn, 2015, p. 360). The sensationalist media coverage framed the story of the accused White men as victims and dehumanized Mangum by focusing on her morality and body and by silencing her voice. By invoking negative stereotypes of Black women as gold diggers, jezebels, and liars, the coverage served to discredit her claims of sexual violence. The charges against the three White lacrosse players were dismissed. Phillips and Grifn (2015) note that the result was a pedagogical message to Black women survivors that their voices don’t matter, so they should keep silent about sexual violence, regardless of their guilt or innocence. DOI: 10.4324/9781315159171-1

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In the Stanford case, the White woman survivor remained invisible in news coverage (referred to as “Emily Doe”) until she stepped forward to read a powerful and poignant statement during the trial. She described the horror of reading about the details of the attack in the press (she couldn’t remember the attack herself), condemning her treatment by the criminal justice system with its victim blaming and the manipulation of her statements, and she denounced the perpetrator for blaming the sexual assault on alcohol intoxication and for not taking any personal responsibility (Stack, 2016). The judge ignored the survivor’s statement and sentenced the perpetrator to just six months in prison, out of concern for his welfare, despite his conviction on three felony charges (Fimrite, 2016). The Duke and Stanford cases raise important questions about journalistic processes for framing the news: • Who is in the newsroom and what are their training, agency, and motives? • How are stories selected and covered? • How do patterns of stories become self-perpetuating? • How do established narrative patterns shape public perspectives, norms, and policies? These are the questions of focus throughout this book. The Stanford and Duke cases raise damning questions about the manner in which U.S. news stories are racialized and gendered. Most importantly, they raise questions about power dynamics and implicit processes, in and out of the newsroom, that serve to shape mainstream media as predominantly White and male (Alamo-Pastrana & Hoynes, 2020). News organizations play a critical role in covering racial issues, but balanced coverage and inclusion of Black, Indigenous, and other people of color (BIPOC) and of women—particularly women of color—have long eluded the corporate news industry. Although there have been big improvements in the industry, much of the media coverage of BIPOC and of women continues to frame communities as “the Other” in subtle and not-so-subtle ways, with distortions, imbalances, and reinforcement of stereotypes (Campbell et al., 2012; González & Torres, 2011). The reasons for this involve a complex entanglement of issues of power, values, economics, ideologies, identities, and journalistic practices, which, of course, refect all these greater trends in microcosm. The solution to generating more balanced media coverage requires going beyond the demographics of newsrooms, which persist as predominantly White and male; it requires going beyond simply adding a special section to the newspaper or

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magazine, for example, devoted to “Latinx issues” or providing substantial coverage of the Martin Luther King holiday. It requires looking at how and why the power dynamics of U.S. news-gathering practices and ideologies continue to perpetuate White supremacy and White and male privilege as the norms. Given the economic and political dominance of mainstream media in the United States, outright rejection of the entire system is impractical, but it’s important to acknowledge the limitations of the explicit and implicit cultural practices in those institutions as well as the alleged “objective” norms of professional journalism and institutional dynamics that shape the field (Alamo-Pastrana & Hoynes, 2020). Journalism as a profession has changed dramatically in recent years, particularly with the rapid development of technologies and digital media. That said, the professional ideology and logic of journalism control have changed far less, and these include: objectivity and accuracy ideals; the ways in which “newsworthiness” is defned; the processes involved in getting “both sides of the story”; and the use of ofcial sources (primarily government and corporate officials) (Alamo-Pastrana & Hoynes, 2020; Deuze, 2005; Lewis et al., 2014). In an era when the entire news industry is in crisis, the solution is not to reject all professional journalistic truth-seeking norms and practices but, rather, to accept a humble recognition of the partiality of all news accounts and to actively search for inclusion of previously missing voices and points of view.  This book proposes one way in which to achieve this—a new model of journalism practice and education. Themes of the Book

This book is focused on U.S. news and journalism, mostly on U.S. mainstream news, although I examine alternative, ethnic, and feminist news media in parts of the book because these provide a rich comparison to mainstream and one foundation on which I propose my new model. Historically, U.S. mainstream journalism and journalistic practices are rooted in systemic racism, White supremacy, and patriarchy. While a small but growing body of research critiques these power dynamics of White dominance and White privilege in traditional journalism, few studies have examined the interaction of these with patriarchy and the gendered nature of news. Doing so is one goal of this book. Missing from many critiques of racism in news are the historical roots of Whiteness and White and male privilege that shape traditional news norms and practice. The 1968 Kerner Commission report condemned the

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overwhelming Whiteness of the press as one factor in fomenting the massive civil unrest at that time in several U.S. cities, reinforcing the multitude of racial inequalities and inequities (Walker, 2018). Since that time, despite endless calls by professional news media associations and others to increase diversity in newsrooms, major imbalances remain (Grieco, 2018). The answer is not simply to change the racial and gendered proportions of media workers, but to acknowledge that the cultural practices of professional journalism and institutional forces are based on Whiteness and White privilege, and sexism and patriarchy. The historical analysis included in this book addresses how traditional journalism emerged in the late 19th and early 20th centuries from the social sciences (or positivistic objectivity paradigm), rooted in the ontological assumption that there exists a fxed reality that can be observed objectively (Sofer, 2009). The epistemology assumes that only “true” knowledge is empirical, and that a skilled observer who follows appropriate procedural news practices can describe the “facts,” without bias, to produce a single authoritative and true voice (Allan, 1998; Sofer, 2009). These ideas are explored further in Chapter 3. Two key concepts that will be explored in this book are color-blind racism and gender blindness and the ways in which they are incorporated into many news stories. Both provide a rhetorical facade that minimizes or ignores power dynamics of domination and subordination among groups and justifes inequities based on non-racial or non-gendered factors (Bonilla-Silva, 2017; Dharmapuri, 2013). It provides a way for mainstream media to avoid racial controversies by covering racism and racist incidences as unusual events, ignoring the broader context of historical factors and systems of oppression that privilege some groups over others. Likewise with sexism and misogyny, incidents are presented as individual acts and mistakes” and without context. Based on my analyses, I propose a new feminist refexive model as an alternative way of doing journalism, incorporating critical refexivity on the part of both journalists and their sources, as a way of “sharing the power of the microphone” and disrupting the traditional power dynamics of mainstream news traditions and practice. The objective of the model is to amplify grassroots voices and provide a platform for empowerment through refexive connections with sources and audience members. My feminist refexive model is based on my work with FIRE—Feminist International Radio Endeavour (Radio Internacional Feminista), an internet radio based in Costa Rica, with the objective of promoting women’s human rights and amplifying the voices of women, particularly those from Indigenous and other marginalized groups in developing countries.1

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Theoretical Framework

This book utilizes a theoretical framework that integrates critical refexivity, critical race theory, and feminist critical media theory to examine the following from a racialized and gendered perspective: • Issues of power, context, and ideology in journalism culture, professional norms, and news practices and routines. • The influence and interaction of journalists’ and sources’ cultural identities and cultural positionalities  on news reporting processes and practices. This framework enables examination of how the dominant White and male power structures and subordination of BIPOC and women have been constructed and maintained through mainstream media in the United States.  I have incorporated concepts of cultural identity and cultural positioning from work by Collier (2014) and Chen and Collier (2012). These are applied to the process of critical refexivity between journalists and their sources. Authorial Refexivity

I am a White, European American feminist critical scholar, and a journalist, photographer, and activist; I am also middle class, liberal, a lesbian, and a U.S. citizen. I have recently retired from a private Western university after 33 years of teaching, scholarship, and creative media production, focusing in particular on multicultural and global communication and media. I have worked as a feminist independent journalist and photographer for about 16 years with women’s media in Central America and the United States. I know that critical self-refexivity requires more than a description of my identity positions and that more is required to examine how these identities shape, “frame, constrain and enable research” (Collier, 2014). As a critical scholar, I am mindful of the importance of self-monitoring and holding awareness of my role and how I am seen by sources and how I see them and the outcome of the interplay between my motives and attributions. Thurlow (2011) describes his perspective on the importance of refexivity in his work: [It] represents a site of privilege in which I myself am implicated—and not as the victimized but rather the victimizer. When I travel, I am invariably a tourist. When I interact with young people, I am nowadays always adult. When I talk about women, I am unavoidably man. What matters most to me, therefore, in thinking/writing critically about

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interculturality and cultural diference is that I address myself as the problem before presuming that I might also be/have part of the solution. (p. 243) I am well aware that for me to use, for example, Critical Race Theory as part of my work in this book, I do so as a White woman scholar with privilege. I have examined my own White privilege. I have taught critical race theory and social justice issues in my university courses, served as a facilitator for anti-racism work, and know that it’s long overdue for Whites to stop turning to BIPOC to learn about racism and, rather, to inform and teach themselves. I also know that understanding my White privilege is a lifelong learning process, and I have committed myself to this path. As a White woman journalist, I am examining these issues of racism, White supremacy, sexism, and misogyny in journalism traditions and practice. I don’t pretend to know what it is to face discrimination based on race or ethnicity, so I will be examining these issues through a White lens. I do know what it’s like to face discrimination as a lesbian, however, and also as a woman, but my experiences are unique, so I cannot pretend to understand the experiences of all lesbians and all women. Overview of Chapters

The book is divided into nine chapters (including this introduction), described below. Chapter 2: The Obama and Trump Years—The Resuscitation of Racism, Sexism, and White Nationalism

Chapters 2 through 4 are based on the question “How did we arrive at this state of afairs in journalism?” as a starting point for an historical examination of issues related to this book. Chapter 2 begins with the presidencies of Obama and Trump, which are very critical to the shifts in the current journalism. This more “current” view to the feld sets the stage for better understanding the deeper history of journalism’s evolution addressed in the next two chapters. Chapter 3: Interrogating Journalistic Practices, Part 1—Historical Perspectives on Race

Chapter 3 provides an historical overview and critique of the evolution of traditional values and practices in journalism, examining how they are rooted in Whiteness and White supremacy.

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Chapter 4: Interrogating Journalistic Practices, Part 2—Historical Perspectives on Gendered News Practices

Sexism and misogyny have continued to shape the news in reinforcing racial and gender ideologies through contemporary times. In this chapter, we examine the roots of those gendered practices. Chapter 5: Journalistic “Ideals” and Practices

When we understand the history and evolution of journalism as a feld, we obtain a deeper perspective on the emergence of journalism as a profession and professional identities. Certain “ideals” of journalistic practice evolved as the feld turned into a profession, and have been erected on shaky foundations set into the many issues of power described in the previous chapters. This chapter examines the essential standards and practices of journalism in the United States. Chapter 6: Current Journalism Trends—Racism and Sexism

Although journalism is a dynamic feld, particularly so with the massive changes brought on by technology and online digital media, in this chapter I explore the continued imbalances in newsroom diversity as well as the stereotypes and biased representations of non-White groups in news content. Chapter 7: Alternative Journalism and “Ethnic” Media

Alternative media have a long history, and have been produced in many diferent formats and organizational structures and styles. This alone makes defnitions difcult. Formats of alternative media include newspapers and magazines (print or online), social media sites and blogs, radio and television, video and flm, and independent book publishing (Atton & Hamilton, 2008). Chapter 8: The Feminist Refexive Model of Journalism

In Chapter 8, I introduce my feminist refexive model as an alternative way of doing journalism, incorporating critical refexivity on the part of both journalists and their sources, as a way of “sharing the power of the microphone” and disrupting the traditional power dynamics of mainstream news traditions and practice. The objective of the model is to amplify grassroots voices and provide a platform for empowerment through refexive connections with sources and audience members. My feminist refexive model is based on my work with FIRE—Feminist International Radio Endeavour

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(Radio Internacional Feminista), an internet radio based in Costa Rica, with the objective of promoting women’s human rights and amplifying the voices of women, particularly those from Indigenous and other marginalized groups in developing countries. Chapter 9: Pedagogical Implications and Conclusions

In this summary chapter, I propose how my model can be implemented in journalism education. Note 1 Feminist International Radio Endeavour (Radio Internacional Feminista) or FIRE was founded in 1992 in Costa Rica, FIRE’s objectives include disruption of the imbalanced North-South fow of news and information (Suárez Toro, 2000). The focus of FIRE’s work is on the voices of women (particularly those in developing countries), whose perspectives were rarely heard or included in mainstream media (MSM) coverage. Broadcasting their voices on all issues (contending there’s no such thing as “women’s issues”) serves to empower women’s voices as sites of resistance and alternative solutions to social and political problems. (Note: FIRE has been inactive since 2017.)

References Alamo-Pastrana, C., & Hoynes, W. (2020). Racialization of news: Constructing and challenging professional journalism as “white media.” Humanity & Society, 44(1), 67–91. https://doi.org/10.1177/0160597618820071 Allan, S. (1998). (En)gendering the truth politics of news discourse. In News, gender and power. Routledge. Appiah, K.A. (2020, June 18). The case for capitalizing the “B” in Black. The Atlantic. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/06/time-to-capitalizeblackand-White/613159/ Atton, C., & Hamilton, J.F. (2008). Alternative journalism. SAGE. Bonilla-Silva, E. (2017). Racism without racists: Color-blind racism and the persistence of racial inequality in America (5th ed.). Rowman & Littlefeld Publishers. Campbell, C.P., LeDuff, K.M., Jenkins, C.D., & Brown, R.A. (2012). Race and news: Critical perspectives. Routledge. Chen, Y.-W., & Collier, M.J. (2012). Intercultural identity positioning: Interview discourses from two identity-based nonproft organizations. Journal of International and Intercultural Communication, 5(1), 43–63. Collier, M.J. (2014). Critical community engagement and dancing with cultural difference: Analytical framework and research itinerary. In M.J. Collier (Ed.), Community engagement and intercultural praxis (pp. 1–30). Peter Lang. Deuze, M. (2005). What is journalism? Professional identity and ideology of journalists reconsidered. Journalism, 6(4), 442–464.

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Dharmapuri, S. (2013, June 30). Gender blindness negatively impacts security. The Gender Advisor. https://thegenderadvisor.wordpress.com/2013/06/30/ gender-blindness-negatively-impacts-security/ Fimrite, P. (2016, June 2). Ex-Stanford swimmer to serve 6 months in unconscious woman’s rape. SFGATE. www.sfgate.com/crime/article/Ex-Stanford-swimmerto-serve-6-months-in-7960806.php González, J., & Torres, J. (2011). News for all the people: The epic story of race and the American Media. Verso. https://doi.org/10.1080/08821127.2012.1067 7828 Grieco, E. (2018, November 2). Newsroom employees are less diverse than U.S. workers overall. Pew Research Center. www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/11/02/ newsroom-employees-are-less-diverse-than-u-s-workers-overall/ Lewis, S.C., Holton, A.E., & Coddington, M. (2014). Reciprocal journalism: A concept of mutual exchange between journalists and audiences. Journalism Practice, 8(2), 229–241. https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2013.859840 Phillips, J.D., & Griffin, R.A. (2015). Crystal Mangum as hypervisible object and invisible subject: Black feminist thought, sexual violence, and the pedagogical repercussions of the Duke lacrosse rape case. Women’s Studies in Communication, 38(1), 36–56. https://doi.org/10.1080/07491409.2014.964896 Sofer, O. (2009). The competing ideals of objectivity and dialogue in American journalism. Journalism, 10(4), 473–491. Stack, L. (2016, June 8). In Stanford rape case, Brock Turner blamed drinking and promiscuity. The New York Times. www.nytimes.com/2016/06/09/us/brockturner-blamed-drinking-and-promiscuity-in-sexual-assault-at-stanford.html Suárez Toro, M. (2000). Women’s voices on fre: Feminist International Radio Endeavour. Anomaly Press. Thurlow, C. (2011). Speaking of diference language, inequality and interculturality. In J. Martin & T. Nakayama (Eds.), Intercultural Communication in Contexts (6th ed., pp. 227–247). McGraw-Hill Higher Education. Walker, D. (2018, March 5). Five decades after Kerner Report, representation remains an issue in media. Columbia Journalism Review. www.cjr.org/analysis/ race-media.php

2 THE OBAMA AND TRUMP YEARS The Resuscitation of Racism, Sexism, and White Nationalism

Introduction

The Obama and Trump presidencies each rekindled age-old fames of racism, White privilege, sexism, and patriarchy in America, albeit in diferent ways. While each era contributed diferently to this regrettable state of afairs, juxtaposing them allows us to better understand the succession and evolution of events that tumbled into place, fanning the sparks into wildfres that have changed the nation and, certainly, the state of journalism as well.

Barack Obama and the Era of “Color-Blind Racism”

Media pundits and other observers hailed the historic 2008 victory of President Barack Obama, the frst Black man to hold that ofce, as the beginning of a “post-racial era.” Danielle Schorr (2008) of National Public Radio (NPR), for example, declared, “The post-racial era, as embodied by Obama, is the era where civil rights veterans of the past century are consigned to history and Americans begin to make race-free judgments on who should lead them” (para. 6). Yet a post-racial era is a racist idea, as Ibram X Kendi noted, because it means that “racism doesn’t exist—racist policy doesn’t exist” (cited in Martin, 2019, para. 8). If you consider the racial inequalities in the criminal justice system, for example, where Black men are six times more likely to be incarcerated than White men, and Latinx are 2.5 times more likely to spend time in prison, adhering to a post-racial explanation would indicate DOI: 10.4324/9781315159171-2

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that there is something inherently wrong with Blacks and Latinx and that they have more criminal tendencies (Criminal Justice Facts, n.d.). This conceals Whiteness and perpetuates discourses that appear to be race-neutral, as tacit means to accumulate and maintain power without appearing to be racist (Mellinger, 2018). Obama’s presidency illustrated a major contradiction. On the one hand, it seemed to reveal that the country had progressed on the issue of race; on the other hand, it revealed how far the country had to go in reckoning with race (Burke, 2016). It would take more than the election of a Black president to deal with the long history of endemic racism and discrimination (Samuel, 2016). While Obama’s approval ratings were relatively high throughout his time in ofce, some BIPOC, particularly in Black communities, felt that he was “not Black enough,” because he did not push hard enough for changes in laws and policies related to race and racial injustice (Lawson, 2011). He appeared to tiptoe around racial divides, and he pushed “color-blind” public policies in which race was not a specifc factor. These policies, he said, would beneft all citizens by emphasizing the importance of individual hard work and personal responsibility. Critics disagreed, saying that, given the historic and systemic social and economic oppressions of BIPOC groups, it was important to create race-conscious policies. Molef Kete Asante (2007) wrote about the prospect of Barack Obama winning the presidential election, and he noted that, as president, Obama would face enormous obstacles by having to balance the contradictions of Black identity while serving in a White hegemonic power structure where the expectations of nearly 250 years of White-male hegemony and White privilege controlled the U.S. government (Olds, 2011). As such, “serving the democratic rights of people of Color (in this case, African Americans) seems to be considered within dominant discourse to be at loggerheads with serving the rights of ‘all Americans’” (Howard, 2010, p. 383). As a result, racial injustice simply was normalized—any organized resistance to the dominant White power structure and any push for racial justice were viewed as promoting “special interests” and, therefore, unfair. While there were many who celebrated President Obama’s victory as evidence that racism was defeated or at least diminished, Dorrien (2018) says that “[Obama] helped to sow a ferocious, titanic, vindictive backlash merely by living in the White House and doing his job” (p. 54). From effgies of the president hanging from trees to the “birther” myth that the president was not a U.S. citizen (a myth expounded by Donald Trump), to South Carolina Republican Joe Wilson in 2009 yelling “you lie!,” disrupting the president’s speech to a joint session of Congress, the vicious racist animosity, often in the form of personal attacks and racial microaggressions, illustrated that many Whites were outraged that this Black

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man broke through the White power hierarchy to become president (Olds, 2011; Samuel, 2016). In reporting these racial incidents, the media contributed to “othering” the president as “not one of us.” First Lady Michelle Obama, well known for her gracious demeanor and compassion, was likewise a target. She endured racist comments and personal attacks, including being called aggressive, angry, and a power-hungry terrorist (Gammage, 2016). Fox News taunted her as President Obama’s “baby mama” (CBS News, 2008, para. 1); a woman director of a nonproft in Clay, WV, denounced Mrs. Obama in a Facebook post as an “ape in heels,” and this was followed up by supportive comment from the town’s female mayor (who was forced to resign as a result) (Browning & Bever, 2016). In this instance, as in other color-blind responses to racism, both the nonproft director and mayor claimed that these incidents were driven by political diferences and ideology, not by race (Samuel, 2016). Similarly, White supremacist leaders David Duke and Tom Metzger of the Ku Klux Klan have claimed their groups are not White supremacists, just pro-White (Associated Press, 2016). It was color-blind racism that enabled Whites to vote for a Black man at all. Logan (2011) contends that Obama won because he ofered an appealing, carefully mediated version of [B]lackness that a majority of the electorate readily consumed. Crucially, this model of [B]lackness provided a powerful “rebuke” to more problematic versions of [B]lack politics understood to be embodied by leaders such as Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, and Jeremiah Wright. (p. 8) The reconfgured (and less threatening) view of Obama’s Blackness was reassuring to many Whites because it supported an ideology of color-blind racism, a problematic stance: the predominantly White individualist narrative and rhetoric of color blindness (“I don’t see race, just people”) was designed to render racial inequalities invisible, further justifying inequities between Whites and BIPOC “as the outcome of nonracial dynamics . . . and exculpate[s] them from any responsibility for the status of People of Color” (Bonilla-Silva, 2017, p. 2). “Post-Racism” or “Color-Blind Racism”

Color-blind rhetoric is based on a racial ideology that refers to the equal treatment of individuals without discriminating amongst them (at least, formally, in the law), but it ignores continuing racial disparities (Collins, 2002). As Crenshaw (1997) points out, “it is fairly obvious that treating

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diferent things the same can generate as much inequality as treating the same things diferently” (p. 285). Color-blind rhetoric promotes the assumption that there are no inherent diferences among races (or genders, for that matter), which makes it difcult to report discrimination; therefore, any reports of discrimination are met with accusations of a person being “too racially sensitive” or intending to create racial confict. Even talking about race might be assumed to promote racism. Bonilla-Silva (2017) identifed four types of color-blind racism: abstract liberalism, naturalization, cultural racism, and minimization of racism (p. 54). 1. Abstract liberalism This is based on the assumption that the passage of legislative reforms has eradicated racial problems and discrimination, and, as such, BIPOC no longer face obstacles to achievement but instead have individual choice (as in the free market) (Bonilla-Silva, 2017). This ignores continuing and even deepening systemic gaps related to education, health care, housing, and criminal justice (Logan, 2011). Underlying these seemingly egalitarian laws and policies is the familiar claim that all people are treated the same in the United States. The thinking goes, then, that any gaps between BIPOC and Whites are assumed to be the fault of individuals or their culture (Williams, 1998). The result is the dismissal of any discussions of race or complaints of discrimination as “race-baiting” or as BIPOC wanting special rights or treatment (Bonilla-Silva & Embrick, 2006). Consider research by Campbell (1995) of media coverage of the Martin Luther King (MLK) holiday. He concluded: The ultimate message of nearly all the coverage of the King holiday . . . was that American racism was a thing of the past. The occasional contradiction of that notion was overshadowed by the dominant theme of storytelling and imagery that testifed to America as a melting pot. In its coverage of King Day, local television journalism constructed a world in which The American Dream lives, a parallel world to that of nightly network sitcoms, the world of the (Cosby Show’s) Huxtable family. (p. 111) 2. Naturalization This type of color-blind racism assumes that some racial inequalities are natural and unavoidable. As an example, consider the issue of segregation. Some claim their belief in segregation isn’t racist as much as it is a matter of people choosing to be with their own kind (Whites preferring Whites, for example).

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3. Minimalization This occurs in White narratives claiming racial discrimination is outdated, that any incident of racism is episodic and an aberration. Minimalization depends, however, on an “overt” defnition of racism. For example, some might defne racism as hateful slurs or actions by an individual, but this completely obscures understanding the systemic nature of racism. 4. Cultural racism This is an assumption that some cultural groups (such as Whites) are superior to others, a perspective reinforced by racial myths and stereotypes about BIPOC groups (“all Latinx are undocumented immigrants”; “all Arabs and Muslims are terrorists”; “all Asians are good at math and computers”). Social and economic problems such as high unemployment, crime rates, and poverty are blamed on the culture, and the assumption follows, then, that White people must work harder and seek to be more like the dominant White culture. Many recent immigrants to the United States are non-White, of course, and the rise of cultural racism intersects with xenophobia and antiimmigration attitudes. Media coverage of immigration often frames the topic as a legal rather than a racial issue, which is likewise a strategy of color-blind racism. For example, ofcials initially didn’t regard the murder on March 17, 2021, of six Asian women (eight killed in total) at three spas or massage parlors in the Atlanta metropolitan area as a hate crime, despite the nationwide spike in anti-Asian hate harassment and assaults that occurred during the COVID-19 virus pandemic. In fact, a spokesperson for the local sherif’s ofce said shortly after the (White) man’s arrest that “it was a really bad day for [the perpetrator]” and that the shooter “did not appear to be motivated by racism” (Shyong, 2021). Yet, the killer had posted an image on Facebook of a T-shirt that said “COVID-19 imported virus from Chy-na,” and he was overheard during the shootings saying that he “was going to kill all Asians.” He was later convicted of eight counts of murder, but not of a hate crime. The question arises here. Would there ever be a media story of an Arab or Muslim shooter saying they were just “having a bad day,” that they were “not motivated by ideology or religious bias”? The mainstream media were sharply criticized for cultural racism by bypassing the racial implications of these murders and instead focusing on the killer’s claims that it was his sex addiction, not racism, that motivated the violence (Ishak, 2021). The press parroted ofcial statements that focused on the perpetrator—that he “loved guns and God”—with little in-depth critique or reporting from the community (Montgomery et al., 2021). In

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contrast, Asian news outlets were clear from the beginning that it was a racially motivated crime, and they included interviews with eyewitnesses and community leaders who spoke about the impact of the brutal killings on the community as well as the broader context of the sharp rise of antiAsian hate during the pandemic. In great part, the news media have embraced color-blind racism as their modus operandi, in part to avoid confict with advertisers and the mass audience. A newspaper study by Graber et al. (2020) of Black National Football League (NFL) quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s “take the knee” stand in 2016 to protest racism at an NFL game showed that the news basically dismissed the racialized reasons the athlete gave for his protest and focused primarily on his disrespect for the national anthem, the American fag, and the military. Using that color-blind approach, journalists were able to avoid mention of the anti-racist message of Kaepernick’s action. As another example, while BIPOC communities have been hit harder than others by COVID, news stories that mention this rarely delve deeply into the historical, political, and economic factors that created the conditions for this to happen (Turchi & Melton-Fant, 2022). Vast racial disparities in the impact and treatment of COVID-19 received little media attention until later in the frst year of the pandemic; few stories explored in depth the way(s) that systemic racism contributes to greater vulnerability of BIPOC to health and economic disasters. The “defciency narrative” of media focuses on the higher rates of diabetes, obesity, and hypertension among BIPOC, as well as a (racist) “culture of poverty,” implying that unhealthy behaviors of members of these communities contribute to higher COVID rates. This narrative ignores the devastating impact of decades of racialized policies in health care, education, housing, and other government policies on BIPOC (Bonilla-Silva, 2020). The Rise of Black Lives Matter (BLM)

During the eight years of the Obama presidency, the intense racial fury and backlash against the Black leader by Whites revealed the illusion of a post-racial era and color-blind racism. Several high-profle shooting deaths of Black men, women, and children by White police opened an intense nationwide debate on the horror of systemic racism triggering widespread protests throughout the country and the world—from May 25 to August 25, 2020, alone, there were over 7,750 anti-racist protests over police violence in 2,400 locations across all 50 states and the District of Columbia (Nilsen & Turner, 2022, p. 2). Most protests were overwhelmingly peaceful, with a few incidents of violence often in response to aggressive attempts by police to disperse the crowd (“America on Fire,” 2021; MacFarquhar,

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2020). Nonetheless, ofcers dressed in riot gear and used military-grade weapons and armored personnel carriers, shooting at the crowds with fash grenades, rubber bullets, tear gas, and pepper spray, arresting hundreds of protestors as well as journalists. With each new ofense, people took to the streets in outrage, fueled by the fury of a new generation of civil rights activists calling for racial justice, echoing the footsteps of the civil rights movement of the 1960s and 1970s (Day, 2015). The movement evolved rapidly and grew stronger as social media networks were deployed to organize demonstrations and protests. As Bunn (2021) noted, “It became the most used phrase in the lexicon around the world. It was a rallying cry, a call for justice, an exaltation of human worth, an expression of desperation” (pp. 1–2). Media coverage of the BLM Movement

As is the case with many social and political movements, the media played a key role in determining who controlled the narrative. The general consensus among media pundits and other observers was that early media coverage of the protests following the death of an unarmed teenager, Michael Brown, in Ferguson, MO, was generally negative, sensationalist, and focused primarily on any violence (no matter how minimal the violence), attributing blame to the protestors with little discussion of the foundational issues associated with BLM. This was news produced through a White lens, which is not surprising given the few journalists and management who are BIPOC (Alamo-Pastrana & Hoynes, 2020). Often, news stories relied on infammatory quotes from ofcial sources and bystanders rather than participants themselves. This resulted in the least knowledgeable people defning the movement. Fox News has been the primary conduit for the right-wing backlash against the BLM movement. Fox hosts and guests denounced the protests as “violent riots” by “thugs” and even “terrorists” and the growing BLM movement as anti-White and therefore racist. They also condemned the “Black Lives Matter” hashtag, saying it was an insult to the police who were on duty during the protests. President Trump, a leading critic, declared that BLM protestors “are anarchists, they’re agitators, they’re rioters, they’re looters” (Bump, 2020, para. 26). At the same time, Trump defended the 17-year-old charged with homicide for killing two and injuring one person at a protest following a police shooting in Kenosha, WI. Critics created the slogan #AllLivesMatter” (ALM), which illustrates the color-blind attempts to divert attention away from racial injustice and instead focus on general issues of police brutality. Reporters rarely call out this hashtag as racist. Instead, they seek objectivity through race-neutral

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language (Kai, 2021). But Blacks see ALM as a message that their lives do not matter, part of a systemic and “politics as usual” in a White supremacist society (Hooker, 2016). The Election of Donald Trump

Donald Trump’s election in 2016 shocked observers around the world: he was a wealthy political neophyte who made clear from the start of the campaign his disdain for non-Whites, non-Christians, immigrants, women, and other marginalized groups; his behavior was erratic; he was dismissive of civil liberties and science (Remnick, 2016). In fact, the campaign and election of Donald Trump caused one of the biggest disruptions in the history of the United States related to news coverage of racial and gender issues.  Unlike other presidents who emphasized unity and peace, Trump seemed to relish political confict. He cultivated partisan divides, generating a wider gap between Republicans and Democrats than through the terms of the past three presidents (Bartels, 2020). Donald Trump’s history of racism goes back to the 1970s, when, as a real estate mogul, the U.S. Department of Justice charged him with racial discrimination against Black applicants and tenants (Lopez, 2016). As Lopez (2016) notes, “Bigotry is not just political opportunism on Trump’s part but a real element of his personality, character, and career” (para. 7). As a candidate, Donald Trump’s sexist and misogynist attitudes and behavior (including public accusations of sexual harassment and assault of 24 women since the 1980s) were no less visible (Jamieson et al., 2016). During the campaign, Trump bragged to television and radio personality Billy Bush in 2005 that, as a celebrity, he “could do anything” to women (Nelson, Libby, 2016, para. 2). “I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything.” During the campaign, Trump told radio shock-jock Howard Stern on the air in 2004 that he could call his daughter Ivanka “a piece of ass” (Nelson, Louis, 2016, para. 1). Many were horrifed at his vitriolic statements about gender and race including his frequent mocking of U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, calling her “Pocahontas” based on her partial Native American ancestry, and his joking about the Trail of Tears, a brutal event in U.S. history in the 1830s that killed thousands of Indigenous through forced relocation (Mervosh, 2019). Coates (2017) says President Trump strode into ofce with an ideology of Whiteness and White supremacy “in all its truculent and sanctimonious power” (p. 76). “The triumph of Trump’s campaign of bigotry presented the problematic spectacle of an American president succeeding at best in spite of his racism and possibly because of it. Trump moved racism from

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the euphemistic and plausibly deniable to the overt and freely claimed” (Coates, 2017, p. 86). From the beginning of his term, Trump was determined to dismantle the legacy of President Obama. “For Trump, it almost seems that the fact of Obama, the fact of a black president, insulted him personally,” noted Coates (2017, para. 6). A study by Graham et al. (2021) showed that racial resentment and White nationalism (the desire to keep the United States culturally and demographically White) were strongly correlated with the intense loyalty to and faith in President Trump, who so many regarded as a leader able to “make America great again,” a slogan printed on millions of red hats (p. 4). Controversial Leadership Style

President Trump evolved into an authoritarian populist, demagogue, and extreme nationalist whose unconventional way of governing, constant and unpredictable claims, exaggerations, lies, and incoherent shouting and tweets created chaos, which journalists frantically sought to follow and cover. The Washington Post counted 30,573 false or misleading claims made by President Trump during his four years in ofce, and this accelerated in the last year of his term (Kessler et al., 2021). When journalists confronted Trump or his staf with documented facts, they would claim he “never said that” or, as Kellyanne Conway, a Trump senior aide noted, those were “alternative facts” (Bradner, 2017). When Trump claimed, falsely, that he had greater attendance at his inauguration than did President Obama, his team was confronted with photos. The reply from Conway was that attendance would have been larger, but bad weather might have kept people away (Efron, 2018). The President appointed far-right and predominantly ultra-rich White male cabinet members and other personnel, some of whom had little or no experience in their appointed area or in public service but had expressed unquestioning loyalty to the President (Shapiro, 2020). Over 40 percent of Trump’s original cabinet appointments were forced out of their positions due to ethics violations and corruption (Blake, 2018). According to Norman Ornstein, a resident scholar at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, “We have a contingent of corrupt kleptocrats, some sadists, a racist, utter ideologues, at least one utter incompetent, another who has made as his mission devastating our diplomatic corps” (Ruben, 2018, para. 2). The press refected its fascination with Donald Trump in both negative and positive daily headlines, not only in the United States but around the world. Journalists were perplexed about the celebrity billionaire’s appeal, given his obvious racism and sexism. Journalists around the world expressed dismay and disbelief at his refusal to concede defeat in the 2020

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election, particularly in a country with a long history of democracy, among other scandals (Simpson, 2020). Policies Refect Racism and Sexism

Surrounded by a chorus of right-wing advisors and media outlets, one of President Trump’s frst executive orders was a ban on Muslims from seven (later fve) majority Muslim countries (Harris & Steiner, 2018), entitled “Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States.” The courts blocked various versions of the travel ban until a 2018 U.S. Supreme Court decision put it into efect. It separated thousands of U.S. citizens from their spouses and minor children (Bier, 2019). President Trump had total disregard and destruction of U.S. foreign policy. He was viewed from outside the United States as arrogant, intolerant, and dangerous (Sherman, 2020). His sexism and misogyny became obvious when he bullied British Prime Minister Theresa May by calling her spineless and “a fool,” based on her handling of Brexit, NATO, and immigration policy. He attacked German Chancellor Angela Merkel by calling her “stupid” and then, after a contentious NATO meeting, interrupted and kissed her, saying, “I love this woman. Isn’t she great?” (Glasser, 2018, para. 4; Moreno, 2020). In 2019, members of Congress and other observers expressed shock when President Trump denounced four Congresspeople of color. Referring to the progressive Democratic Congresswomen, collectively known as the “squad”—Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, and Ayanna S. Pressley of Massachusetts—Trump declared, “Why don’t they go back and help fx the totally broken and crime-infested places from which they came? Then come back and show us how it is done” (Pengelly, 2019, para. 1). Congressional Democrats denounced Trump’s remarks as racist, sexist, and xenophobic, while many Republicans remained silent. A CNN analysis showed that the right-wing Fox News appeared fxated on the “squad,” and particularly on Ocasio-Cortez and Omar (Stelter, 2019). Between January 3 and July 20, 2021, Fox News mentioned Ocasio-Cortez three times more often compared with CNN or MSNBC, and the mentions were primarily of intent to insult, ridicule, and accuse her of various conspiracies. Trump also announced a sweeping expansion of authority for immigration ofcials with a “zero tolerance” policy (Long, 2021). As thousands of people fed north from Mexico and Central America to escape horrendous violence and poverty (caused in part by U.S. policy) seeking asylum, immigration ofcials turned them back at the border. Marsha Gessen of The New Yorker (2018) called the Trump Administration’s discourse about

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“deterring asylum seekers” ofensive and immoral because, under national and international law, people feeing from violence and persecution have a legal right to apply for asylum in the United States. Nonetheless, the administration separated thousands of infants, children, and teens from their parents or caregivers as a type of shock-and-awe tactic to deter immigrants, then locked these children in chain-link holding cells that resembled cages (Burnett, 2019). Right-wing ofcials also targeted and deported millions of “undesirable aliens,” or anyone whom they believed to pose a “risk to public safety or national security,” which seemed to mean anyone without documents, despite including people with no criminal record who had been living in the country and raising families for years. While President Obama also deported hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants, President Trump’s approach targeted the separation of families and children. With his extreme nativist, sensationalist rhetoric, and alarming fabrications, Trump generated more fear, resentment, and hatred of immigrants than any other president (Anbinder, 2019). Mainstream media adopted his terminology, implying that asylum seekers were criminals. An MIT Center of Civic Media and the Defne America study of the four largest U.S. newspapers showed that dehumanizing and denigrating language about immigrants, such as terms including “illegals,” “illegal immigrant,” or “illegal alien,” increased since 2016, even though in 2013 the Associated Press Stylebook recommended against using these terms (Ndulue et al., 2019). A study by the Anti-Defamation League showed that acts of violence and assaults o immigrants increased by 226 percent in counties that hosted Trump rallies in prior months (Feinberg et al., 2019). President Trump also disparaged immigrants from African countries, Haiti, and El Salvador, saying these were people who came from “shithole countries” (Vitali et al., 2018, para. 1). During the pandemic, he and members of his administration fueled anti-Asian hate and violence by calling COVID-19 the “Chinese virus” or “kung fu” (Kai, 2021, para. 18). Claiming he is “the least racist person in the world,” President Trump spewed an ongoing torrent of xenophobia and race-baiting, as shown by a 2020 campaign tweet: “I am happy to inform all of the people living their Suburban Lifestyle Dream that you will no longer be bothered or fnancially hurt by having low-income housing built in your neighborhood” (Wood, 2020, para. 70). This statement was reinforced several days later with a tweet from President Trump’s campaign account that showed mugshots of Blacks who had been accused of crimes. President Trump expressed fury at Colin Kaepernick’s “take a knee” gesture during the playing of the national anthem at NFL games to protest police brutality and systemic racial oppression in our society. The president

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called Kaepernick a “son of a bitch” and echoed other critics who attacked the star quarterback and other Black athletes as being anti-patriotic and insulting to U.S. soldiers (Cobb, 2017). Along with this, Trump decried the ongoing removal of Confederate statues, tweeting, “Sad to see the history and culture of our great country being ripped apart with the removal of our beautiful statues and monuments.” The New Yorker’s Jelani Cobb (2017) wrote that “it’s impossible not to be struck by Trump’s selective patriotism” (para. 4). No one was immune to Trump’s disdain, including those with physical and cognitive impairments. Trump’s disablism commentary was heavily criticized, such as his mockery of The New York Times reporter Serge Kovaleski on the 2016 campaign trail and his derogatory comments about John McCain’s limited arm mobility (a result of torture during his 5 1/2 years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam) (Allen, 2017; Spayd, 2017). In April 2019, President Trump spoke at an event designed to honor athletes in the U.S. Paralympics, but, rather than pay tribute to the athletes, Trump commented that they are “a little tough to watch too much, but I watched as much as I could” (Cross, 2018, para. 2). Rise in Hate Groups and Hate Crimes

President Trump’s constant racist, sexist, Islamophobic, homophobic, and xenophobic rhetoric triggered societal rage, particularly among his core group of supporters who called him their inspiration (Taub, 2016). In 2020, ABC News identifed 54 criminal cases where the perpetrator invoked Trump’s name in connection with documented threats and acts of violence, often targeting BIPOC (Levine, 2020). The number of hate groups has steadily increased since former President Trump’s era, growing by 55 percent to reach record highs between 2017 and 2018, dropping in 2019 (most likely due to the COVID-19 pandemic) (Janik & Hankes, 2021). Hate crimes in the United States have steadily increased since 2019, rising 6 percent from 2019 to 2020 to the highest level recorded since 2008 (Arango, 2020; Schmelzer, 2021). A vast majority of these crimes are aimed at Blacks, Latinx, and Asians. Religious hate crimes against Jews and Muslims have likewise increased, as have attacks on LGBTQ+, particularly on trans persons (Arango, 2020). Throughout his four years in ofce, President Trump’s support for White supremacists and White nationalists became more blatant, and they came to see him as one of their own (Coates, 2017). Shortly after Trump won the election in 2016, White nationalists gathered for a conference in Washington to celebrate. In a speech, neo-Nazi leader Richard Spencer declared, “Hail Trump, hail our people, hail victory!,” and the crowd

22 The Obama and Trump Years

responded with Nazi salutes. In May 2017, at a violent White nationalist rally in Charlottesville, VA, a White nationalist rammed his car into a group of anti-racism protestors and killed a woman. Instead of condemning this racist violence, President Trump issued an ofcial statement, declaring that there were good people on “both sides” (Harris & Steiner, 2018, p. 36). During the frst 2020 presidential debate with then-candidate and U.S. Senator Joe Biden, President Trump had an opportunity to condemn White supremacists and militia groups but instead gave a shout-out to the Proud Boys, a far-right hate group, telling them to “stand back and stand by!” Members of the hate group and other right-wing extremists saw this as legitimizing their aims; the name began trending on social media (Timberg & Dwoskin, 2020, paras. 1–3). The culmination of President Trump’s dalliance with right-wing extremists came on January 6, 2021, with the violent and deadly siege of the U.S. Capitol by hundreds of primarily White male Trump supporters. Spurred on by Trump, who at an earlier rally called them “patriots” and told them to “fght like hell” to save their country from a rigged election, the heavily armed rioters were determined to disrupt Congress for the fnal certifcation of the victory of Joe Biden in the presidential election (Taylor, 2021, para. 1). As the dust settled, many Republicans who had voted not to support confrmation of the election results also worked to rewrite the narrative of the violent insurrection, calling it a “peaceful protest” and a “normal tourist visit,” and calling the rioters who were arrested and jailed “political prisoners” (Lybrand et al., 2021, paras. 8–9). President Trump expressed sympathy for the rioters and denied that they were a threat, claiming that the insurgents were “hugging and kissing the police guards.” Some Republicans have declared those arrested and jailed as “political prisoners” (para. 13). Governing via Twitter

Trump was highly skilled in using his steady stream of tweets, raucous political rallies, and frequent appearances on Fox News to tap into the fear, insecurity, and anxiety of the public. During his campaign and Administration, Trump deployed Twitter as a powerful political communication tool for bypassing the mainstream media, which he scorned as “fake news.” He used this social-media platform to declare policy changes—often without consulting, and even contradicting, his advisors and experts—as well as his frequent personnel changes. He also used Twitter to conduct diplomacy and to generate confict with leaders both in the United States and abroad, using the platform to both boast and express opinions (Colby,

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2018). His tweets had unprecedented power, including shifting the stock market (an attack on Amazon in April 2018 resulted in a 2.2 percent drop of that company’s stocks) and generating trade disputes and tarifs such as that imposed on China and other countries that forced both Trump’s staf and fnancial sector to scramble in an attempt to make sense of the acts (Bloomberg, 2018; O’Brien, 2018). Overall, Trump sent more than 26,200 tweets during his presidency (Brown, n.d.); he was eventually banned from Twitter over concerns that his tweets incited violence following the siege of the U.S. Capitol. Journalists Struggle to Cover Trump

Journalists faced enormous challenges covering President Trump. They struggled to be neutral observers and report the “facts” in the face of his daily fow of incendiary remarks or policy proposals, some of which were immediately refuted or “corrected” by his advisors. As Slate’s Katy Waldman (2018) lamented, “The more we cover him, the more we excite the desire to explain away, account for, and tame his outrageous behavior. But we can’t. All we can do is stoke the fever with fresh data points, new revelations” (para. 10). Journalists became consumed by the whirlwind race required to keep up with his torrent of tweets. As Waldman noted in 2018, “We’re worried we’ve lost all sense of perspective. Either we’re overreacting, ready to declare the death of democracy with each asinine tweet, or under-reacting, because we can’t possibly process all of Trump’s crimes against humanity. We were driven to chronicle a presidency that broke every paradigm” (para. 9). Indeed, a study of mainstream media coverage of President Trump’s frst 100 days showed that he was the main topic for 41 percent of all news stories, three times that received by any other president, and he was the source for two-thirds of the soundbites in the stories (Patterson, 2017, para. 3). Ironically, this coverage was overwhelmingly negative, about 4:1, due in great part to him so often being on the defensive, attempting to positively spin controversial executive orders, appointments, and legislative proposals (Patterson, 2017, para. 49). The exception to this negative coverage came from Fox News, with coverage of the president that was 52 percent negative to 48 percent positive during his frst 100 days (Patterson, 2017, para. 30). Given that President Trump began to give fewer press conferences to rely primarily on Twitter to communicate with the public, the press often had little option but to cover his tweets. Trump seemed to know this. He created drama through sensational statements and explosive language as a strategy to distract from critical news about more serious problems in his

24

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presidency (Gabbatt, 2017). Research shows that it worked. In the case of the Mueller investigation of Russian interference with the 2016 election, Trump’s diversionary tweets on other topics led to less coverage of the investigation (Ecker et al., 2020). Some observers say that Trump’s skillful manipulation of power by using Twitter to bypass the press helps explain how a political neophyte and wealthy playboy could skyrocket in popularity to be voted into one of the most powerful positions in the world (Monahan & Maratea, 2021). Zelizer (2018) noted that the President’s outrageous assertions were reported, replayed, and discussed by mainstream journalists without pointing out how outrageous or bigoted these were due to fear of being labeled as biased. Zelizer (2018) goes on to say that the journalists were using “tools that they had used in the past to mute outrage—objectivity, balance, impartiality, and the euphemism, moderation and deference” (p. 147). Journalists were not comfortable labeling a statement made by the President as racist or as a lie, because doing so felt like editorializing or showing evidence of bias. Journalists used euphemisms such as “racially charged,” “racially loaded,” or “racialized statement” to avoid using the “R” (racists) word. Journalists argued that reporting the President “objectively” was nearly impossible and morally inadequate, and that trying to include “both sides” in stories gave excessive attention to his fabrications. Zachary Pleat (2019) of Media Matters for America, a liberal-leaning media watchdog group, noted that media critics and other observers have criticized mainstream media, and specifcally The New York Times, for putting President Trump’s fabricated claims into headlines and tweets without challenging them, and framing stories in alignment with right-wing perspectives. According to Zelizer (2018), the ultimate result of the reporting was the normalization of Trump’s scandalous performance. Fox News as Trump’s Private Megaphone

Numerous news outlets and reporters were banned from press conferences because they had either asked tough questions or written stories that President Trump felt were critical of him and his White House staf. He subsequently launched a hostile campaign against the press. Nonetheless, the right-wing Fox News Network allied itself with the controversial entrepreneur and celebrity even before his campaign, becoming what some said was a propaganda machine for the conservative president. It’s no surprise, considering Fox News employs news hosts, commentators, and guests who express anti-Muslim, anti-LGBTQ+, racist, misogynist, and anti-Semitic sentiments. Tucker Carlson repeatedly warned viewers of the threat of “White genocide” (Media Matters Staf, 2018).

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Even so, former and current Fox stafers have been critical of the organization, according to Matthew Gertz (2019): Fox News is a “destructive propaganda machine” whose right-wing hosts “don’t really have rules” and push “a political agenda” over “facts.” The network is “assaulting our constitutional order and the rule of law,” “fostering corrosive and unjustifed paranoia among viewers,” and “wittingly harming our system of government for proft” while producing “birther-like coverage” that “feels like an extension of the Trump White House.” (para. 1) For his part, Trump viewed Fox as his personal news outlet and private megaphone, with frequent, often impromptu, interviews during which he would call the station and be put on the air live. Juan Williams, a prominent Fox News host, declared that there is no separation between the Trump White House and the Fox News Network (Shefeld, 2018). Fox News hosts and Fox right-wing guests supported and amplifed Trump’s ideas, extreme opinions, and conspiracy theories (Garcia-Navarro, 2020). The President would quote Fox personalities and tweet ongoing comments about program content. This had dangerous consequences during the COVID-19 pandemic. Several Fox personalities downplayed the illness, echoing Trump in their comparison of the virus to the fu and blaming Democrats for whipping the public into a hysteria (Smith, 2020). They constantly broadcast antiprotocol and anti-vaccine messages, which greatly impacted viewers, according to a Pew Research Center survey that showed four of fve Fox viewers believed that journalists exaggerated the seriousness of the virus (Jerkowitz & Mitchell, 2020). Fox News fans were also shown to be far less knowledgeable about the virus than the public. Profts Roll in for Corporate Mainstream Media

Intense competition among mainstream media corporations added to the pressure on journalists to cover Trump’s every tweet, statement, and political rally. Such coverage enormously boosted audience ratings and profts, particularly among those outlets Trump had denounced as “fake news” (Bloom, 2018). Subscriptions for newspapers such as The New York Times and The Washington Post spiked to the highest numbers since their founding; network profts likewise surged. CBS Chairman Paul Moonves expressed elation: “It may not be good for America, but it’s damn good for CBS,” he said in a speech during the 2016 presidential campaign (Bond,

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2016, para. 3). “Man, who would have expected the ride we’re all having right now? . . . The money’s rolling in and this is fun,” Moonves went on. “I’ve never seen anything like this, and this going to be a very good year for us. Sorry. It’s a terrible thing to say. But bring it on, Donald. Keep going” (Bond, 2016, para. 6). During his campaign, Donald Trump attracted nearly $5 billion in free media exposure, more than any other Republican primary candidate or Democrat Hillary Clinton (Stewart, 2016). Trump’s Hostility and Attacks on the Press

Extreme hostility towards the press became a main theme of Donald Trump’s campaign and, later, of his presidency. He called journalists “absolute scum” and “totally dishonest people” and called mainstream media outlets the “enemy of the people” who consistently published fake news (Hetherington & Ladd, 2020). At his political rallies, Trump encouraged the crowds to scream at, or even attack, reporters covering the event, forcing them to leave by the back door for security reasons (Solender, 2020). President Trump waged a “systematic, frontal assault on free media and repeated attempts to delegitimize the media’s role in a democratic society” (Barkan, 2018, para. 7). While he was hostile toward all reporters, he was particularly so toward women journalists of color, attacking their intelligence and personal integrity as reporters. “He can’t stand to be contradicted or criticized by anyone but seems especially enraged when women stand up to him,” said Katz and Kilbourne (2020, para. 11). Trump called women reporters of color “stupid,” “nasty,” and “loser” when they posed challenging questions. President Trump’s constant rages against the press were “the equivalent of pouring a can of lighter fuid on a fre that had been smoldering for several years already” (Howard, 2018, para. 8). Trust in the media had been declining for decades, but accelerated during the Trump Administration. Mainstream media outlets responded to these attacks by rigorously fact checking stories, but it was too late—the credibility of news in the public’s view had slid so low that the fact checkers were also distrusted (Kreiss, 2018). It seems that “the nation’s watchdog has lost much of its bite” and won’t regain it until perceptions of the press improve (Patterson, 2017, para. 47). The rise of partisan news networks contributed to growing mistrust and anger toward the legacy mainstream media such as The New York Times and CNN. This was fueled by Trump’s antagonistic rhetoric, giving a green light for retaliation by anyone with a grudge against the media. A clear example of the devastating outcome of this smoldering fre is the massacre of fve journalists at the Capital Gazette in June 2018, in Annapolis, MD,

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by a shooter armed with a shotgun, who had conducted an ongoing and escalating feud with the media outlet over their coverage of his transgressions (Howard, 2018). Fake News

Fake news is deliberately created dis-information (false information), and it fooded social media during the 2016 presidential campaign. Although fake news and propaganda have been around for centuries, the proliferation of online news sources and social media make it more easily spread compared with the past (Young-Brown, 2020).  The catch-all term “fake news,” however, is not well defned; it can include anything from deliberate political dis-information (vs. misinformation or unintentional errors), hoaxes, and conspiracy theories to blatant political propaganda (Schapals, 2018). Most is circulated via social media, channels that are becoming more popular as news sources (particularly Facebook and Twitter)—about 53 percent of the U.S. population say they use these platforms for news sometimes or often (Pew Research Center, 2021). Often designed to look like credible news stories and bearing sensational headlines, fake news circulates more easily, driven by political and ideological polarization more so than ignorance (Tandoc et al., 2019). Research shows that fake news stories during the 2016 campaign most often favored Trump and attacked Clinton, and they were more likely to be shared on social media by thousands or even millions of users (Happer et al., 2018). In the three months leading up to the November 2016 presidential election, fake news stories on Facebook generated far more engagement than those same stories on the top mainstream media sites. Russian “troll farms” linked to the Kremlin created much of these stories. These “farms” employed hundreds of workers to set up fake profles (“sock puppets”) and to produce and distribute false stories to politically manipulate the campaign in favor of Trump (Kellner, 2018). Fake news has serious political, cultural, and social consequences. It delegitimizes expert voices (sources), undermines democratic institutions, and creates disregard for objective data and facts (including science), which means that people lower their consumption of credible mainstream news and, as a result, are less informed (Graham, 2019). With social media such as Facebook or Twitter, users are drawn to like-minded people with similar views, which are then reinforced through a shared narrative called echo chambers, which leaves people unexposed to other points of view (Cinelli et al., 2021). Often rooted in racism, sexism, islamophobia and other “isms,” fake news spreads bigoted ideas that then makes biased policies more likely.

28 The Obama and Trump Years

The Muslim ban enacted by President Trump, for example, was fueled by fake news that pointed to the dangers posed by all people from Muslimdominant countries, which was used to justify extreme restrictions. Fake news also contributed to the public response to the COVID-19 pandemic as a political ideological problem rather than as a serious public health crisis. President Trump had gutted the government of scientifc expertise, dismantling administrative capacity including the pandemic response team established by President Obama (Hetherington & Ladd, 2020). As part of his politicization of the pandemic, Trump silenced, sidelined, and ignored the recommendations of well-known scientifc experts and institutions, which contributed to the disastrous handling of the pandemic (Viglione, 2020). He even pitched various unproven remedies to cure the virus, some of which were dangerous, including injecting disinfectant (which he later claimed was only a sarcastic statement) or taking Ivermectin, an anti-parasitic drug for horses (Terkel, 2020). The press struggled to report these untested remedies—they were, after all, proposed by the President and even his scientifc advisors were reluctant to question them publicly for fear of incurring the President’s wrath (Smith, 2020). These trends have shaped a “post-truth” society, with questions about “whose facts” are true or if facts even exist at all. In 2016, “post-truth” was named as the international word of 2016 by Oxford Dictionaries, defned as when “objective facts are less infuential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief” (“Post-truth declared word of the year,” 2016, para. 1). The “Trump Efect”

What has become known as the “Trump efect”—the President’s infammatory rhetoric—has rippled within politics into everyday life across the country and globally. His controversial comments and actions have fostered a climate in which White supremacists feel inspired to become more visible and emboldened to speak out or act (Robinson, 2020). Consider, for example, President Trump’s denouncing of any negative news coverage about him as “fake news.” Following suit, ofcials and leaders in Myanmar, Syria, and Israel have all similarly dismissed criticism by opponents, including scrutiny of their governments’ excessive violence, calling coverage of such “fake news” (Vernon, 2017). The far-right leaders of other nations have mirrored Trump’s aggressive rhetoric and policies on immigration, as well. The Nigerian army, for example, posted a video of Trump’s comments about fring on immigrants who throw rocks at U.S. military patrols and used that to justify Nigerian soldiers’ killing of protestors (Specia, 2018). In Myanmar, where persecution and genocide of the

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Rohingya people have been well documented and condemned worldwide, a government ofcial denied that this Indigenous group even existed, calling it “fake news” (Erlanger, 2017). These attacks serve as a cover to undermine freedom of the press and human rights (Schwartz, 2017). Conclusion

Both the Obama and Trump presidencies forced the country and the news media to re-examine issues of race and gender, but in diferent ways. Although both Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump generated major disruptions in public communication and media and in the dynamics of race and gender, these issues have certainly been at the fore through time in diferent political, economic, and social contexts. An exploration of the historic roots of journalism values and practices in the next chapter will help shed light on the role of White supremacy and patriarchy in the development of mainstream media and the way they operate today. References Alamo-Pastrana, C., & Hoynes, W. (2020). Racialization of news: Constructing and challenging professional journalism as “white media.” Humanity & Society, 44(1), 67–91. https://doi.org/10.1177/0160597618820071 Allen, M. (2017, September 27). Trump, at war with everyone, mocks McCain, McConnell. Axios. www.axios.com/trump-at-war-with-everyone-mocks-mccainmcconnell-1513305807-3256b5e6-cca2-48a7-868f-5ec7e19e6e1c.html “America on Fire”: Historian Elizabeth Hinton on George Floyd, policing & Black rebellion. (2021, May 26). Democracy Now! www.democracynow.org/2021/ 5/26/elizabeth_hinton_america_on_fre Anbinder, T. (2019, November 7). Perspective: Trump has spread more hatred of immigrants than any American in history. The Washington Post. www.washingtonpost. com/outlook/trump-has-spread-more-hatred-of-immigrants-than-any-americanin-history/2019/11/07/7e253236-f54–11e9–8bab-0fc209e065a8_story.html Arango, T. (2020, November 16). Hate crimes in U.S. rose to highest level in more than a decade in 2019. The New York Times. www.nytimes.com/2020/11/16/ us/hate-crime-rate.html Asante, M. K. (2007). Barack Obama and the dilemma of power: An Africological observation. Journal of Black Studies, 38(1), 105–115. https://doi. org/10.1177/0021934707304957 Associated Press. (2016, December 11). Ahead of pro-Trump rally, KKK members claim they’re “not white supremacists.” NBC News. www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ kkk-other-racist-groups-claim-they-re-not-white-supremacists-n694536 Barkan, R. (2018, October 19). The only thing worse than Trump’s attack on a journalist is its timing. The Guardian. www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/ oct/19/trump-mocking-attack-journalist-press-freedom Bartels, L. (2020, May 21). Analysis | Under Trump, Democrats and Republicans have never been more divided—On nearly everything. The Washington

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Post. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/05/21/under-trump-republicansdemocrats-moved-even-farther-apart-quickly/ Bier, D. (2019, January 29). It’s not just immigrants. Trump is separating American families, too. The Washington Post. www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/ 2019/01/29/its-not-just-immigrants-trump-is-separating-american-familiestoo/?utm_term=.cbdc95668008 Blake, A. (2018, February 16). Analysis | More than 40 percent of Trump’s frst cabinet-level picks have faced ethical or other controversies. The Washington Post. www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fx/wp/2018/02/16/more-than-40-percentof-trumps-cabinet-level-picks-have-faced-ethical-or-other-controversies/ Bloom, D. (2018, November 5). Love it or hate it, the Trump show has been very good for media business. Forbes. www.forbes.com/sites/dbloom/2018/11/05/ happy-election-season-media-donald-trump-has-been-very-good-for-you/ Bloomberg. (2018, April 7). Donald Trump’s tweets toy with stocks. Forbes. https:// fortune.com/2018/04/07/donald-trump-tweets-stock-market/ Bond, P. (2016, February 29). Leslie Moonves on Donald Trump: “It may not be good for America, but it’s damn good for CBS.” Hollywood Reporter. www.hollywood reporter.com/news/general-news/leslie-moonves-donald-trump-may-871464/ Bonilla-Silva, E. (2017). Racism without racists: Color-blind racism and the persistence of racial inequality in America (5th ed.). Rowman & Littlefeld Publishers. Bonilla-Silva, E. (2020). Color-blind racism in pandemic times. Sociology of Race and Ethnicity. https://doi.org/10.1177/2332649220941024 Bonilla-Silva, E., & Embrick, D. G. (2006). Racism without racists: “Killing me softly” with color blindness. In C. A. Rossatto, R. L. Allen, & M. Pruyn (Eds.), Reinventing critical pedagogy (pp. 21–34). Rowman & Littlefeld. Bradner, E. (2017, January 22). Conway: Trump White House ofered “alternative facts” on crowd size. CNN Politics. www.cnn.com/2017/01/22/politics/ kellyanne-conway-alternative-facts/index.html Brown, B. (n.d.). How many tweets? Trump Twitter Archive. Retrieved August 23, 2021, from //www.thetrumparchive.com Browning, L., & Bever, L. (2016, November 16). “Ape in heels”: W.Va. mayor resigns amid controversy over racist comments about Michelle Obama. The Washington Post. www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2016/11/14/ ape-in-heels-w-va-ofcials-under-fre-after-comments-about-michelle-obama/ Bump, P. (2020, September 1). Analysis: Over and over, Trump has focused on Black Lives Matter as a target of derision or violence. The Washington Post. www. washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/09/01/over-over-trump-has-focused-blacklives-matter-target-derision-or-violence/ Bunn, C. (2021). Why Black Lives Matter matters. In M. H. Cottman, P. Gaines, C. Bunn, N. Charles, & K. Harriston (Eds.), Say their names: How Black lives came to matter in America (pp. 1–62). Grand Central Publishing. Burke, L. V. (2016, March 9). President Obama didn’t create Donald Trump; The people who hate Obama did. The Root. www.theroot.com/president-obamadidnt-create-donald-trump-the-people-w-1790854553 Burnett, J. (2019, June 20). How the Trump Administration’s “zero tolerance” policy changed the immigration debate. National Public Radio. www.npr. org/2019/06/20/734496862/how-the-trump-administrations-zero-tolerancepolicy-changed-the-immigration-deba

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Campbell, C. P. (1995). Race, myth and the news. Sage Publications. CBS News. (2008, June 13). Fox News calls Michelle Obama “Baby Mama.” CBS News. www.cbsnews.com/news/fox-news-calls-michelle-obama-baby-mama/ Cinelli, M., Morales, G. D. F., Galeazzi, A., Quattrociocchi, W., & Starnini, M. (2021). The echo chamber efect on social media. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118(9). https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2023301118 Coates, J. (2014). Trail of tears. Greenwood. Coates, T. N. (2017, September 7). The frst white president. The Atlantic. www. theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/10/the-frst-white-president-ta-nehisicoates/537909/ Cobb, J. (2017, September 24). From Louis Armstrong to the N.F.L.: Ungrateful as the New Uppity. The New Yorker. www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/fromlouis-armstrong-to-the-nf-ungrateful-as-the-new-uppity Colby, E. B. (2018, August 1). Donald Trump’s noteworthy tweets as president. Newsday. www.newsday.com/news/nation/donald-trump-s-noteworthy-tweets-aspresident-1.12632966 Collins, P. H. (2002). Black feminist thought: Knowledge, consciousness, and the politics of empowerment. Routledge. Crenshaw, K. (1997). Color blindness, history, and the law. In W. Lubiano (Ed.), The house that race built (pp. 280–288). Pantheon. Criminal Justice Facts (n.d.). The sentencing project. www.sentencingproject.org/ criminal-justice-facts/ Cross, D. (2018, May 11). Take it from a lawyer with a disability: Trump’s Paralympics comments were ofensive. USA Today. www.usatoday.com/story/ opinion/2018/05/11/donald-trump-paralympics-disabled-tough-watch-column/ 599142002/ Day, E. (2015, July 19). #BlackLivesMatter: The birth of a new civil rights movement. The Guardian. www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/19/blacklivesmatterbirth-civil-rights-movement Dorrien, G. (2018). The backlash this time: Obama, Trump, and the American trauma. Cross Currents (New Rochelle, N.Y.), 68(1), 54–72. https://doi. org/10.1111/cros.12300 Ecker, U., Jetter, M., & Lewandowsky, S. (2020, November 12). How Trump uses Twitter to distract the media—new research. The Conversation. http://the conversation.com/how-trump-uses-twitter-to-distract-the-media-new-research149847 Efron, D. A. (2018, April 28). Opinion | Why Trump supporters don’t mind his lies. The New York Times. www.nytimes.com/2018/04/28/opinion/sunday/whytrump-supporters-dont-mind-his-lies.html Erlanger, S. (2017, December 12). ‘Fake news,’ Trump’s obsession, is now a cudgel for strongmen. The New York Times. www.nytimes.com/2017/12/12/world/ europe/trump-fake-news-dictators.html Feinberg, A., Branton, R., & Martinez-Ebers, V. (2019, March 22). Analysis: Counties that hosted a 2016 Trump rally saw a 226 percent increase in hate crimes. The Washington Post. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/03/22/ trumps-rhetoric-does-inspire-more-hate-crimes/ Gabbatt, A. (2017, March 21). No, over there! Our case-by-case guide to the Trump distraction technique. The Guardian. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/ mar/21/donald-trump-distraction-technique-media

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Gammage, M. M. (2016). Representations of Black women in the media: The damnation of Black womanhood. Taylor & Francis Group. https://doi. org/10.4324/9781315671550 Garcia-Navarro, L. (2020, October 25). How Donald Trump’s presidency has changed the media. National Public Radio. www.npr.org/2020/10/25/927564446/ how-donald-trumps-presidency-has-changed-the-media Gertz, M. (2019, July 10). “Destructive propaganda machine”: How current and former stafers have ripped into Fox News. Media Matters for America. www. mediamatters.org/fox-news/destructive-propaganda-machine-how-current-andformer-stafers-have-ripped-fox-news Gessen, M. (2018, October 25). How the media normalizes Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric. The New Yorker. www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/how-themainstream-media-normalizes-trumps-anti-immigrant-rhetoric Glasser, S. B. (2018, December 17). How Trump made war on Angela Merkel and Europe. The New Yorker. www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/12/24/ how-trump-made-war-on-angela-merkel-and-europe Graber, S. M., Figueroa, E. J., & Vasudevan, K. (2020). Oh, say, can you kneel: A critical discourse analysis of newspaper coverage of Colin Kaepernick’s racial protest. Howard Journal of Communications, 31(5), 464–480. https://doi.org/1 0.1080/10646175.2019.1670295 Graham, A., Cullen, F. T., Butler, L. C., Burton, A. L., & Burton, V. S. (2021). Who wears the MAGA hat? Racial beliefs and faith in Trump. Socius, 7. https://doi. org/10.1177/2378023121992600 Graham, D. A. (2019, June 7). Some real news about fake news. The Atlantic. www. theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/06/fake-news-republicans-democrats/ 591211/ Happer, C., Hoskins, A., & Merrin, W. (2018). Weaponizing reality: An introduction to Trump’s war on the media. In Trump’s media war (pp. 3–22). Springer International Publishing AG. Harris, T. M., & Steiner, R. J. (2018). Beyond the veil: A critique of white Christian rhetoric and racism in the age of Trump. Journal of Communication & Religion, 41(1), 33–45. Hetherington, M., & Ladd, J. M. (2020, May 1). Destroying trust in the media, science, and government has left America vulnerable to disaster. Brookings. www. brookings.edu/blog/fxgov/2020/05/01/destroying-trust-in-the-media-scienceand-government-has-left-america-vulnerable-to-disaster/ Hooker, J. (2016). Black Lives Matter and the paradoxes of U.S. Black politics: From democratic sacrifce to democratic repair. Political Theory, 44(4), 448–469. https://doi.org/10.1177/0090591716640314 Howard, M. (2018, June 29). The truth about being a journalist in the Trump Era. WBUR. www.wbur.org/cognoscenti/2018/06/29/anti-media-rhetoric-capitalgazette-miles-howard Howard, P. S. (2010). Turning out the center: Racial politics and African agency in the Obama Era. Journal of Black Studies, 40(3), 380–394. Ishak, N. (2021, March 24). How mainstream media failed the Atlanta shooting victims. Nieman Lab. www.niemanlab.org/2021/03/how-mainstream-mediafailed-the-atlanta-shooting-victims/ Jamieson, A., Jefrey, S., & Puglise, N. (2016, October 27). A timeline of Donald Trump’s alleged sexual misconduct: Who, when and what. The Guardian.

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www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/oct/13/list-of-donald-trump-sexualmisconduct-allegations Janik, R., & Hankes, K. (2021, February 1). The year in hate and extremism 2020. Southern Poverty Law Center. www.splcenter.org/news/2021/02/01/ year-hate-2020 Jerkowitz, M., & Mitchell, A. (2020, April 1). Cable TV and coronavirus: How Americans perceive the outbreak and view media coverage difer by main news source. Pew Research Center’s Journalism Project. www.pewresearch.org/ journalism/2020/04/01/cable-tv-and-covid-19-how-americans-perceive-theoutbreak-and-view-media-coverage-difer-by-main-news-source/ Kai, J. (2021, June 8). How Trump fueled anti-Asian violence in America. The Diplomat. https://thediplomat.com/2021/06/how-trump-fueled-anti-asian-violencein-america/ Katz, J., & Kilbourne, J. (2020, April 23). Trump and the “nasty,” “horrid” women reporters. Ms. Magazine. https://msmagazine.com/2020/04/23/ trump-and-the-nasty-horrid-women-reporters/ Kellner, D. (2018). Trump’s war against the media, fake news, and (a)social media. In C. Happer, A. Hoskins, & W. Merrin (Eds.), Trump’s media war (pp. 47–67). Springer International Publishing AG. https://doi-org.du.idm.oclc. org/10.1007/978-3-319-94069-4 Kessler, G., Rizzo, S., & Kelly, M. (2021, January 24). Analysis | Trump’s false or misleading claims total 30,573 over 4 years. The Washington Post. www. washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/01/24/trumps-false-or-misleading-claimstotal-30573-over-four-years/ Kreiss, D. (2018). The media are about identity, not information. In P. J. Boczkowski & Z. Papacharissi (Eds.), Trump and the media (pp. 92–99). MIT Press. Lawson, B. E. (2011). Of President Barack H. Obama and others. European Journal of Pragmatism and American Philosophy, III(2), Article 2. https://doi. org/10.4000/ejpap.825 Leopold, J., & Bell, M. P. (2017). News media and the racialization of protest: An analysis of Black Lives Matter articles. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion an International Journal, 36(8), 720–735. https://doi.org/10.1108/EDI-01-2017-0010 Levine, M. (2020, May 30). “No Blame?” ABC News fnds 54 cases invoking “Trump” in connection with violence, threats, alleged assaults. ABC News. https:// abcnews.go.com/Politics/blame-abc-news-finds-17-cases-invoking-trump/ story?id=58912889 Logan, E. L. (2011). “At this defning moment” Barack Obama’s presidential candidacy and the new politics of race. University Press. https://doi.org/ 10.18574/9780814753460 Long, C. (2021, April 20). Watchdog: DOJ bungled “zero tolerance” immigration policy. AP News. https://apnews.com/article/aclu-doj-zero-tolerance-policyfailure-b8e6e0a189f5752697335f51d57b1628 Lopez, G. (2016, July 25). Donald Trump’s long history of racism, from the 1970s to 2020. Vox. www.vox.com/2016/7/25/12270880/donald-trump-racistracism-history Lybrand, H., Subramaniam, T., Cohen, M., & Dale, D. (2021, July 28). Republicans’ Jan. 6 counterprogramming flled with falsehoods. CNN. www.cnn. com/2021/07/28/politics/republican-jan-6-hearing-counterprogramming-factcheck/index.html

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MacFarquhar, N. (2020, May 31). Many claim extremists are sparking protest violence. But which extremists? The New York Times. www.nytimes. com/2020/05/31/us/george-foyd-protests-white-supremacists-antifa.html Martin, R. (2019, August 13). Trump “embodies nearly every aspect of a racist,” author says. NPR. www.npr.org/2019/08/13/750799889/ibram-x-kendiracism-isnt-an-identity-its-what-youre-doing-in-the-moment Media Matters Staf. (2018). Tucker Carlson warns viewers about threats of white “genocide.” Media Matters for America. www.mediamatters.org/video/2018/10/01/ tucker-carlson-warns-viewers-about-threats-white-genocide/221531 Mellinger, G. (2018). The construction of whiteness: an interdisciplinary analysis of race formation and the meaning of a white Identity. American Studies, 57(1/2), 130–131. https://doi.org/10.1353/ams.2018.0038 Mervosh, S. (2019, February 11). Trump mocks Warren with apparent reference to Trail of Tears, which killed thousands. The New York Times. www.nytimes. com/2019/02/10/us/trump-trail-of-tears.html Monahan, B., & Maratea, R. J. (2021). The art of the spiel: Analyzing Donald Trump’s tweets as gonzo storytelling. Symbolic Interaction.  https://doi. org/10.1002/symb.540 Montgomery, B., Cruz, C., Ibrahim, N., & Olding, R. (2021, March 17). Massage parlor massacres suspect said he loved guns & God. The Daily Beast. www. thedailybeast.com/seven-killed-in-shootings-at-atlanta-spas Montgomery, D. (2020, November 10). Trump dramatically changed the presidency. Here’s a list of the 20 most important norms he broke—and how Biden can restore them. The Washington Post.www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/ lifestyle/magazine/trump-presidential-norm-breaking-list/ Moreno, J. E. (2020, June 30). Trump insulted UK’s May, called Germany’s Merkel “stupid” in calls: Report [Text]. The Hill. https://thehill.com/homenews/ administration/505182-trump-insulted-uks-may-called-germanys-merkelstupid-in-calls-report Ndulue, E. B., Bermejo, F., Ramos, K., Lowe, S. E., Hofman, N., & Zuckerman, E. (2019). Normalizing vs. watchdogging in a nativist age. MIT Center for Civic Media. Nelson, Libby (2016, October 7). “Grab ’em by the pussy”: How Trump talked about women in private is horrifying. Vox. www.vox.com/2016/10/7/13205842/ trump-secret-recording-women Nelson, Louis (2016, October 8). Trump told Howard Stern it’s OK to call Ivanka a “piece of a—.” Politico. http://politi.co/2CBeUYK Nilsen, S. D., & Turner, S. E. (2022). White Supremacy and the American Media. Routledge. O’Brien, M. (2018, April 6). Perspective: How Trump’s tweets drive markets crazy. The Washington Post. www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2018/04/06/ how-trumps-tweets-drive-markets-crazy/ Olds, T. (2011). Marginalizing the president. “The concerted efort to ‘other’ Obama.” Race, gender & class (Towson, Md.), 18(3/4), 100–109. Patterson, T. E. (2017). News coverage of Donald Trump’s frst 100 days. Harvard Kennedy School Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy. Pengelly, M. (2019, July 15). “Go back home”: Trump aims racist attack at Ocasio-Cortez and other congresswomen. The Guardian. www.theguardian. com/us-news/2019/jul/14/trump-squad-tlaib-omar-pressley-ocasio-cortez

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Pew Research Center. (2021, January 11). About half of Americans get news on social media at least sometimes. Pew Research Center’s Journalism Project. www. pewresearch.org/journalism/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2021/01/PJ_2021. 01.12_news-social-media_0-01.png Pleat, Z. (2019, December 30). Here’s how the NY Times misled readers with its headlines and tweets in 2019. Media Matters for America. www.media matters.org/new-york-times/heres-how-ny-times-misled-readers-its-headlinesand-tweets-2019 “Post-truth” declared word of the year by Oxford Dictionaries. (2016, November 16). BBC News. www.bbc.com/news/uk-37995600 Prison Policy Initiative. (2020). Visualizing the racial disparities in mass incarceration. www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2020/07/27/disparities/ Remnick, D. (2016, November 9). An American Tragedy. The New Yorker. www. newyorker.com/news/news-desk/an-american-tragedy-2 Robinson, E. (2020, November 2). Opinion: Defeating Trump is only the frst step in our national recovery. The Washington Post. www.washingtonpost.com/ opinions/defeating-trump-is-only-the-frst-step-in-our-national-recovery/2020/1 1/02/9dd3016e-1d4c-11eb-ba21-f2f001f0554b_story.html Ruben, J. (2018, March 14). Opinion: Here’s the case: Trump has the worst Cabinet ever. The Washington Post. www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/ wp/2018/03/14/heres-the-case-trump-has-the-worst-cabinet-ever/ Samuel, T. (2016, April 22). The racist backlash Obama has faced during his presidency. The Washington Post. www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/ obama-legacy/racial-backlash-against-the-president.html Schapals, A. K. (2018). Fake news. Journalism Practice, 12(8), 976–985. https:// doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2018.1511822 Schmelzer, E. (2021, September 1). Record number of hate crimes reported to Colorado law enforcement in 2020. Denver Post. www.denverpost.com/2021/09/01/ colorado-hate-crimes-2020/ Schorr, D. (2008, January 28). A New,“Post-Racial” Political Era in America. National Public Radio. Schwartz, J. (2017, December 8). Trump’s “fake news” mantra a hit with despots. Politico. http://politi.co/2yOHp2N Shapiro, S. (2020, August 1). Trump prizes loyalty over competence—We are seeing the results. TheHill. https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/510130-trumpprizes-loyalty-over-competence-we-are-seeing-the-results Shefeld, M. (2018, October 15). Juan Williams says there is no real separation between Fox News, Trump administration. TheHill. https://thehill.com/hilltv/ rising/411436-fox-news-contributor-there-is-no-separation-between-fox-newsand-the-trump Sherman, W. R. (2020, July 31). The total destruction of U.S. foreign policy under Trump. Foreign Policy. https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/07/31/trump-destructionforeign-policy/ Shyong, F. (2021, July 30). Column: Hate crime or not, Atlanta shooter was motivated by racism. Los Angeles Times. www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-07-30/ shyong-atlanta-shootings Simpson, L. (2020, September 11). How Donald Trump is covered by media around the world. ABC News. https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/donald-trumpcovered-media-world/story?id=33539306

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Smith, D. (2020, April 11). Trump and Fox News: The dangerous relationship shaping America’s coronavirus response. The Guardian. www.theguardian.com/ media/2020/apr/10/fox-news-donald-trump-coronavirus Solender, A. (2020, September 22). Trump says police violence against journalists is ‘actually a beautiful sight.’ Forbes. www.forbes.com/sites/andrewsolender/2020/ 09/22/trump-says-police-violence-against-journalists-is-actually-a-beautifulsight/ Smith, D. (2020, April 30). Birx risks reputation in bid to keep on Trump’s good side. The Guardian. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/apr/30/dr-deborahbirx-coronavirus-taskforce-trump Spayd, L. (2017). Not “she said, he said.” Mockery, plain and simple. The New York Times. Retrieved July 13, 2019, from www.nytimes.com/2017/01/10/ public-editor/trump-streep-golden-globes.html Specia, M. (2018, November 4). Four ways world leaders have echoed Trump’s words and policies. The New York Times. www.nytimes.com/2018/11/04/world/ americas/foreign-leaders-echo-trump.html Stelter, B. (2019, July 22). How Fox News fuels Trump’s fxation with AOC and Ilhan Omar. CNN Business. CNN. www.cnn.com/2019/07/21/media/fox-newsaoc-ilhan-omar/index.html Stewart, E. (2016, November 20). Donald Trump rode $5 billion in free media to the White House. TheStreet. www.thestreet.com/politics/donald-trump-rode5-billion-in-free-media-to-the-white-house-13896916 Tandoc, E. C., Jenkins, J., & Craft, S. (2019). Fake news as a critical incident in journalism. Journalism Practice, 13(6), 673–689. https://doi.org/10.1080/1751 2786.2018.1562958 Taub, A. (2016, March 1). The rise of American authoritarianism. Vox. www.vox. com/2016/3/1/11127424/trump-authoritarianism Taylor, K.-Y. (2021, January 12). The bitter fruits of Trump’s white-power presidency. The New Yorker. www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/the-bitterfruits-of-trumps-white-power-presidency Terkel, A. (2020, April 24). From bleach to warm weather: Trump’s dangerous coronavirus “cures.” HufPost. www.hufpost.com/entry/trump-curescoronavirus_n_5ea2f21fc5b669fd89239b14 Timberg, C., & Dwoskin, E. (2020, September 30). Trump’s debate comments give an online boost to a group social media companies have long struggled against. The Washington Post. www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/09/30/trumpdebate-rightwing-celebration/ Turchi, J., & Melton-Fant, C. (2022). Media framing of COVID-19 racial disparities: lessons from Memphis, Tennessee. Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, 8(3), 355–369. https://doi.org/10.1177/23326492221099248 Vernon, P. (2017, December 5). The media today: Trump’s “fake news” attacks have global impact. Columbia Journalism Review. www.cjr.org/the_media_ today/trump-fake-news-global-impact-libya-royhingya.php Viglione, G. (2020). Four ways Trump has meddled in pandemic science—and why it matters. Nature. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-03035-4 Vitali, A., Hunt, K., & Thorpe, F. V. (2018, January 11). Trump referred to Haiti and African nations as “shithole” countries. NBC News. www.nbcnews.com/ politics/white-house/trump-referred-haiti-african-countries-shithole-nationsn836946

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Waldman, K. (2018, January 22). There’s nothing more to learn about Trump. Please enjoy this essay about him. Slate Magazine. https://slate.com/news-andpolitics/2018/01/theres-nothing-more-to-learn-about-trump-please-enjoy-thisessay-about-him.html Williams, P. J. (1998). Seeing a color-blind future: The paradox of race (frst American ed.). Noonday Press. Wood, M. L. (2020, August 12). An incomplete—and very long—list of the most racist policies the Trump Administration has tried to enact. Courier. https:// couriernewsroom.com/2020/08/12/trumps-most-racist-policies/ Young-Brown, F. (2020). Fake News and Propaganda. Cavendish Square Publishing. Zelizer, B. (2018). Resetting journalism in the aftermath of Brexit and Trump. European Journal of Communication, 33(2), 140–156.

3 INTERROGATING JOURNALISTIC PRACTICES, PART 1 Historical Perspectives on Race

Introduction

Chapter 2 opened with the question “How did we arrive at this state of afairs in journalism?” This chapter addresses the ways in which U.S. journalism took root in the sociopolitical soil of White male privilege. Using critical race and feminist critical media theories as both a theoretical lens and analytical tool, I focus on newspapers, because they were the primary news medium during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Journalism scholars refer to a metaphor of the social contract held by the press in a democracy, or “an implied covenant with the public,” which emphasizes the pluralistic and progressive role of media as agents of change with public responsibilities to serve as watchdogs on government, to provide citizens with impartial information, and to contribute to the building and continued improvement of the nation (Kovach & Rosensteil, 2001, p. 51; Schudson, 2008). Yet, which citizens are actually served? Are male and female citizens served equally? Are BIPOC communities fnding equal representation? One needn’t search far to see—via experience and the texts of history—that such is not the case. Historical scholarship on mainstream journalism primarily centers on a few powerful White men who published major newspapers starting in the mid- to late 1800s, a limited view that James Carey called an “embarrassment” (cited in Munson & Warren, 1997, p. 86). Journalism textbooks often portray the (White) history of the feld of journalism as a narrative of progress undertaken in a democratic nation with few bumps in the road, but these histories often miss the contextual and cultural considerations DOI: 10.4324/9781315159171-3

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while ignoring critiques of ideological infuences. They are missing the disruptions and dysfunctions of the feld’s evolution, which have often had a detrimental efect on those at the bottom levels of the White-male power hierarchy. Media narratives are constructed through the dominant eye and voice, or (as some say) the lens of the “conqueror.” As such, they refect “master narratives” or dominant themes that represent reality in ways that perpetuate and legitimize White supremacy (Delgado, 1989). What is History?

What do we mean by history, and how do we defne where it begins and ends? History, then, is a lens through which I frame the topic of journalism development. This historical analysis refects the way that power operates to construct and reproduce historical narratives, with dominant narratives that leave out or silence BIPOC and women. Trouillot (2015) calls these narratives “bundles of silences,” which are used to promote and protect colonialism, White supremacy, and patriarchy (p. 27). This production of “historical truths” operates in academic and political circles, but also in mainstream media, which produce stories of the past that become “common sense” via their circulation through schools, communities, Hollywood movies, books, and the press. As one example, consider how in the 1960s and 1970s children learned the history of the Wild West from the White hero, John Wayne, in his battles with Native Americans as “savage warriors,” coming to see the fctitious Davy Crockett TV character as real (Trouillot, 2015). As we will see in this chapter, newspaper publishers and editors exploited racial fears as a reliable way to increase audience size for advertisers and to generate public support for territorial and imperialist expansion and weakening opposition to these policies (González & Torres, 2011, p. 4). I show selected social, political, economic, and legal events from the late 1800s through the 1970s that will illuminate the racist, sexist, and xenophobic foundations of mainstream journalism, including ways that the press consciously misled the public and fomented bias (González & Torres, 2011). In Chapter 6, I explore more recent issues with examples of news practices and content that continue to be shaped by gender and racial ideologies, despite the drastic and rapid social and technological changes of the climate and culture of journalism. This analytic process is designed to call attention to the role that the media play in constructing and maintaining gender and racial categories, status hierarchies, and gender- and race-based inequities within U.S. society. Although these biases are constructed through a variety of micro-,

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meso-, and macro-level factors,  journalists need to become more aware of how their own cultural identities and positionalities—which shape every step of the news-making process—may contribute to reinforce these imbalances.

The Historical Roots of Journalism Positivism and the Social Sciences

In the late 19th century, journalism emerged as a profession with specifc norms and practices modeled on the social sciences, or the positivist paradigm, which holds the ontological assumption of the existence of a single, fxed reality that can be observed objectively (Sofer, 2009). The epistemology of both journalism and social science, then, presumes that the only “true”  knowledge is empirical; that is, knowledge acquired through direct observation and measurement of social phenomena in a neutral and objective manner by an expert (researcher or journalist, in this case) to determine “truth” or “reality” (Wien, 2006). These direct observations are “facts,” of sounds, sights, and smells. This assumes that anyone present in the same scene would observe it in exactly the same way (Wien, 2006). Thus, positivism assumes that the object of observation (such as a news event) has an essential identity and exists in an independent reality that can be described with facts, without bias, as absolute “truth” by using appropriate procedural rules or, in the case of journalism, appropriate news practices (Allan, 1998; Wien, 2006). After World War I, there was enormous concern about the powerful impact of propaganda on society (Wien, 2006). Based on the scientifc method, journalism was perceived as a way to ensure that the public received “trustworthy facts.” Through the 1920s, the scientifc method was the foundation for the industry’s emphasis on objective reporting based on facts by the neutral observer, the reporter. There was no acknowledgement of the implications of social structures, normative ideologies, and power dynamics in journalistic work, which still contribute to disempowerment of those outside the elite power structure (Halualani et al., 2009).

Feminist Critiques of Science

Feminist critiques of social science and positivism argue that principles and methods were designed with male traits and characteristics in mind (Harding, 2004). Consider, for instance, that, although they have no biological basis, racial categories emerged out of slavery and were developed and endorsed by scientists, used as a hierarchy to label groups as superior

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or inferior (Fredrickson & Camarillo, 2015; Odekunle, 2020). Blacks were viewed as less than human—as commodities—which laid the groundwork for scientifc racism, or eugenics, in the 19th century that was used against Native Americans and other non-White groups as well to afrm White privilege and justify the conquest and forced assimilation of these groups into White society. Similarly, patriarchy served to afrm male privilege with the power and domination of men over women: scientists assumed men were both biologically and intellectually superior to women, or the “Other,” which seemed to be confrmed by the practices of biology, politics, and society at that time (Odekunle, 2020). Positivism promotes binaries, including reason vs. emotion, mind vs. body, universal vs. particular, active vs. passive, culture vs. nature, and production vs. reproduction (Dahnke & Dreher, 2016, p. 238). Moreover, these dichotomies are hierarchical, with the frst half assigned to men and male characteristics, which have been, traditionally, the more valued characteristics in Western society. For example, throughout the intellectual history of the West, reason or rationality have been identifed as the locus of knowledge acquisition, ethical judgment, and successful functioning in the public and political realms, and, thus, those who control the creation and interpretation of knowledge have held the power of determining what is truth (Dahnke & Dreher, 2016, p. 239). Naturally, androcentric and White biases occur in research when White males are treated as the norm. Studies at the time excluded or overlooked women and BIPOC as subjects of research, and yet research results were generalized to entire populations as “universal.”  Since power relations could not be empirically measured, they were ignored, obscuring the existence of hierarchies. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, racial and gender ideologies assumed that diferences (biased by White patriarchal ideologies and moral codes) were “natural”—established by God—which meant for BIPOC the justifcation of devastating legalized racism accompanied by colonialism, slavery, genocide, and eugenics (Odekunle, 2020; Saini, 2017). These ideologies and problematic research results have served to rationalize legal gender and racial inequities in voting, education and housing segregation, property laws, marriage and divorce laws, employment, and health, and more . . . and they continue to be the foundation of unjust policies. Blacks and Latinxs are more likely to be exposed to toxic pollution and more likely to have asthma, and yet they are less likely to be included in biomedical research to address environmentally related diseases such as asthma, diabetes, or cancer (Konkel, 2015; Oh et al., 2015). As for gender biases in medical research, women are less likely to be included in new drug studies prior to FDA approval, and, yet 80 percent of the drugs withdrawn from the U.S. market between 1997 and 2000 were removed because of

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side efects that mainly afected women (Burrowes, 2021). Media reports rarely address these inequities. Economic Structures and the Proft Motive

Mainstream media in the United States continue to be primarily owned and operated by for-proft entities. Nonetheless, historical and current narratives in journalism textbooks and scholarship have downplayed the potential ethical and political issues of news as a commodity. Instead, they frame historical chronicles about media within a tale of benevolent market forces that have enabled development of independent journalism. Under capitalism, a commercial venture relies on consumers. To be a consumer, one must be able to exert certain forms of agency (capability to act) in the marketplace, which relies on the ability to obtain the resources that fuel those agential actions, for example, money. If newspapers function to appeal to consumers, then, the question becomes obvious—to whom must the organization cater? With the rise of the mass-market model, the rationalization of economic life in the late 19th and early 20th centuries led media outlets to pursue broader audiences, increase the scale of production, and grow larger news organizations (Baldasty, 1993). First, in the latter part of the 19th century, commercialism motivated newspapers to shift from primarily partisan rags run by political parties to mass-produced products aimed at a mass audience, which meant the commercial press industry grew more dependent on advertising as the primary revenue rather than on political parties for fnancing. Media mergers and conglomeration pushed out many smaller media organizations (Herman & Chomsky, 1988; Wien, 2006). As a result, marketing departments came to have a bigger infuence on news decisions to lure larger audiences to appease advertisers. Advances in printing technologies and the telegraph made production faster and less expensive, which enabled larger circulations and reach. This, in turn, attracted more and wealthier advertisers. The larger newspapers took advantage of economies of scale by centralizing editorial authority and relying more on syndicated content (Pickard, 2019). News became a commodity to be constructed and marketed for proft, which infuenced the news agenda and production. With intense competition, some newspapers began to publish what was coined as “yellow journalism,” sensationalist tabloid-style content with lurid crime and human-interest stories that often had little or no basis in verifed facts (McNamara, 2019). Editors and publishers drew on deeply rooted biases based on White supremacy and patriarchy as fodder for sensationalist coverage. Stories avoided controversial issues that conficted

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with advertisers’ commercial and political interests—and, as a result, readers were viewed as consumers rather than as informed citizens (Pickard, 2019). The appeal was to middle- and upper-class consumers, which had yet more repercussions (Baldasty, 1993). That is, by focusing on the more prosperous consumers, earlier progressive narratives of working-class solidarity were omitted as a type of “ideological censorship” (Baker, 1994). As such, the proft motive served to “depoliticize” readers with a limited range of ideological opinions (Nerone, 2015). The inherent contradiction between the drive for profts and serving the public good has long been a challenge for the press and contributes to the current crisis in journalism, as explored in Chapter 6. The largest newspapers were urban dailies. By the end of the 19th century, they employed hundreds of reporters, editors, and other personnel in the production and business departments (Pickard, 2019). They churned out multiple editions with the help of new technologies. Low salaries and poor working conditions encouraged reporters to cross ethical lines, to exaggerate, or even fabricate, news stories in order to increase their sensationalism. News values and journalism practices such as reporting routines and story framing became more standardized, so that: the coverage automatically and inevitably reinforced the ideas and norms of the powerful—mostly White, Protestant, Anglo-Americans—and undermined individuals and groups who departed from these norms— Native Americans, African Americans, Chinese, Irish and Italian Catholics, and many others. (Coward, 1999, pp. 9–10)

Media and Manifest Destiny The news media .  .  . assumed primary authorship of a deeply fawed national narrative: the creation myth of heroic European settlers battling an array of backward and violent non-[W]hite peoples to forge the world’s greatest democratic republic. (González & Torres, 2011, p. 2)

The “Doctrine of Discovery” was an imperialist religious and legal framework and set of policies that emerged in the 15th and 16th centuries giving Christian conquerors—and, later, White European colonial settlers—the moral and legal right to seize Indigenous lands and resources and to slaughter and enslave millions of “primitive” non-White ”heathens” and “pagans” who resisted (Charles & Rah, 2019). This doctrine, which the

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press promoted, was likewise used to justify the enslavement and mercantilism of millions of Black men, women, and children (Elliott & Hughes, 2019). As noted by Nikole Hannah-Jones of The New York Times, cocreator of the 1619 Project (2019), an in-depth program that focuses on slavery and Black history, profts from the enslaved-persons1 trade gave political and social power and wealth to the Church, European colonial states, and colonies in the New World, as well as to newspaper editors and publishers. A related doctrine, “Manifest Destiny,” was a rallying cry and rationalization by the U.S. government, powerful business groups, and media to plunder Indigenous land and resources through imperialist aggression with the expansion westward that began in the 1820s (Heidler & Heidler, 2023). As with the Doctrine of Discovery, it was based on religious and

FIGURE 3.1

An advertisement and headline refect the arrogance and hatred of White settlers toward Native Americans.

Source: U.S. Department of the Interior, 1911.

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racial ideologies that assumed the supremacy of certain forms of protestant Christianity that asserted it was God’s divine destiny for Whites to “civilize” the native barbarians through extermination, assimilation, or segregation on newly created reservations (Cortez, 2013; Gómez, 2018). According to the “prosperity gospel,” settlers who were true believers in God would be rewarded with health and wealth, including large tracts of land (Bowler, 2018). The arrival of White European settlers was devastating for Native Americans. Although the numbers vary, an estimated population of 15 million people lived in hundreds of tribes with their own governments when Christopher Columbus arrived in 1492. At the end of the 19th century, this was reduced to fewer than 238,000 people living, due to massacres, diseases, starvation, slavery, and ethnic cleansing (Mass killings of Native Americans, 2019). The Indigenous tribes lost millions of acres of land through forced removal and violence, based on the White European settlers’ view that the land was wasted because it was uncultivated. The role of media in propagating these racial ideologies illustrates the hegemonic power of Whiteness as a strategic rhetoric and the “conquest” of territorial expansion as a racialized and gendered endeavor dominated by White men (Nakayama & Krizek, 1995). Highly popular tales described heroic (White male) settlers fghting on the “rugged frontier” to tame the wilderness and battle the primitive and violent hordes of Natives in the “wild West,” not only to confscate the land but also to protect White women (Charles & Rah, 2019). Frontier newspapers were the primary source of news for settlers. In both news and fery editorials, these focused particularly on the socalled “Indian problem.” Thus, the term “Indian” was a single term applied to tribes with unique cultures and traditions, refecting the (willful) ignorance of Whites (Berkhofer, 1978, p. 3). And these reports created a generic image and stereotype in the readers’ minds of the Native American as a “savage.” Horace Greeley, a very popular and well-known editor of the NewYork Tribune, was typical of newspaper editors in the 19th century in that he was motivated by the ideology of progress in his coverage of the “Indian problem” (Coward, 1999). Based on his travels to the West in 1859, Greeley concluded that Native Americans were lazy, savage, and uncivilized, completely unlike the romanticized literary portrayals in popular novels by authors such as Fenimore Cooper of noble warriors who were peaceful, dignifed, and proud (Arnold, 2010). Greeley, who concluded that Indians had to join the march for progress or be eliminated, later admitted that his “frsthand” reports were superfcial and incomplete (Coward, 1999).

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Applying the practices of yellow journalism, newspaper organizations exaggerated accounts of “battles” and atrocities (by Indians against Whites), not only to appeal to wide audiences but also to urge the federal government to send more troops to western territories (it is important to note that many editors were also land speculators) (Reilly, 2010). This, of course, supported the project of westward expansion further, advocating forceful, often brutal, means to deal with the “Indian problem.” News sources were usually secondhand, such as letters from people living in the area, magazines, and books, complemented by the news generated by a few brave correspondents who covered the conficts (Meyers, 1967, as cited in Reilly, 2010, p. xviii). Rarely did reporters obtain the Indian side of the story, which resulted in further stereotyping and exaggerating. Any news coverage of Indigenous tribes focused on their conficts with Whites, told through sensational and graphic stories of the “Indian Wars,” and these were published in newspapers across the nation. Articles often framed conficts as massacres and marauding by hostile Indians, who committed terrible atrocities against White settlers (Coward, 1999). Few stories mentioned the rampant violence against Native American women, including rapes committed by White settlers and traders. During the 19th, and into the 20th, century, the view of Native identity as brutal savages fghting heroic Euro-American settlers and cowboys contrasted with the romanticized view of Native Americans as brave warriors and beautiful princesses that began to appear in media as a commercialized commodity (Hirschfelder & Molin, 2018). The iconic “cowboys and Indians” theme, which was popular through the 1960s and 1970s, was a powerful means of reproducing harmful stereotypes in flms, TV shows, and books. Popular Western adventure and romance novels by writers such as James Fennimore Cooper were instrumental in shaping false images of Native Americans as noble savages. Interestingly, Cooper, who lived in central New York State, had almost no contact with actual Indigenous people, and much of his writing stemmed from his imagination based on reading newspaper accounts and books, which were infuenced by scientifc race theory (Kadish, 2018). False and romanticized “White man’s Indian” images also began to appear in advertisements, sports mascots, children’s toys and games, and other merchandise. Although there were at one time more than 300 tribal languages, the fctitious Native Americans in media spoke a type of “pidgin” English (Hirschfelder & Molin, 2018). These stereotypes of Native Americans as diferent from and inferior to Whites have continued today with the “disappearing myth of [real] Native Americans,” and have served to justify continued violence against Native Americans.

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Gender Ideologies and Manifest Destiny

As the European-settler movement pushed ever westward, life on the frontier caused shifts in gender roles. Women increasingly took on typical “men’s tasks,” and at the same time were often ignored, marginalized, and even silenced in many historical narratives about frontier life (narratives mostly written by men), implying that their role and contributions were insignifcant (Jensen & Miller, 1980). Those few narratives that did include women sentimentalized women’s “trials and triumphs on the frontier” (Jacobs, 2010, p. 586). Jensen and Miller (1980) identifed four major stereotypes of (White) women in the West published in newspapers and magazines in the late 19th century, all of which represented variations of femininity and prescribed gender roles. These included: • • • •

“Gentle tamers” (chaste and pure “civilized” ladies); “Sun-bonneted helpmates” (dutiful and strong); “Hellraisers” (e.g., Calamity Jane, a “super cowgirl”); “Bad” women—“soiled” souls who frequented gambling saloons and dance halls and were often sex workers.

White women—particularly those in the middle- and upper classes—were idealized as the symbols of true womanhood. They were guided by social norms that prescribed them as “physically delicate, intellectually weak, spiritually pure,” and sexually vulnerable (Barnard, 1993, p. 2). As such, they also were framed as in need of protection by White men against the sexual aggressions of the non-White male “Other.” This protective role of White men using dominance, control, and violence has been, and continues to be, central to their sense of identity and strength and is used as a means to exercise racial and gendered privilege (Onwuachi-Willig, 2018). “True Womanhood” Social Norms

During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the ideology of true womanhood—White womanhood—was perpetuated through Whiteowned media, including newspapers, magazines, and religious literature (Welter, 1966). We vividly see this ideological representation in the doctrine of Manifest Destiny and in the U.S. westward expansion. White women’s domesticating role helped legitimize territorial expansion as a “civilizing” mission on the rugged frontier—women were fulflling their patriotic duty as agents of building a new democratic nation. Of course, women of color have held no such privileged place and have been rendered invisible and silent, which has reinforced their marginality; they have been criticized

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through distorted narratives of their character, intellect, or sexuality. BIPOC women, then, have faced the double burden of being non-White and female, and those who resist or speak out have often been met with strong backlash from the White supremacist power structure. Yet, in the case of Black women, they were active leaders of slave resistance movements, central fgures in slave families and plantation households, entrepreneurs, abolitionist leaders, educators, and founders of benevolent organizations (Holden, 2021). Historically, Indigenous women of numerous Native nations were greatly respected in tribes, holding important rights and responsibilities as political leaders, warriors, and healers, even taking an active role in trading. Many were part of matrilineal societies, meaning women owned and inherited the land. White Christian settlers were appalled at these “uncivilized” and “unnatural” cultural and political arrangements and, as part of assimilation eforts, they insisted that tribes adopt traditional Western gender roles in which women were expected to be passive, only responsible for household tasks (Ward, 2018). This had a devastating impact on women and tribal cultures. Many women resisted these imposed roles, but this created conficts within those tribes that were more adapted to White Western ways. (Some tribes have maintained women’s traditional power.) Many women became strong and visible political leaders, serving as liaisons with White settlers and government, including acting as active traders and interpreters. Research by Onwuachi-Willig (2018) shows the considerable power of the White womanhood trope going back to the early days of slavery through today, and how this trope has been used repeatedly to the detriment of Black people. One notable example is the trial, in 1955, of the White men accused of murdering the Black teenager Emmett Till, who allegedly ofended a White woman by whistling at her. The White assailants were acquitted. Nearly 60 years later, defense attorneys in the murder of Trayvon Martin in 2012 by neighborhood watch captain George Zimmerman invoked this same trope even though there was no White woman directly involved (Onwuiachi-Willig, 2018). They used tactics designed to generate fear among the six female jurors (fve White, one Latina) about recent crime in the area and the suspected involvement of Black male teenagers. As the neighborhood watch captain, Zimmerman was portrayed as the White male protector (although he was part Latino) and was judged as justifed in killing Martin and acquitted of all charges. Media’s Role in Perpetuating Early America’s Economic Engine: Slavery

For nearly 300 years, starting in the late 17th century, slavery was a powerful economic engine for capitalism for both the South and the North.

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By 1860, there were an estimated 4 million enslaved human beings laboring on southern plantations (Fact Sheet on Slavery and Emancipation American Abolitionists and Antislavery Activists, 2021). By the early to mid-19th century, racist ideology was deeply entrenched; slavery became a normalized, hegemonic system throughout the country (Gabrial, 2016). From the late 18th through the late 19th century, 12 of the frst 18 presidents, and more than 1,700 Congressmen from 38 states (across the political spectrum), owned enslaved human beings, which illustrates the powerful link between race and political power (Weil et al., 2022). The personal interests of lawmakers as enslavers no doubt infuenced their decisions on policies regarding slavery, as part of a process of embedding racism into the foundation of the nation. Newspaper discourses tended to refect prevailing and shifting public opinion about slavery and its role in the newly emerging nation (Gabrial, 2016). These media, including Benjamin Franklin’s Pennsylvania Gazette, raked in enormous profts from slavery by running ads intent on brokering deals between sellers and buyers of enslaved human beings and raising alerts about runaway enslaved persons (Taylor, 2020).

FIGURE 3.2

“Auction & Negro Sales.”

Source: Photography by George Barnard, 1864, Whitehall Street, Atlanta, Georgia.

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Predominantly pro-slavery in the decades prior to the Civil War, newspapers—particularly those in the northern states—slowly became more critical of the institution and began to carry debates about federal vs. states’ rights. Nonetheless, slavery was becoming ever more a central foundation of southern cultural identity, promoted proudly by southern politicians and newspaper editors. Many southern newspapers were owned and controlled by White enslavers (Gabrial, 2016). Rothman (2021) describes the arrogance and gluttony of those in the business: “Southern politicians and newspaper editors in the 1850s even boasted about a prospective hemispheric empire of slavery, with American markets for Black people that would extend into the Caribbean, through Mexico, and across Central and South America” (p. 3). In the decades leading up to the Civil War, northern and southern newspaper editors published content that refected emerging ideological diferences over slavery, growing conficts between regions, and the erosion of national unity (Gabrial, 2016). The bitter discourse over slavery damaged freedom of the press, according to Gabrial, because any sort of anti-slavery information was considered “seditious” in the South. Southerners feared such discourse would trigger slave revolts and “threaten the survival of the nation” (Gabrial, 2016, p. 150). Thus, southern editorials advocated criminalizing possession of abolitionist material, even that which was slightly anti-slavery, with punishments of arrest and heavy fnes. Newspapers in the South either ignored slave rebellions or described them as isolated events, emphasizing their swift suppression and punishment and advocating immediate passage of tougher laws (Thompson, 1992). Although slavery was slowly being banned in northern states, many newspapers in that region gave it tacit support in their coverage of larger revolts or “stampedes.” Following John Brown’s historic-but-failed raid to trigger a major slave rebellion in Harpers Ferry in what is now West Virginia, James Gordon Bennett, the powerful editor of The New York Herald, then the largest-circulation newspaper, declared, “The negro, once roused to bloodshed, and in possession of arms, is as uncontrollable and irrational as a wild beast” (Gabrial, 2016, p. xi). In contrast, other publications in the North used the brutal repression as justifcation to condemn slavery (Thompson, 1992). Newspapers trumpeted racist master narratives or discourses of fears about potential or real violence by Blacks against Whites, and these are echoed today in the right-wing press. They warned that, without slavery, Whites would be forced to live and work with Blacks, and Black men would procreate with White women (Smith, 2021). This discourse also served to reassure Whites of all socioeconomic statuses that Blacks would never achieve equality and would always stay beneath them in the power

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hierarchy. Ideological narratives also reinforced public views of Black people through a “good Negro discourse”—in essence, praising a paternalistic system of enslaved persons as the best thing for Blacks because they were genetically inferior and uncivilized and, thus, unable to manage freedom (Gabrial, 2016). This discourse mythologized the loyalty of the enslaved person to the enslaver, in essence saying that enslaved persons served their enslavers not out of fear and self-preservation but, rather, out of love, fdelity, and devotion (Holloway, 2019). This discourse intimated also that Blacks willingly collaborated in their own subordination and oppression. The “good Negro” myth served to quell White anxiety and panic over both the growing criticism of slavery from the North and slave rebellions, which were increasing in number (Gabrial, 2016). In truth, most Whites were ignorant of Black dissent because, unsurprisingly, these were not well covered in the newspapers (Scott, 1985). The greatest damage of the “good Negro” myth was its promulgation of a stereotype of Blacks as being content with their conditions, almost “complicit in their own bondage” (Holloway, 2019, para. 3). This, in turn, generated slavery’s legacy discourse—that of the “uppity” Black who refuses to stay in his or her place. Films such as Birth of a Nation and other media reinforced the idea that Blacks who became successful did so by stealing from Whites or had otherwise achieved their success through fraudulent means. Other stereotyped images emerged to further support the myth of Black inferiority. Newspapers in the late 1800s (and into the 1900s) regularly depicted Black men as driven by uncontrollable lusts and passions, as congenital rapists, which fueled horrifc violence (Staples, 2020). Black men were hanged, shot, and burned alive in public squares throughout the South, and White mobs destroyed entire Black communities. Black women faced even greater injustices with their intersectional positionalities as Black and female in a White patriarchal system. Around the time of the Civil War, Black women sufered two key stereotypes: the Jezebel and the Mammy (Collins, 2000). The Jezebel was innately lustful, predatory, and aggressive, a characterization that provided justifcation for their sexual abuse and rape by White enslavers, who were proving their mastery and masculinity (The Jezebel stereotype, n.d.). The Mammy was a desexualized fgure who was often very dark-skinned, overweight, and middle-aged or older, and, hence, not viewed as a threat to White-women slaveholders. The Mammy image appeared frst in the 1830s as a defense by slavery supporters to downplay the inhumane marketing and economic foundation of the institution of slavery, attempting to emphasize a “happy slave” narrative (McElya, 2007). These eforts intensifed in attempts to counter

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the growing power of the abolitionist discourse that revealed the brutal violence of forced labor and slave ownership, including media stories of sexual depravity, rape, and violence against Black women by White male owners of enslaved persons. Although the Mammy character was rare in real life, this imaginary caricature became one of the most enduring racial icons of the antebellum South. The image remained a popular fgure that continues today in various forms. She appeared for decades in flms and other media, and also as a commercial image to sell food, cleaning products. and household goods (The mammy caricature, n.d.). White women on the “plantation” were also characterized. They were expected to be virtuous, pure, and modest. Like the pioneer-woman mythology, these women also were depicted as weak, in need of their White male holders of enslaved persons to protect them from the predatory lust, this time of Black men (Hodes, 1993). In truth, research by Jones-Rogers (2019) shows that White women in the antebellum South were active participants in slavery, but mediated discourses of gender and race enabled media to ignore or downplay the frequent physical and sexual violence perpetrated by Whites (including White women) against Black enslaved persons since such activity fell under such normalized behavior as exercising property rights or maintaining discipline. Certainly, there were few published narratives of slavery from enslaved persons themselves. Yet,

FIGURE 3.3

1923 newspaper ad for Aunt Jemima’s pancake four.

Source: US public domain—https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Aunt_Jemima_ad_newspaper_ 1923.png.

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those voices have been uncovered and they provide a very diferent picture of the machine of slavery (Berry & Gross, 2021). By the mid-1830s, the long-marginalized abolitionist newspapers became more popular, playing a more important role in promoting anti-slavery perspectives (Snodgrass, 2011). Using a  far more inclusive approach to journalism, these organizations hired both Black and White, male and female reporters, running eyewitness accounts by former enslaved persons who were either recaptured or who escaped through the Underground Railroad.  Several anti-slavery periodicals, mostly operating in the northeast United States, served to educate people about abolitionist philosophies and strategies of the Underground Railroad. Anti-slavery, however, did not mean pro-equality for Blacks (Gabrial, 2016). Some of the abolitionist and anti-slavery discourses were racist, produced and supported by mostly northern White publishers, editors, and reporters. They emphasized the evils of slavery, but the narrative clearly still perpetuated the myth that Blacks were inferior, as people who should not be integrated into White society (González & Torres, 2011). These discourses continued to embed in society, as we will see, in terrible ways. White Supremacist Media Narratives of the Reconstruction Era . . . and Beyond

The racist ideologies that permeate today’s U.S. media were rooted in the mythologized stories emerging after reconstruction to idealize White supremacy. Another such narrative is known as the “Lost Cause.” In the wake of the massive defeat of the South in the Civil War, elite White Southern women led eforts to defend and celebrate the Confederacy by constructing and maintaining a racist mythology called the “Lost Cause” to preserve the ideals of the Old South (Cox, 2019). The “Lost Cause” diminished the signifcance and ruthlessness of slavery, denied that it played a signifcant role in fomenting the civil war, and claimed, instead, that slavery was a states’ rights issue. Led by the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC), this propaganda campaign was perpetuated to vindicate the Confederacy and “transform military defeat into a political and cultural victory, where states’ rights and White supremacy remained intact” (Cox, 2019, p. 25). The UDC had its own widely distributed newspapers (Cox, 2019). The organization worked to insert the Lost Cause myth into school curricula, and, with establishment of Jim Crow laws in the early 1900s, the group led eforts to construct thousands of statues, symbols, placards, buildings, and public parks throughout the South to generate symbols of White supremacy, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) (SPLC reports,

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2021; see also Best, 2020). These memorials were designed to intimidate, not just memorialize, a part of U.S. history employing an exclusionary vision of a White America, reminding Blacks and other BIPOC that they have no place in this country.

The 1939 flm (and book) Gone with the Wind is a prime example of the power of popular culture in shaping people’s (mis)understanding of history and, in this case, of romanticizing views of the Civil War South, the Confederacy, and slavery (Schuessler, 2020). This controversial blockbuster was the highest-grossing flm of all time (adjusting for infation). It also served as an important propaganda tool to promote the “Lost Cause” racial myth of the South following the Civil War and to popularize “all things Dixie.” Blacks strongly objected to the flm when it was released and, in the decades since, have denounced it as degrading and humiliating for its portrayals of racist stereotypes of “’massa’-loving simpletons” such as “Mammy,” the enslaved household worker who has no other name. Critics charge that the production glorifes and whitewashes the brutalities of slavery (Stevens, 1973). The outrage and criticisms over Gone with the Wind were published and debated in Black publications, but were basically ignored by the White mainstream press (Schuessler, 2020).

In the still-recovering, post-Civil War South, Democratic newspaper editors were under extreme pressure to remain “loyal” to the confederacy, risking arrest for expressing the “wrong” opinions in editorials. Even after ratifcation of the 13th Amendment in 1865, which abolished the institution of slavery, newspaper editors played a major role in perpetuating White supremacist backlash. For example, during Reconstruction, proposals were made in Congress to redress some of the political, social, and economic inequities of slavery, including redistribution of wealthy southerners’ land (Kendi, 2016). Under this plan, 40 acres were to be allotted to each freedman, but, unfortunately, the plan mostly failed due to White opposition. The plan granted limited voting rights and provided public funding for education and public works. Yet both southern and northern newspapers were adamant in opposing this legislation, viciously attacking the bill’s sponsors (Logan, 1967). These editors spread fear and panic by publicly predicting that the expansion of freed Blacks’ rights would trigger a major revolt aimed at the takeover of communities. These same newspapers paid little attention to the ongoing rampages by White mobs responsible for the rape and murder of freed women and men (Kendi, 2016).

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Racial Terror: Lynching

As White resentment increased following Reconstruction, so did a particularly heinous type of racial violence—lynching. This public act of torture was designed to terrify Black people and to maintain racial control after slavery and during the Jim Crow era (Lynching in America, n.d.). Although a vast majority of victims were Black, Whites who were perceived as supporting Black sufrage were also lynched (Henderson et al., 2021). White-owned/-managed newspapers throughout the country promoted racial violence through sensationalist headlines about the brutality of White lynch mobs and gruesome details about lynchings (Printing Hate, 2021). Treating lynchings in an almost carnival-like manner, newspapers advertised these as events; special trains brought thousands of spectators, who bought postcards and food, even souvenir pieces of the victims’ clothing (including body parts). White mothers brought their children to witness these horrifc events, which were described in detail in the next day’s local newspaper, becoming both entertainment and a way to control Blacks through terror (Henderson et al., 2021; OnwuachiWillig, 2018). The Fearless Spirits: Ida B. Wells and Rosa Parks

Black civil rights activist Ida B. Wells was born as an enslaved person and became a well-known journalist, racial justice activist, and educator who worked tirelessly to conduct research and organize a campaign against southern lynching to challenge White-mob violence and break the stereotype of Black men as rapists (Giddings, 2008). As a result of her work to document these extrajudicial crimes, Wells rewrote the interpretation of “lynching culture,” declaring that, as racial violence, it “said more about the cultural failings of the White South than of Blacks; how not only race, but attitudes toward women and sexuality, instigated it; and that lynching represented the very heart, the Rosetta Stone, of America’s troubled relationship with race” (Giddings, 2008, p. 2). Her work exposed the double standard of White men who raped Black women with no consequences but then sought to lynch Black men for often false allegations of assaulting White women (Feimster, 2011). Wells became widely known, and traveled extensively domestically and abroad to raise awareness of the prejudice and violence against African Americans—particularly Black women—in the United States. Despite furious and menacing editorials in the White press, as well as death and lynching threats that came even from “leading citizens,” Wells wrote countless articles in the Black newspaper she co-owned and edited, the Memphis Free Speech and Headlight. Wells was quoted as declaring,

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FIGURE 3.4

Ida B. Wells, investigative journalist, educator, and early civil rights activist, c. 1893.

Source: Photography by Sally B. Garrity.

“One had better die fghting against injustice than to die like a dog or a rat in a trap” (Bunn, 2021, p. 3). Many of her articles were reprinted in the nearly 200 Black newspapers in the United States and abroad (Dickerson, 2018). In 1892, her newspaper ofce was burned down, and her co-editor was beaten and chased out of town. Wells was forced to live in exile in New York City, but kept up her work. As a journalist and community organizer, Wells advocated for labor reforms, women’s rights, and racial justice issues at the national and local levels (Giddings, 2008). She worked tirelessly on behalf of women’s suffrage: she participated in the founding of the NAACP and was a catalyst for the creation of organizations including the National Association of Colored Women (NACW), the frst national Black women’s organization. Wells pioneered investigative reporting practices that are still used today, including eyewitness interviews, testimonies from families, and government records (Dickerson, 2018). She also named victims of racist violence in the stories to avoid having them silenced and forgotten, as most were. Unfortunately, as with so many women in social and political movements, her work and accomplishments were overshadowed by the focus on Black male activists in the civil rights movement.

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Black women historians have been working to identify and recognize publicly the work of Black women activists and journalists such as Ida B. Wells, who have been erased from many historical accounts in textbooks and media. The contributions of a few Black women have been recognized, but their stories rewritten to accommodate White interpretations of history and comfort levels. One example is Rosa Parks, a legendary and wellknown fgure whose story has been rewritten, or whitewashed, in history books to make her tale more palatable to Whites. Parks’ story is often told in a way that hides her lifelong radical activist work for civil rights and the prevention of sexual violence against Black women (McGuire, 2010). The popular narrative in press coverage at the time and since describes Parks as a quiet and meek seamstress who in 1955 was too tired after a long day’s work to relinquish her seat on the public bus and, thus, became an activist by chance. In truth, in the 1940s and 1950s, long before her arrest for the bus incident, Parks was a skillful and courageous investigator for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) who traveled to many states to examine a number of cases of brutal gang rapes by White men of Black women in the South, crimes that had been ignored or hidden by law enforcement and the press.

FIGURE 3.5

Rosa Parks being fngerprinted by Deputy Sherif D.H. Lackey after being arrested on February 22, 1956, during the Montgomery bus boycott.

Source: Gene Herrick for the Associated Press.

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Racial Bias in Media: The Tulsa Massacre of 1921

As the new century dawned, the master White supremacist narrative with discourses about the nature of the Black person as dangerous and scheming continued to smolder. Nothing highlights this more than the Tulsa Massacre of June 1, 1921, when White resentment, White supremacist power hierarchies, and land greed contributed to the worst White domestic terrorist incident in history—a massacre of nearly 300 mainly Black men, women, and children and the destruction of a thriving Black community that was dubbed for decades as a “race riot” (The Tulsa Race Massacre aftermath, n.d.). In the decades after slavery ended, most Blacks struggled with economic, political, and social injustices, fueled by Jim Crow and a violent racist backlash. Yet the Greenwood district in Tulsa, Oklahoma was an exception. Known as the “Black Wall Street,” it was the most prosperous Black community in the United States despite Blacks’ limited access to capital and markets at that time (Krehbiel, 2019). With a population of about 10,000 residents, Greenwood had an enterprising spirit and a strong sense of community supported by businesses, middle-class homeowners, churches, and civic clubs. Tulsa, overall, was a successful city. Manufacturing and commerce of all kinds were expanding rapidly; the town had four railway lines, top-quality schools, and a lively cultural scene. Yet Tulsa was also a highly segregated city and a hotbed for the Ku Klux Klan, patriotism, and (White) “Americanism,” which was displayed proudly on every corner. Underlying Tulsa’s thriving community was a simmering layer of racial resentment and anger against Black prosperity in Greenwood. Perhaps the top cheerleader of White Tulsa’s success story was the press, but it also cultivated attitudes of disdain and disgust toward the Greenwood district (disparaged as “N*Town”) (Krehbiel, 2019; Staples, 2020). Black residents were regularly accused of crime; their jazz clubs were condemned as centers of vice, race mixing, and erosion of social and moral standards. White vigilantes, supported by local defense councils, didn’t hesitate to impose their own brand of violent justice against anyone who “stepped out of his place.” In the days leading up to the June 1 massacre, these daily newspapers had published numerous sensationalist stories about racial tensions. The editor of one newspaper, well known for his racist views, published front-page stories lauding the expansion of the Ku Klux Klan in Oklahoma. Racial violence erupted in the morning of June 1, 1921, triggered by the arrest of a Black man for allegedly assaulting a White woman (charges were later dropped). The newspapers framed the arrest in the all-too-common

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racist trope of Black men preying on White women (Torres, 2021). Although the exact details are not completely clear, a White mob comprising women and men rampaged for 18 hours through the 34-block Greenwood district, looting and burning down nearly every commercial building and about 1,200 homes, maiming and killing all they encountered (Krehbiel, 2019; The Tulsa Race Massacre aftermath, 2021). Hundreds of Black men, women, and children were killed during the 18 hours of the slaughter (Krehbiel, 2019; Torres, 2021). The ofces of two Black newspapers in town were destroyed. Property loss was estimated at $1.8 million ($27 million today). In an exposé in The New York Times, Parshina-Kottas et al. (2021) lamented “the incalculable and enduring loss of what could have been, and the generational wealth that might have shaped and secured the fortunes of Black children and grandchildren” (para. 8). In the following days, White deputies and members of the National Guard arrested about 6,000 Black Tulsans and held them for weeks and

FIGURE 3.6

Tulsa Race Massacre headline, The Boston Daily Globe, June 2, 1921.

Source: https://newspaperarchive.com/boston-daily-globe-jun-02-1921-p-1/).

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months in “protective custody” in internment camps overseen by armed guards. Nine thousand African Americans were left homeless and lived in tents well into the winter of 1921. Afterwards, during the chaos of the two days of the Massacre, the press mainly presented an anti-Black narrative “to further the political goals of White supremacy and  to protect a White-racial hierarchy —a hierarchy that these news outlets were part of” (Torres, 2021, para. 4). The papers blamed Black residents for what happened, framing it as a violent Black uprising and riot against the White community. An editorial on June 4, 1921, in The Tulsa Tribune declared: Well, the bad [n*s] started it. The public would now like to know: why wasn’t it prevented? Why were these [n*s] not made to feel the force of the law and made to respect the law? Why were not the violators of the law in “[N*town]” arrested? Why were they allowed to go on in many ways defying the law? Why? (Torres, 2021, para. 44) The Tulsa Race Massacre is one of many historical tragedies which have occurred in BIPOC communities and that have all too often glossed over by (usually) White-owned newspapers or infused with negative narratives and misinformation, sometimes ignored altogether (González & Torres, 2011). Despite the extent of loss of life and property, most U.S. Americans never heard of the massacre until the 1990s, and it is clear the press played a major role in both the massacre and its coverup (Torres, 2021). Xenophobia and the “Yellow Peril”

We’ve seen now that commercialism and ferce competition encouraged newspaper editors and publishers to practice yellow journalism and draw on deeply rooted racial biases based on White supremacy and xenophobia to create sensationalist news to increase profts by fueling the perceived threat and fear of the Other. One of these publishers was William R. Hearst, who used his press powerhouse to rally racism and fear around the “yellow peril,” a racist-color metaphor and dangerous xenophobic myth that the Chinese and Japanese would soon take over and dominate the (White) Western world through their sheer numbers (Mugridge, 1995). In the mid19th century, up to 20,000 Chinese emigrated legally to the United States. Many were laborers for the construction of the transcontinental railroad in the west, where thousands sufered massive injuries or death. Although Chinese workers were often highly praised for their hard work, antiChinese sentiment was rampant. Editors and publishers such as Hearst

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played a key role in this, particularly on the West Coast, portraying the Asian workers as a threat to the “American working man” and to “White man’s civilization” (Mugridge, 1995, p. 57). As World War II drew closer, Hearst and other publishers and editors used their presses to incite anti-Japanese hysteria and fear, supporting growing persecution, including government raids of Japanese American businesses and homes, job frings, and forced removal from organizations and schools (Reeves, 2015; Sorvetti, 2009). In February 1942, President Roosevelt announced Executive Order #9066, which ordered relocation and imprisonment of more than 120,000 Japanese American citizens and Japanese immigrants, despite them having shown no signs of treason or disloyalty. They were forced to abandon or quickly liquidate their businesses, homes, land, and possessions and were sent inland to live in crudely built barracks surrounded by barbed-wire fences and armed guards in isolated arid lands. Internment was also a reaction to the “Japanese assimilation problem,” which said, roughly, that (unlike other groups) Japanese immigrants preserved their native customs and did not often marry White Americans, thus giving rise to the assumption that they remained loyal to Japan, and were

FIGURE 3.7

Forced evacuees of Japanese ancestry in Los Angeles, Calfornia, 1942.

Source: Photography by Alber Clems.

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therefore a threat to U.S. America. This racist and xenophobic ideology, accompanied by racist slurs and stereotypes in newspaper and magazines stories, was rarely questioned, and served to fuel anti-Japanese sentiments. In 1942, Henry McLemore, a Hearst syndicated columnist, declared, I am for immediate removal of every Japanese on the West Coast to a point deep in the interior. I don’t mean a nice part of the interior either. Herd ’em up, pack ’em of and give ’em the inside room in the badlands. Let ’em be pinched, hurt, hungry and dead up against it . . . Personally, I hate the Japanese. And that goes for all of them. (Racism & exclusion, n.d., para. 1) Yet, public support for internment began to weaken. Government-created propaganda flms and other newspaper and magazine stories began to appear, designed to reframe the harsh and uncomfortable conditions of daily life in the camps, using romanticized, false descriptions and photographs of beautiful scenic landscapes, claiming inmates were comfortable and content, and had opportunities for gainful employment (Okihiro & Sly, 1983). “With no apparent irony, magazine articles called the internment camps ‘boom towns’ and ‘pioneer colonies’ and described the internees as ‘pilgrims,’ comparing the experience to a family camping trip,” say Flamiano (2010, p. 25). Anti-Asian ideology and “Othering” from the “yellow peril” continued to ebb and fow over the decades, and it is still evident today in the rise of anti-Asian hatred related to COVID-19. The devastating, culturally based trauma of the camps for many prisoners had a lifelong efect on their individual and collective memories as Japanese Americans, which was passed on to their children and later generations (very similar in nature to the efects of White colonization on Native Americans) (Nagata, 2013). Social groups use cultural and individual memories to establish and reinforce their cultural identity, but due to the cultural pain, shame, and humiliation many survivors were reluctant to talk about their experiences with younger family members, and thus greatly damaged development of their identities as Japanese Americans. To prove their loyalty to U.S. America, some families destroyed their Japanese possessions, including priceless heirlooms, and refused to speak Japanese to their children, all in the name of assimilation into (White) mainstream culture. This is an example of the way that collective memory is constructed and passed on, and how dominant groups (in this case, the government, White politicians, and mainstream media producers) hold the power to shape the national narrative. Schoolchildren learn about the bravery of the

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U.S. soldiers in World War II, with barely a mention, if any, of the imprisonment of 120,000 people based solely on their race and appearance. And, ironically, 33,000 Japanese American men fought as soldiers in the U.S. military, even those who had families imprisoned in the camps (Japanese Americans at war, n.d.). Conclusion

An historical analysis of selected events in the United States enables greater understanding of how journalism has arrived where it has. White supremacy (and its partner, patriarchy) is the bedrock of our country. As Ball (2020) stated: White supremacy is not a marginal ideology. It is the early build of the country. It is a foundation on which the social edifce rises, bedrock of institutions. White supremacy also lies on the foor of our minds. Whiteness is not a deformation of thought, but a kind of thought itself. (p. 15) News is also a cultural form, one produced by a set of conventions and practices shaped over time via changes in political, economic, and social forces (Schudson, 2008). Throughout the past two centuries, media have played a central part in propagating the mythologies of racism, including the savage Native American, the Lost Cause, the good Negro, the “uppity” Black, the suspect Japanese American, and the gendered discourses about Black men and women. These have framed BIPOC bodies, racial relationships, and other social issues in ways that have attempted to justify racial prejudice and discrimination (Southern newspapers were vocal supporters of the Confederacy, 2020). Collective memory comprises recollections of the past shared by a group, which are infuenced by power, cultural norms, social structures, and human interactions (Kitch, 2008; Zelizer, 1995). News media produce a social construction of reality in the form of narratives, which in turn shape collective memory—based on what journalists decide is newsworthy— and use familiar frameworks to produce a story (Vos, 2018; Zelizer, 1995). Media also serve an important role in historical documentation, like that of museums, archives, and libraries (Kitch, 2008). And, in turn, journalists use collective memory to write stories and to interpret and frame events or issues by referring to the past (Kitch, 2008). The best news articles are those that provide a context for a specifc event or issue through framing with references to history or related topics to help the audience better understand the story. Given that White supremacy and patriarchy shape

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news content, collective mediated memory is likewise biased and reinforces imbalanced power hierarchies. BIPOC, women, and other marginalized groups have long criticized mainstream media and history books for omitting and silencing their stories and histories. While the media are not the only agent of memorializing, they play a key role; thus, if media narratives distort or ignore events or issues of particular groups, these can become lost to history. Note 1 I use the term “enslaved person” rather than “slave” because the latter is demeaning and dehumanizing, implying that the person is a commodity and denied any agency (Language of Slavery, n.d.). “Enslaved person” includes the word “person” and makes clear that it was an involuntary condition and imposed upon them by a brutal and unjust political and economic system (Waldman, 2015). I also use the term “slave holder” or “enslaver” rather than slave “master” or “owner.”

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Taylor, J.E. (2020). Enquire of the printer: Newspaper advertising and the moral economy of the North American slave trade, 1704–1807. Early American Studies, 18(3), 287–323. https://doi.org/10/gg9hdq Thompson, T.M. (1992). National newspaper and legislative reactions to Louisiana’s Deslondes Slave Revolt of 1811. Louisiana History: The Journal of the Louisiana Historical Association, 33(1), 5–29. Torres, J. (2021, May 22). How local media fueled the Tulsa Massacre—and covered it up. Free Press. www.freepress.net/our-response/expert-analysis/insightsopinions/how-local-media-fueled-tulsa-massacre-and-covered-it-up Trouillot, M.-R. (2015). Silencing the past: Power and the production of history, 20th anniversary edition (2nd ed.). Beacon Press. The Tulsa Race Massacre aftermath. (2021, June 30). Justice For Greenwood. www.justiceforgreenwood.org/after-the-massacre/ Vos, T.P. (2018). Journalism. In Journalism (pp. 1–17). De Gruyter Mouton. https:// doi.org/10.1515/9781501500084 Waldman, K. (2015, May 19). Slave or enslaved person? Slate. https://slate.com/ human-interest/2015/05/historians-debate-whether-to-use-the-term-slave-orenslaved-person.html Ward, K.A. (2018). Before and after the white man: Indian women, property, progress and power. Connecticut Public Interest Law Journal, 6(1), 245–267. Weil, J.Z., Blanco, A., & Dominguez, L. (2022, January 10). More than 1,800 congressmen once enslaved Black people. This is who they were, and how they shaped the nation. The Washington Post. www.washingtonpost.com/history/ interactive/2022/congress-slaveowners-names-list/ Welter, B. (1966). The cult of true womanhood: 1820–1860. American Quarterly, 18(2), 151–174. https://doi.org/10/cs6nqg Wien, C. (2006). Defning objectivity within journalism. Nordicom Review, 26(2), 3–15. Zelizer, B. (1995). Reading the past against the grain: The shape of memory studies. Critical Studies in Mass Communication, 12(2), 214.

4 INTERROGATING JOURNALISTIC PRACTICES, PART 2 Historical Perspectives on Gendered News Practices

Gendered History of Journalism Early Women Journalists

Despite the social and structural barriers in news organizations, the few women who did make it through the newsroom door were steadfast and determined to get their story, even though they were dubbed “newspaper girls” or “typewriter girls” by editors and were perceived by their male colleagues in the press as “invading the sanctity” of the newsroom (Allan, 2010, p. 145). Women were not perceived as professionals, being viewed as women frst and foremost (Chambers & Steiner, 1997, 2010). Gender was dichotomized in a power hierarchy where men were the benchmark and women were treated as exceptions and problems, as the Other (Steiner, 2017). Editors and publishers fought to maintain patriarchal culture and norms using claims, and criticism, that women journalists wanted to be like men but that they would not ft into the “rough and tumble” culture of the newsroom, that doing so could even damage women’s health and that reporting would defeminize and masculinize women (Steiner, 2005, 2012). The challenges and grit of women journalists are creatively described in A yellow journalist (1905), a novel by Miriam Michelson, a prolifc but little-known novelist and journalist (Matz, 2021). In the book, the author tells the story of Rhoda Massey, a smart and fearless investigator with a San Francisco newspaper, driven by her passion for journalism, who constantly pushes the boundaries of her restrictive DOI: 10.4324/9781315159171-4

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FIGURE 4.1

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Miriam Michelson, novelist, journalist, and sufragist (1870–1942).

Source: The San Francisco Call, September 30, 1897, Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers, Library of Congress, https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85066387/189709-30/ed-1/seq-2/>e 2.

gender role in a variety of ways (Michelson, 1905). Pressured by her boss to lean toward sensationalism during the yellow journalism period, Massey does whatever it takes to get a story (including crawling out onto high ledges to listen in at windows), running down leads in sometimes dangerous places, and conducting interviews with suspicious characters.  Along the way, she laments that she’s working for the “biggest yellowest newspaper in San Francisco,” as she leaps ahead to be frst on a sensational investigative story (Michelson, 1905, p. 7). But, as the “bright-eyed little-girl reporter,” as her boss calls her, Massey was able to best her arrogant and spiteful male reporter colleagues by producing top-quality investigative journalism. As an unconventional character during a time when women journalists were only begrudgingly admitted into newsrooms, if at all, Massey stands out. Women Journalists Confned to Women’s Pages

Massey’s story is not the norm for women in journalism for the time, however. In reality, the few women who were able to break into the “macho”

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culture of media were not allowed to cover “real news” or “hard news.” Their assignments were stories for the women’s pages—that is, “soft news” articles and columns focused on domestic issues of homemaking and children, society, or fashion, and designed to attract women readers (Djerf-Pierre, 2007). As a result, women journalists were paid less than their male counterparts, because women’s soft-news assignments were considered less valuable than the realm of political, business, or international news covered by men. Critics of this arrangement were dismissed with arguments based on what Hall (1997) calls the “refective approach,” the assumption that media refect the reality of the social world, which prioritized the political, economic, religious, and scientifc domains of the times. That is, media focused on competition, confict, and war, with little coverage of social issues, home, family, or children. As a result, media management thought it logical to hire fewer women journalists than male, maintaining the gendered division of labor (Djerf-Pierre, 2007). News, thus, was a masculine discourse, focused on men’s interests and concerns, relying on quotes by male experts. Nellie Bly and Early Investigative Journalism by “Girl Stunt Reporters”

Although the few women journalists in the mid- to late 1800s were mostly restricted to the women’s pages and domestic topics, a new type of maverick female journalist emerged following the trailblazing investigative work by Nellie Bly (born Elizabeth Jane Cochran) (Norwood, 2017). As a young White middle-class reporter with a large daily newspaper, the New York World, Bly attracted national and international attention in 1887 by going undercover as a patient feigning insanity in a notorious mental asylum, to expose the horrendous conditions for patients there, many of whom were immigrants and poor. She also gained prominence with a sensational stunt to travel around the world in 72 days, besting Jules Verne’s fctional character in Around the world in eighty days (Steiner, 2017). Bly’s frst-person narrative series of her time in the health facility entitled “Inside the madhouse” attracted readers across the country and beyond, as they eagerly awaited the next installment, making her the most famous journalist in the country (Norwood, 2017). Bly’s work inspired other newspapers to employ women to use the power of the personal narrative to explore various social problems and brutal conditions for laborers, prisoners, orphans, patients, and other vulnerable populations (Lutes, 2007). Their work triggered additional investigations and legislative reforms.

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FIGURE 4.2

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Elizabeth Cochrane “Nellie Bly,” nationally signifcant journalist, and investigator, 1890.

Source: image by J.A. Grozier, published by McLoughlin Brothers, c. 1890.

FIGURE 4.3

“Round the World with Nellie Bly.” Nellie Bly’s trip around the world attracted worldwide media attention, and even the creation of a children’s game, c. 1890.

Source: By J.A. Grozier, produced by McLoughlin Brothers.

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Although often left out of historical accounts of journalism and scorned as a ploy to boost circulation of sensationalist newspapers, the personalnarrative genre ofered a way for women to break into a male-dominated feld and perform journalistic work that was not confned to the women’s pages (Todd, 2021). Women were able to enter domains that would be more difcult for men to access. As a result, women began to undertake indepth, and often highly risky, investigative reporting, proving they had the skills and grit to engage in high-level news reporting. The resulting investigative series were greatly appealing to audiences, who loved following the exploits of these adventurous journalists who transgressed the boundaries of traditional gender norms handed down from the Victorian era—norms that implied women were weak, dependent, and uninterested in the world beyond the domestic sphere (Lutes, 2007). This reporting was empowering for women, who had few legal rights at that time—forbidden to vote, own property, obtain credit in their own names, or instigate a divorce. Yet, despite the clear success and recognized skillful technique of these women-produced narrative stories, Todd’s (2021) research revealed a double standard: the women journalists were labeled as “stunt girl reporters,” while their male counterparts were more respectably titled “investigative reporters,” even though both genders were doing the same level of journalistic work. Advertising Creates Stereotype of Women as “Ideal” Consumers

With industrialization and the rise of consumerism creating a synergy of economic and cultural forces, women came to be perceived as the ideal consumers, as people “born to shop,” and (over time) consumerism became equated with femininity, a connection that continues today (Peiss, 1998). Shopping was reframed in advertising as a leisure pursuit rather than a productive task, and this further served to depoliticize and disempower women by masking the related economic and political contributions inherent in purchase power. As publishers and editors increasingly recognized women as a viable market group, they also increasingly hired women writers to appeal to and serve the female audience. In the late 1800s, women’s magazines were an important component in the launch of the consumer age. These media reinforced the ideology of (White) women’s place in the private sphere, glorifying “domestic bliss” and the joys of homemaking and motherhood. By the end of the 1930s, over 500 women’s magazines existed, and many were extremely proftable for publishers, as well as for the advertisers who were eager to reach the hundreds of thousands of readers in the launch of the consumer age

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(Greenfeld & Reid, 1998). Most of these magazines, it is interesting to note, were published and edited by men (Steiner, 2017). Women of color were invisible in these publications, however, and they, along with many White women, often lived very diferent lives from those depicted in the magazines: women with problem-free lives; perfect, idealized bodies; ideal families; and beautiful homes. Many advertising images were racist, portraying Blacks as lazy, dirty, subservient, and worse. For those who could aford to buy magazines or otherwise get access to them, the publications portrayed idealized images, which fueled domestic and consumer ideologies (Greenfeld & Reid, 1998; Heilpern, 2016). As with newspapers, magazines also were benefting from advances in technology and marketing that allowed them to reach mass audiences across the nation, a goldmine for advertisers of fashion, beauty, and other consumer products (Hunt, 2020). Hollywood glamour became a powerful draw, as celebrities portrayed images of glitz, sex, and drama, promoting fashion and beauty products to adoring fans. Many women journalists were employed at these magazines, writing articles that promoted a form of “professionalization” of housework and a “scientifc domestic ideology” by supplying information on household products and tasks (often this informative text was attributed to men) (Greenfeld & Reid, 1998). They also included stories of women who stepped outside the boundaries of their prescribed positionalities and sufered negative consequences as a result. Mostly, householdoriented articles provided guidance and coaching to help women achieve excellence in housekeeping and fnd fulfllment and contentment in this sphere (Greenfeld & Reid, 1998). Blurring the boundaries between advertising and editorial content, the magazines used deliberate marketing strategies to engineer consumption, which also had strong ideological, cultural, and political implications by promoting the “new consumerism” of the early 20th century. Articles designed to inform readers were often tied to advertisers in the publication and included endorsements for products. Women Journalists’ Continued Battle for Respect in Male Turf of the Newsroom

By the early 20th century, more women, particularly educated middleclass White women, began pursuing careers as journalists, although gendered power diferentials—defended as traditions and norms—in media organizations continued to serve as structural barriers (Allan, 2010). These women still practiced “women’s journalism” (a demeaning term at that time)—stories primarily confned to the women’s pages (Steiner, 1997).

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When women were allowed to cover more serious political or social issues, they were told to focus on the “lighter human interest” angles of those topics in ways that would, assumedly, attract women readers; for example, focusing on how an issue afected everyday life or on the personal lives of candidates or public ofcials (Steiner, 2008, p. 311). This limited scope was very frustrating for many women journalists. As more women journalists were hired, so did men begin to complain that their jobs, salaries, and high status as skilled and experienced reporters were threatened, and they were being replaced by (female) “bimbo reporters” (Djerf-Pierre, 2007). The general sentiment that women produced poor-quality work was a typical example of power dynamics, using symbolic violence that reinforced gender stereotypes of women as the Other, people who ofered less value or did not ft into the organization. The struggles of women journalists for fair treatment and respect in the newsroom refected what was happening in many arenas of society to other women, who were determined to improve their political, economic, and social status to demand equal recognition of their rights, including that to vote. Erasure of Black Women’s Activism by Press

African American women have played a central role in the founding and development of the United States (Berry & Gross, 2021). “Black women occupy a complex, paradoxical relationship to America. We are at once marginalized and ostracized, yet our very being has been exploited to help create and maintain white supremacy” (Berry & Gross, 2021, para. 5). (Black women’s bodies were used to birth enslaved labor, used as production tools, yet Black women were portrayed in media as dishonest, deviant, and immoral, an image that served to promote White supremacist notions of femininity and masculinity, for example.) In recent years, Black historians have documented African American women’s historical contributions and resistance through social justice activism (Berry & Gross, 2021; Sundaramoorthy & Broussard, 2020). The Black press provided far better coverage of the movement, as it did with most all racial issues and resistance, including abolition, sexual violence, lynching, and Jim Crow. Unlike White-owned newspapers that mocked or ridiculed White women activists, the Black press generally portrayed Black women leaders as social justice activists with “fearless determination, assiduousness, and excellent oratory and writing skills” (Sundaramoorthy & Broussard, 2020, p. 67). Ironically, however, these publications at the same time provided rather weak support for the suffragist cause overall.

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Media and the Second-Wave Feminist Movement1

As is common with social movements, the relationship between mainstream media and the women’s movement has been tense and often confictive. Some have even called it “a dance of death” (Molotch, 1979, as cited in van Zoonen, 1992, p. 453). Activists have long recognized that press coverage is vital for any social movement to inform and shape public consciousness and to generate public support or opposition (based on specifc ideologies and depending upon the nature and slant of coverage). The press places key issues on (or of) the news and public agendas, and boosts or frustrates participants (Philo, 2007; van Zoonen, 1992). Media may distort the message of the movement or ignore it altogether for fear of damaging the media outlet’s image as neutral, balanced, and unbiased (Gamson & Wolfsfeld, 1993). Feminist movement leaders, well aware of the mainstream media’s typical focus on charismatic individuals, sought out selected individuals who were prominent or recognized in the news to represent the movement (Mendes, 2011). These were generally White, middle- to upper-middle class, educated women with privilege, however, and certainly did not represent all women (Zakaria, 2021). In the sections below, specifc incidents and situations of media and second-wave feminism are analyzed. Women Join the Workforce in World War II

During World War II, as men went of to war, women had to step into jobs that were traditionally viewed as “men’s work”, and this included the feld of journalism (Santana, 2016). Although about one quarter of women were already working outside the home before the war, cultural resistance made recruiting women for wartime labor difcult. To overcome this, the government created a propaganda campaign to glamorize war work, adopting the icon “Rosie the Riveter”—who was feminine but tough, a woman who knew it was her patriotic duty to serve her country, but to do so without becoming too masculinized—which served as a temporary empowerment for women (Ford, 2014). Publicized on radio, in newspapers, magazines, and posters, the campaign brought millions of women into the labor force, including women of color. Hundreds of thousands of Black women also worked at these jobs, but were not acknowledged by mainstream media or the government. Propaganda eforts to recruit women were racist, according to McClendon, who critiqued the Rosie the Riveter icon: “You’ve got this woman going to work, helping the war efort, and what is she wearing? A blue denim jumpsuit and a red bandana—and she’s White. So in that sense, she becomes

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this icon of America, of the red, white and blue” (in Butler, 2021, para. 6). Black women workers also faced racism from White women who said they didn’t want to work alongside them. Wartime jobs enabled women to enter the labor force into higher-level jobs (but still with low pay), and also to earn their own money. Once the war was over, however, women were let go to make room for the returning men to resume their work. A majority of women would have preferred to stay; some were furious to be pushed out of their jobs (Ford, 2014; Lewis, 2019). Media such as TV shows, flms, newspapers, and magazines supported a propaganda campaign to convince women to return home, glorifying the domestic role for women as wives and mothers once again. Women who wanted to pursue careers were stigmatized as “man haters,” “not real women,” or deviants. Manufacturers focused their production on the domestic sphere by supplying new household technologies. Nonetheless, women had had a taste of empowering work and times had changed. Many women returned to the workforce by choice or from economic necessity in later years, but often to traditionally “feminine” jobs. The Feminine Mystique

The 1960s in the United States was a time of tumultuous political activity and transformation that saw the civil rights movement, “women’s liberation” (second-wave feminism), antiwar protests, Chicano (or La Raza) and farm workers movements, gay liberation, and the newly emerging environmental movement (Feminism’s long history, n.d.; Mendes, 2011). Increasingly, groups demanded an end to inequalities based on racial, gender, and political ideologies, and greater recognition and rights, holding protests and committing to political action that resulted in major social, political, and cultural changes in society (The 1960s history, n.d.). Profound social changes were underway in the lives of women during the 1960s. They had become frustrated with the gendered wage and promotion disparities and sexual harassment in the workforce. More women were entering the workforce in a greater variety of paid jobs, and more women were seeking higher education to prepare for careers. The invention of the birth-control pill enabled women to have more freedom and choices in their lives regarding their careers and family (Feminism’s long history, n.d.). Betty Friedan’s famous book, The feminine mystique (1963), referred to the longtime assumption that “real” feminine women should not want to leave their homes to go work for pay, seek an education, or use their voices in the political arena. Friedan contended that women’s magazines and advertising were in large part responsible for creating this idealized, false image for marketing purposes. The capitalist message, aimed primarily at

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middle-class White women, was that women could be liberated through their consumer power. Calling it “the problem that has no name,” Friedan (1963) discussed the widespread dissatisfaction of many women who felt they had lost their identities and were wasting their potential and talent by staying at home when they wanted to pursue a career. Some feminists say the book was the spark that launched the second wave (resurrection) of the women’s movement in the United States, which was most active from the 1960s to 1980s (Steinem, 1995). Gloria Steinem, a well-known feminist activist, writer, and founder of Ms. magazine, said that the new ideas presented by feminism “hit women like a revelation, as if we had left a dark room and walked into the sun” (1995, p. 122). Of course, the idealized image of domesticity and motherhood had always been a White-centric romanticization: Black women were long stigmatized as uncivilized and unft mothers, a stereotype that emerged from slavery (Collins, 2000). This demonization of Black mothers continued, including with the major welfare reforms of the 1980s—Black women were slandered by government ofcials and in the media as “welfare queens,” a myth that stated, basically, that Black single women commonly defrauded the system and abused their children (Nilsson, 2020). These negative stereotypes of Black women are degrading and dehumanizing, subjecting them to social derision and ridicule, which continue today. Push for Gender Equality

Millions of women organized between the 1960s and 1980s to fght for gender equality in employment, education, health, marriage and divorce, and political participation among other causes (The revival of feminism, n.d.). Abortion was a key issue and legalization was achieved as a constitutional right in 1973 with the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Roe vs. Wade. Title IX was approved, which prohibits sex discrimination in education and sports. By the end of the decade, women’s issues and feminism were far more widely known, thanks to ongoing mainstream media coverage. Major changes such as the following were underway: • • • • • • •

More women were elected to public office; Battered women’s shelters were established; Abortion was legalized abortion; Birth control was available; Women’s Studies courses were created; The courtesy title “Ms.” came to the fore; A number of women’s organizations were created in the 1960s, including the National Organization for Women (NOW), which served as

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a leader in the 1972 passage of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), providing constitutionally guaranteed gender equality for all (unfortunately, it didn’t get ratifed by the required 38 states within the two-year time limit and, as a result, it failed). Despite considerable feminist activism throughout the 1960s, however, research by Dow focusing on the three major TV networks of that time (ABC, NBC, and CBS) found that the feminist movement was not included in nighttime network news until 1970, when extensive nationwide newse helped foster public awareness about “women’s liberation” (2014). But, into the 1970s, the mainstream media grappled with how to cover the movement because there was no single goal, unlike women’s sufrage or the civil rights movement (Barker-Plummer, 2010). So much of the reporting of the 1970s was contradictory, ranging from patronizing, ridiculing, sensationalized, or hostile to more progressive, sympathetic, and thoughtful. By that time, however, public awareness of women’s liberation was widespread, so even negative coverage helped grow the movement (Dow, 2014).

FIGURE 4.4

Rally for the Equal Rights Amendment in Springfeld, Illinois, May 16, 1976.

Source: original source unknown, found on Wikimedia, photo used at www.wvtf.org/202001-08/virginia-may-ratify-the-equal-rights-amendment-what-would-come-next-is-murky.

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The second-wave feminists’ overall approach to activism was new, based on identity politics and social issues as well as political concerns. The rallying slogan was “The personal is political,” meaning that the personal experiences of many women are political because they are shaped by patriarchal structural and political inequalities (Napikoski, 2020). For example, abortion is a very personal matter, but heated battles in the legislative and judicial arenas make it a political issue, as well. Gradually, the U.S. public and policymakers began to accept that women deserved more rights, including equal pay for equal work (although the gap remains wide), an end to gender-segregated job ads, and curbs on domestic violence (Brown & Seitz, 1970). More men accepted these changes, but often only if women remained their “assistants” and helpmates, continuing to take primary responsibility for housework and childcare. Tension Between Mainstream Media and Feminist Movement

While coverage of the second-wave feminist movement varied from negative or dismissive to positive, depending on the diferent issues and contexts, reporting was generally based on patriarchal and White supremacist ideologies that reinforced gender hierarchies and delegitimized feminism (Mendes, 2011). Despite the large size of the women’s movement, Morris (1973) found that many editors viewed it as a threat to social values, providing only superfcial or no coverage as a “black-out technique,” a means of social control intended to minimize the movement’s impact (p. 37). Women journalists, however, helped to shift the tone of the reporting, raising awareness of women’s issues among their male colleagues (The revival of feminism, n.d.). Frustrated with the negative, distorted coverage (or complete lack of) in mainstream media, feminist activists created their own media. A successful example is Ms. Magazine, which over the next 50 years covered overlooked stories and issues that signifcantly impact the lives of women and girls (Spillar & Smeal, 2023). No movement is a homogenous entity, but is, rather, a conglomeration of various groups and smaller movements that share focus on specifc social problems, even though they may have diferent goals and strategies (van Zoonen, 1992). Nonetheless, the media often referred to the “movement” as if it was one entity. When activists appeared to disagree (which must be expected), the media would focus on that internal confict, using it to justify dismissal of the movement as fragmented and divided, and activists as “bitchy” or “petty” and unable to get along (Mendes, 2011). A study by Smith (1984) compared mainstream media coverage of the women’s sufrage movement in the early 20th century and of the ERA in the 1970s. The results from a limited sample of newspapers showed that,

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despite the decades-long time diference between the two, news about the sufrage movement tended to be more positive than that about the ERA. It was also far more extensive and more likely positioned as front-page news. In contrast, news of the ERA debates and vote were often buried in the back pages. These results were unexpected, given that the newspapers of the early 20th century were almost entirely stafed by men, and the proscribed gender roles were more defned and strictly enforced at that time. The second-wave feminist movement’s focus on “The personal is political” proved to be a daunting task for journalists, according to a study of media reporting of the women’s movement from 1968 to 1973 (van Zoonen, 1992). The research showed that journalists were so accustomed to defning politics as composed of social and political issues that they often had difculty integrating or even recognizing that personal issues (such as domestic violence or sexual harassment in the workplace) were also part of the political and, therefore, newsworthy. Liberal vs. Radical Feminism and the Media

There were two broad philosophical and political sectors of the movement: liberal feminism, which was more moderate and focused on reforming the existing system with equality-centered laws and policies; and radical feminism, which challenged the status quo and advocated changing the patriarchal social and political power structures that underlie women’s oppression (Morgan, 2000; van Zoonen, 1992). The liberal feminists formed formalized membership groups such as the National Organization for Women (NOW) and the National Women’s Political Caucus (NWPC). They tended to be White, heterosexual, middleclass political moderates. Journalists were more likely to seek out leaders of these groups for sources for stories (Barker-Plummer, 2010). News coverage of the movement in mainstream media was usually focused on the liberal feminist framework (the major women’s rights organizations promoting reform within the current system) (Morgan, 2000; van Zoonen, 1992). While the media generally regarded advocating emancipation for women as legitimate, any feminist proposals that challenged the status quo of White male dominance were viewed as deviant and were covered negatively or not at all. Even the mention of the word “feminism” by activists could trigger more negative media coverage, because it seemed it was associated with man-hating, bra-burning radicals. Van Zoonen (1992) also found that reporting of the movement’s broader, main issues and goals was difcult for journalists because of adherence to traditional news practices such as the common focus on episodic or single events. Journalists resorted to covering sensationalist events related to the movement—or on internal conficts within the movement (such as whether

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the movement was dominated by White elites and, thus, didn’t represent “ordinary women” at all). Issues such as the ideological connections between hegemonic masculinity and violence against women were rarely addressed in mainstream news stories. Second-wave feminist leaders employed various strategies to prove the movement’s legitimacy, including some that resulted in reinforcing the very ideologies that they were fghting against (Mendes, 2011). For example, to “normalize” feminism, some spokespersons would emphasize the marital and motherhood status of leaders—and this was often exaggerated in media coverage. While some media reports seemed supportive of “legitimate” (read “less radical”) feminism, it was done in a backhanded way that actually reinforced the ideologies that were the target of the movement. Journalists would refer to Ms. X, a “nonmilitant” feminist, and a “happily married wife and mother of two” (Mendes, 2011, p. 61).

Post-Feminism and Feminist Backlash

Despite numerous victories of the second-wave feminist movement, backlash was inevitable (and regularly promoted in the media). Anti-feminist discourse can be traced back to the women’s sufrage movement in the late 1800s to early 1900s. Since 1920 or so, the context and issues have shifted, but the anti-feminist focus has been much the same—namely, the protection of the (White) family and relations with men (Walby, 2005). Women have long advocated for their rights, whether or not there is an “active” movement (or at least one that is visible in the press), but they may not call themselves feminists. Any social movement that advocates goals that threaten the status quo and dominant power structure (in the case of feminism, patriarchal and capitalist ideologies) is met with backlash (Mendes, 2011). For feminism, this criticism is complex. Backlash and the negative depictions of feminists and the feminist movement in media during the second wave, and in decades since, cultivated fear and avoidance of the feminist label, causing some women to see feminism as the “F” word (negative), even if they believed in the goals of the movement and participated in actions for gendered social change. The postfeminist claim that feminism is “dead” has, of course, been shown to be untrue, and nothing more than another media-created myth, according to Jennifer Pozner (2016), a journalist and feminist activist who describes herself as a “FFDS [False Feminist Death Syndrome] survivor”. The myth has been used to diminish the importance of the movement and reinforce patriarchal ideologies (Faludi, 1991). This discourse serves to shift the focus away from important issues of gender inequality that remain (Mendes, 2011; Walby, 2005).

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Although less well articulated, much of the current feminist movement takes place online in social media to create public discourse and a “callout” culture focusing on the politics of everyday life and rhetoric (Sheber, 2017). Grady (2018) of Vox magazine describes it as “queer, sex-positive, trans-inclusive, body-positive, and digitally driven” (para. 63). The #MeToo Movement is an example of widespread social media activism against sexual harassment and assault (Sheber, 2017), and is discussed further in Chapter 6. White Feminism

Many women involved in the civil rights and antiwar movements in the 1960s and 1970s began to question the way that both initiatives failed to acknowledge the important role of women and women’s issues in their work. They decided to shift toward feminist activism to address their own inequalities and oppression. Criticism of second-wave feminism echoed that of the women’s sufrage movement: it was dominated and controlled by White, middle and uppermiddle class, educated, and privileged women, to the exclusion of females of other races, ethnicities, classes, sexualities, and dis/abilities (Maxwell & Shields, 2018). Even the essentialist label of the “women’s” movement implies a homogeneity of women, ignoring the intersecting oppressions of sexism and racism faced by women of color. The White-washed historiography of the second-wave women’s movement focuses mostly on a few key leaders who ft the White elite demographic profle. This is unsurprising, because U.S. mainstream media commonly focus on prominent individuals (usually White) who somehow become representatives of all women who tell others’ stories for them (Zakaria, 2021). This demeans and disempowers multiracial and multicultural women who worked tirelessly to achieve the movement’s successes. It also downplays the division between White privileged feminist leaders who talk and write about feminism and the millions of women who live feminist struggles. This power dynamic echoes the historic “White savior” complex, which assumes that Whites (in this case, White feminists) have all the answers (in this case, to ending oppression), while non-Whites have all the problems, and that the Whites who attempt to rescue or help a person of color to resolve a situation often do more harm than good (Theriault, 2014). Zakaria (2021) calls this “color-blind feminism,” because, while it is based on the assumption that White and BIPOC women all face the same oppression, it ignores intersectionality and White racial privilege. Mainstream media reinforce this White-centrist image of feminism by leaving out BIPOC women’s voices in news coverage of movement events

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and activities. Likewise, descriptions of the struggle to end oppression on specifc issues often ignore the key contributions of women of color (Zakaria, 2021). For example, the story of anti-rape activism is often White-washed and attributed to White feminists starting in the 1970s, but, in fact, Black women activists had been fghting for justice for rape survivors going back to the 1860s. Only later did the movement grapple with the fact that there were as many things that divided women as united them, such as race, class, age, and sexual orientation (The revival of feminism, n.d.). Note 1 I have long had trouble with the use of the “wave” metaphor in describing the feminist movement in the United States, fnding it oversimplifed and reductive, implying that each wave of the movement had a beginning and an end, and ignores the fact that millions of women continue to work on key issues before and after each wave, but they are often ignored by mainstream media and left out of collective memory (Maxwell & Shields, 2018). As noted by Robin Morgan, “These misnomers are accurate only if we defne feminism narrowly: polite organizing done in the U.S. by primarily white, middle-class women, for a limited number of equal rights (however important) attainable under the social, economic, and political status quo” (2003, Introduction, para. 35). My focus in this portion of the chapter is the early years of “second-wave” feminism (1960s–1970s) as a way to place it into the rough timeline of historic markers in this chapter. I recognize that as a “wave” it is an artifcial category, which distinguishes diferent eras and generations of activists, and also overlaps with other social and political movements. Each successive wave built upon the accomplishments of earlier feminist activists. First-wave feminism, which emerged from the abolitionist movement, was active starting in the 1830s through the early 1900s. It is highlighted by the frst formal Women’s Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, New York, held in 1848. The movement focused (in particular) on legal rights, including women’s right to vote and ratifcation of the 19th Amendment in 1920 (Hewitt, 2010). In 1963, the idealized media image of (White) women as happy and contented housewives was strongly criticized by Betty Friedan in her now classic book, The feminine mystique (1963). Many feminist activists regarded this book as key to launching second-wave feminism. The third wave of feminism began in the mid-1990s and took a post-colonial and post-modernist approach by dismantling concepts of gender, the body, sexuality, and heteronormativity (Sheber, 2017). The recognition of intersectionality was a key focus, meaning the interconnections of identity and oppressions related to race, ethnicity, class, gender and gender identity, sexual orientation, dis/ abilities, among others.

References The 1960s history (n.d.). History. www.history.com/topics/1960s/1960s-history Allan, S. (2010). The gendered realities of journalism. In News culture (pp. 145–170). McGraw-Hill Education (UK).

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Barker-Plummer, B. (2010). News and feminism: A historic dialogue. Journalism & Communication Monographs, 12(3), 144–203. Berry, D.R., & Gross, K. N. (2021). A black women’s history of the United States [eReader version]. Penguin Random House. www.penguinrandomhouse.com/ books/567157/a-black-womens-history-of-the-united-states-by-daina-rameyberry/ Brown, C., & Seitz, J. (1970). “You’ve come a long way, baby:” Historical perspectives. In R. Morgan (Ed.), Sisterhood is powerful (pp. 3–28). Vintage Books. Butler, K. (2021, December 15). Rosie the Riveter isn’t who you think she is: The real story behind a WWII icon. American Experience/PBS. www.pbs.org/ wgbh/americanexperience/features/riveted-history-of-jeans-rosie-riveter/?utm_ source=Iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=campaign_3523598 Chambers, D., & Steiner, L. (2010). The changing status of women journalists. In Stuart Allan (Ed.), The Routledge companion to news and journalism (revised ed., pp. 49–59). Routledge. Collins, P.H. (2000). Black feminist thought: Knowledge, consciousness, and the politics of empowerment (2nd ed.). Routledge. Djerf-Pierre, M. (2007). The gender of journalism: The structure and logic of the feld in the twentieth century. Nordicom Review (jubilee issue), 81–104. Dow, B.J. (2014). Watching women’s liberation, 1970: Feminism’s pivotal year on the network news. University of Illinois Press. Faludi, S. (1991). Backlash: The undeclared war against American women. Crown. Feminism’s long history. (n.d.). History. Ford, L.E. (Ed.) (2014). Rosie the Riveter. In Encyclopedia of women and American politics. Facts on File. Friedan, B. (1963). The feminine mystique. Norton. Gamson, W.A., & Wolfsfeld, G. (1993). Movements and media as interacting systems. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 528(1), 114–125. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002716293528001009 Grady, C. (2018, March 20). The waves of feminism, and why people keep fghting over them, explained. Vox. www.vox.com/2018/3/20/16955588/ feminism-waves-explained-frst-second-third-fourth Greenfeld, J., & Reid, C. (1998). Women’s magazines and the commercial orchestration of femininity in the 1930s: Evidence from Woman’s Own. Media History, 4(2), 161–174. https://doi.org/10/dbnrmr Hall, S. (1997). Representation: Cultural representations and signifying practices. Sage/Open University. Heilpern, W. (2016, April 17). 18 awful vintage ads from the 20th century that show how far we have progressed. Business Insider. www.businessinsider.com/ vintage-sexist-and-racist-ads-2016-4 Hewitt, N. (2010). Introduction. In N. Hewitt (Ed.), No permanent waves: Recasting histories of U.S. feminism (pp. 1–12). Rutgers University Press. Hunt, K. (2020, September 24). How Hollywood sold glamour. JSTOR Daily. https://daily.jstor.org/how-hollywood-sold-glamour/ Lewis, J.J. (2019, July 3). Did 1960s feminists burn their bras at protests? ThoughtCo. www.thoughtco.com/bra-burning-feminists-3529832

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Lutes, J.M. (2007). Front-page girls: Women journalists in American culture and fction, 1880–1930. American Journalism, 24(1), 116–118. https://doi.org/10/ gngrqd Marshall, S.E. (1997). Splintered sisterhood: Gender and class in the campaign against woman sufrage. University of Wisconsin Press. Matz, P. (2021, June 23). Miriam Michelson. Jewish Women’s Archive. https://jwa. org/encyclopedia/article/michelson-miriam Maxwell, A., & Shields, T. (Eds.) (2018). The legacy of second-wave feminism in American politics. Springer International Publishing. https://doi. org/10.1007/978-3-319-62117-3 McNearney, A. (2019, October 18). I was there: The 1968 Miss America Pageant protest. History. www.history.com/news/miss-america-protests-1968 Mendes, K. (2011) Feminism in the news. Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi. org/10.1057/9780230336995 Michelson, M. (1905). A yellow journalist. Forgotten Books. Morgan, R. (2000). Saturday’s child: A memoir. Open Road Integrated Media, Inc. Morgan, R. (Ed.). (2003). Sisterhood is forever. Washington Square Press. Morris, M.B. (1973). Newspapers and the new feminists: Black-out as social control? Journalism Quarterly, 50(1), 37–42. https://doi.org/10/b3xmkd Napikoski, L. (2020, December 27). The women’s liberation movement. ThoughtCo. www.thoughtco.com/womens-liberation-movement-3528926 Nilsson, J. (2020, February 18). The myth and reality of the welfare queen. The Saturday Evening Post. www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2020/02/the-myth-of-thewelfare-queen/ Norwood, A.R. (2017). Nellie Bly. National Women’s History Museum. www. womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/nellie-bly Peiss, K. (1998). American women and the making of modern consumer culture— The electronic text. The Journal for MultiMedia History, 1(1), n.p. Philo, G. (2007). Can discourse analysis successfully explain the content of media and journalistic practice? Journalism Studies, 8(2), 175–196. https://doi.org/10/ b4rnn2 Pozner, J.L. (2016). The “big lie”: False feminist death syndrome, proft, and the media. In R. Dicker & A. Piepmeier (Eds.), Catching a wave: Reclaiming feminism for the 21st century. Northeastern University Press. The revival of feminism. (n.d.). Click! The ongoing feminist revolution. www. cliohistory.org/click/politics-social/revival Santana, M.C. (2016). From empowerment to domesticity: The case of Rosie the Riveter and the WWII campaign. Frontiers in Sociology, 1. https://doi.org/10/ gnwj7g Sheber, V. (2017, December 16). Feminism 101: What are the waves of feminism? Fem Magazine. https://femmagazine.com/feminism-101-what-are-the-waves-offeminism/ Smith, L.L. (1984). Coverage or cover-up: A comparison of newspaper coverage of the 19th Amendment and the Equal Rights Amendment  (Report No. ED246422). ERIC Clearinghouse.

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Smeal, E., & Steinem, G. (2023). Introduction. In K. Spillar (Ed.), 50 Years of Ms.: The Best of the Pathfnding Magazine That Ignited a Revolution (pp. xix–xxiv). Knopf. Steinem, G. (1995). Outrageous acts and everyday rebellions (2nd ed.). Macmillan. Steiner, L. (1997). Gender at work: Early accounts by women journalists. Journalism History, 23(1), 2–12. Steiner, L. (2005). The “gender matters” debate in journalism. In S. Allan (Ed.), Journalism (pp. 42–53). McGraw-Hill Education. Steiner, L. (2008). Gender in the newsroom. Routledge Handbooks Online. https:// doi.org/10.4324/9780203877685.ch9 Steiner, L. (2012). Failed theories: Explaining gender diference in journalism. The Review of Communication, 12(3), 201–223. https://doi.org/10.1080/15358593 .2012.666559 Steiner, L. (2017). Gender and journalism. Oxford University Press. https://doi. org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228613.013.91 Steiner, L. (2020). Introduction. In L. Steiner, C. Kitch, & B. Kroeger (Eds.), Front pages, front lines: Media and the fght for women’s sufrage (pp. 9–18). University of Illinois Press. Sundaramoorthy, R.M., & Broussard, J C. (2020). Writing and “righting” African American women seek the vote. In L. Steiner, C. Kitch, & B. Kroeger (Eds.), Front pages, front lines: Media and the fght for women’s sufrage (pp. 67–82). University of Illinois Press. Terborg-Penn, R. (1998). African American women in the struggle for the vote, 1850–1920. Indiana University Press. Theriault, A. (2014, January 23). The white feminist savior complex. HufPost. www.hufpost.com/entry/the-white-feminist-savior_b_4629470 Todd, K. (2021). Sensational: The hidden history of America’s “girl stunt reporters.” HarperCollins. van Zoonen, E.A. (1992). The women’s movement and the media: Constructing a public identity. European Journal of Communication, 7(4), 453–476. https:// doi.org/10/dx5hvj Walby, S. (2005). “Backlash” in historical context. In M. Kennedy, C. Lubelska, & V. Walsh (Eds.), Making connections: Women’s studies, women’s movements, women’s lives (1st ed., pp. 76–86). Taylor & Francis. Zakaria, R. (2021). Against white feminism: Notes on disruption. W.W. Norton & Company.

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Introduction

How did the efects of industrialization, new technologies, and the emergence of a professional identity shape the feld at the macro (e.g., the profession) and micro levels (e.g., news routines and the shape of the journalistic story)? How do these infuences intersect with the construction of knowledge, a subject bookended by two key questions. Who constructs knowledge? And for what purpose? The Impact of Industrialization

Industrialization generated standardization and specialization in journalism in the 19th century. News became a commodity production generated out of a for-proft journalism industry. In service to this, news organizations developed standardized news routines based on formulaic strategies such as fxed deadlines, conventional formats (e.g., the inverted pyramid), and regular and faster delivery to audiences (the wire-service, alone, enabled correspondents to transmit stories immediately to their organizations, creating a sense of immediacy and timeliness to stories in a way not seen before). These developments enabled media organizations to reach larger audiences with greater economic efciency, resulting in news stories that appeared similar, even homogenous, across news sources (Broersma & Peters, 2013; Becker & Vlad, 2009). As part of these changes, mainstream/traditional journalism media outlets during the mid- to late 19th century steadily moved further away DOI: 10.4324/9781315159171-5

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from partisan journalism and closer towards a new paradigm, one based on “objective” fact-based reporting in the public interest (Pickard, 2020). Stories that were once considered “news” were later viewed as opinion or feature articles. This understanding of objectivity was to have far-reaching efects—not only on the ideological power of media institutions and journalists, but also on overarching social norms, as we shall see later in this chapter. Importantly, the rise and expansion of commercialism meant fewer and more powerful media conglomerates, which reinforced the primary capitalist motivation of earning profts for shareholders. Management (a growing number of whom had business rather than journalism backgrounds) took control from news editors over story selection and coverage, driven by a desire to reach the widest audience possible, in order to appeal to advertisers— and this went hand in hand with driving good ratings (Lewis, 2015). These dynamics fueled a negotiation of journalistic autonomy against the gravitational pull of market forces: business logic assumed greater importance in journalism. With the expansion of privately owned media organizations, the press became part of society’s dominant power structure along with the government and corporations. As the U.S. news industry expanded, the major mainstream newspapers became known in the world as the epitomes of “democratic power, prestige and infuence” (Allan, 2010, p. 32). As a result, elite groups and institutions (overwhelmingly controlled by White males) increasingly sought control of media organizations, reinforcing the inherent patriarchy and White supremacy. Mainstream news media assumed a powerful ideological role as “defners of social reality,” able to impose preferred defnitions of issues and events, controversies, and individual or group identities. Emergence of Journalism as a Profession and Professional Identities

A profession is based on a specialized body of knowledge acquired through formal education and training, a professional code of ethics, and professional associations (Anderson, 2012). (Unlike law and medicine, however, U.S. journalists have no formal educational or training requirements, nor licensing.) The  ideology of journalism as a discipline and occupation is based on a consensual body of knowledge and on values and practices that serve as boundaries to defne the profession and professional identities (Carlson & Lewis, 2015). This includes criteria to determine “newsworthiness” but also the manner in which journalists imbue their work with meaning, how they see the world, and how they view their role as

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professionals in a democratic society (Deuze, 2005; Westerståhl & Johansson, 1986). Formation of journalists’ identities revolves around service to the public good and professional pride (Allan, 2010). Journalism emerged as a profession in the late 1800s with the prioritization of commercialism and the generation of a corporate identity. There were key markers of this emerging professionalism: • Publishers began to pay reporters a regular wage, which encouraged reporters to view themselves as professionals and to produce higherquality work (Schudson, 2003). • A professional ideology, standards, and practices developed that served to encourage higher-quality productions, lending credibility and legitimacy to the feld. This was particularly necessary in the face of the strong criticism of journalism during the yellow journalism era (Pickard, 2020). • The regular delivery of news established “deadlines” for stories. • Press clubs and professional associations formed. Around the turn of the 20th century, the debate whether journalism qualifed as a profession raged. To address this, individuals established press clubs and professional associations (Winfeld, 2008). A number of colleges and universities launched journalism schools and programs, and professional organizations created a formal code of ethics (Barnhurst & Nerone, 2009).  These groups and organizations supported an ethos of professionalism that enabled journalists to meet and develop a common occupational consciousness and distinction as an occupational group, as well as to craft and adopt ethical standards (Barnhurst & Nerone, 2009; Waisbord, 2013). Yet, these associations prohibited membership of women and BIPOC journalists. Professionalism, however, comes with tradeofs. Critics of the professionalism concept argue, for example, that it was all done as a sort of facade, one used to provide self-interested occupational security to build social prestige (Waisbord, 2013). Media owners still shape media and public agendas that serve their corporate interests, which then become the basis for social and political decision making, and, as a result, “democracy [becomes] a private enterprise rather than a public endeavour” (Hardt, 1996, p. 22; Reyes Matta, 1981). Since “professionalization” was defned by those persons who held power, as Djerf-Pierre (2007) says, assessing a journalist’s level of professionalism was based on implicit normative criteria informed by rules of social exclusion that were used against women and BIPOC journalists, with the result that these populations were judged to be not “professional enough,” hence preserving ideologies and power inequalities.

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At the root of these criticisms is the construction of knowledge—that is, who determines what is and is not knowledge. To explore this requires an understanding of the history and nature of what became standard journalism practices: objectivity, fairness and balance, newsworthiness and gatekeeping, framing and agenda setting, sources and interviewing, and beats. Journalistic Ideals: Objectivity, Fairness, and Balance Objectivity

Since the late 1800s, the doctrine of objectivity has been a sacred canon in mainstream journalism, a fundamental of practice, yet it is one of the most hotly contested notions in the feld. Objectivity is often defned in terms of what it is not—that is, objectivity is valued because of its implied absence of bias, opinion, and partisanship. Based on the scientifc method, it enables news to be described metaphorically as a “window” or “mirror” to the world. Critics ask a few fundamental questions, however. How is objectivity attainable, considering that journalists are human beings with their own subjectivities? Moreover, is objectivity even desirable, since it forces news writers into restricted formats that result in superfcial stories? Does it actually limit freedom of the press (Schudson & Anderson, 2009)? Indeed, over time, journalists and others have recognized that objectivity is a near-impossible goal, and that bears down, as well, on norms of fairness, balance, and transparency. Nonetheless, and despite the concerns, journalism textbooks and courses still present objectivity as an ideal. Journalism scholars disagree on the origins of objectivity, but the popular theories are as follows: 1. Objectivity emerged in the late 19th century out of a need to diferentiate journalism from public relations in the marketplace, which was achieved by the embrace of detached neutrality as a professional journalistic value, encouraging mechanized, impersonal processes that contrasted with PR’s client-biased information (Maras, 2013; Schudson, 2003). 2. Objectivity evolved from economic interests that viewed journalism’s function as a marketing strategy for commercial media outlets by positioning journalists as political centrists, as neutral reporters, which could serve to attract and maintain a large, politically heterogenous audience share and also to maximize profts (Ognianova & Endersby, 1996). 3. Objectivity evolved as a result of U.S. and German propaganda in World War I, helping to deal with a crisis of confdence among journalists, who

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saw frsthand how easily facts could be manufactured and manipulated to serve political agendas for purposes of persuasion (Ognianova & Endersby, 1996). Journalists were mandated to develop a consistent method of testing information, to fnd a transparent approach to collecting evidence that would be immune to personal and cultural biases that could undermine the accuracy of their work (Kaplan, 2009). Despite these variations in origin theory, it was understood that an object of observation (a news event, for example) had an essential identity, existed in an independent reality—as absolute truth—and could be described with facts, without bias, just by using appropriate procedural news routines (Allan, 1998; Wien, 2006). The direct observations of essential identity were “facts” of sounds, sights, and smells, and the assumption was that anyone situated in the same scene would observe the same things (Wien, 2006). “Just the facts” reporting, led by the Associated Press, evoked the notion that the “facts” were then put in proper order in such a way as to reveal the “truth.” Journalists were envisioned as somehow able to separate the facts from the “truth claims” of “legitimate” sources. “Just the facts” reporting reshaped the form of the news story to the inverted pyramid structure of news, designed to present facts in order of importance, as determined by the journalist (Allan, 2010). For example, the lead paragraph occupied the top of the story and contained the most important facts. It could be easily and quickly transmitted via telegraph and still provide the gist of the story, leaving the least important facts at the bottom. This allowed editors to easily ft stories to available space in the newspaper or magazine, meaning they could retain the essence of the story even if they were forced to cut its length due to space limitations or lack of reliable transmission lines. News evolved into the “newest news” (defned as previously unknown information about a recent or important event or a changed situation) with novelty, immediacy, and timeliness as central news criteria, and this required fast decision making on the part of reporters and editors (Deuze, 2005; News defnition and meaning, n.d.). The inverted pyramid and the use of the telegraph to transmit news across long distances also enabled reporters to work faster under the pressure of deadlines. A Farewell to Objectivity?

The critics of objectivity have been plentiful and outspoken. The political philosopher Hannah Arendt (1968) questioned whether facts are: independent of opinion and interpretation, [or] exist at all? Have not generations of historians and philosophers of history demonstrated the

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impossibility of ascertaining facts without interpretation, since they must frst be picked out of a chaos of sheer happenings (and the principles of choice are surely not factual data) and then be ftted into a story that can be told only in a certain perspective, which has nothing to do with the original occurrence? (p. 238) Schudson (1978) claimed: [Objectivity] is also a moral philosophy, a declaration of what kind of thinking one should engage in, in making moral decisions. It is, moreover, a political commitment, for it provides a guide to what groups one should acknowledge as relevant audiences for judging one’s own thoughts and acts. (p. 8) There are other well-known tangential problems with the concept of objectivity. Consider, for example, a 2003 study of journalists, which showed that a vast majority rely on mainstream news sources for knowledge, which provides a “circular reinforcement of perceived realities” (de Uriarte, 2003, 2005, p.10). As insisted by Richard Salant, former president of CBS News: “Our reporters do not cover stories from their point of view. They are presenting them from nobody’s point of view” (Cannon, 1977, p. 36). Critics point out the obvious. How can that be possible? In 1996, the Society of Professional Journalists removed the concept of objectivity from its code of ethics because of growing doubt that it could be achieved (Kil, 2020). Maras (2013) says objectivity is not only impossible; it is also a deception: “obscuring cultural, capitalistic or national bias behind talk of a neutral point of view; promoting faith in an external truth or ideal, an individualistic viewing position that doesn’t exist” (p. 2). Facing declining public trust in the credibility of mainstream news, scholars and practitioners suggested that transparency of news decisions, sources, biases, and production may help increase credibility and willingness to engage with media sources (Koliska & Kalyani, 2018; Peifer & Meisinger, 2021). Sutclife (2020) says: Firstly, despite cries of balanced reporting, it’s bleeding obvious that publications have a political bent. The polarization of the news media is readily apparent, and we do a disservice to our audiences if we say that journalists don’t have a political agenda when their parent publications do. We shouldn’t be trying to pretend we’re objective individually.

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Rather, we should aim for absolute transparency about why we make the decisions we do—even around theoretically impartial sources like data. (para. 10) Journalism stories reinforced the status quo and social structures because they were built on favored established modes of thinking that inhibit unique insights or conclusions for fear of bias (Glasser, 1984). The “just the facts” paradigm ignored the obvious—that some pieces of information are selected by journalists from a vast sea of information and canonized as “facts.” This norm was refected in the 19-year nightly signof by renowned CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite, “And that’s the way it is” (“And that’s the way it is,” [1981] 2014). Yet, now we can ask, “that’s the way it is” for whom? The Construction of Knowledge

Journalism is one of the most powerful and infuential producers of knowledge in society. Knowledge is a form of power used to determine what is regarded as authoritative and legitimate knowledge—and whether and in what circumstances it will be applied (Foucault, 1995; Hall et al., 2013). Kitch (1999) and other feminist scholars have questioned the implication that subjectivity is a terrible thing, arguing that it is hidden behind a facade of objectivity defned by White males. Why is “subjective truth” viewed as not truth? Feminist standpoint theory (FST), which originates from feminist theory and the feld of sociology, contends that women’s experiences cannot be understood using the antiquated “truth claims” of positivist research methods and can instead only be understood through a consideration of the position of women in a patriarchal society (Haraway, 1988). FST assumes that knowledge is power and can be used as such by people in diferent social locations or positionalities within the power hierarchy to assert authority through domination and control (Collins, 1990, 2000). Integrating the infuence of Black feminist scholars, feminist standpoint theorists now advocate constructing knowledge from an intersectional perspective based on women’s and BIPOC’s lived experiences of oppression and resistance (Alinia, 2015). This is critical to “repair the historical trend of women’s [and BIPOC’s] misrepresentation and exclusion from the dominant knowledge canons” (Brooks, 2007, p. 56). Black women scholars have proposed a “Black women’s standpoint” that counteracts the idea of a “women’s perspective” but encompasses intersectionality of multiple oppressions

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related to both gender and race to address their “unique vision” based on experiences with oppression and resistance (Collins, 2000; Meyers & Gayle, 2015). This means that Black women experience racism diferently from Black men or Latinas. Other ways of “knowing” and other ways of constructing knowledge include experiential knowledge and “connected knowing” based on a person’s personal experience rather than on statements by authorities (who may have no personal experience related to their expertise and claims of truth or facts) (Gilligan, 1984). Some say this enables the construction of counter-hegemonic knowledge that may be more accurate and authentic (Belenky et al., 1997; Gilligan, 1984). For example, critical race and Latinx Critical Theory scholars view experiential knowledge gained through collective experience—ways of believing, thinking, and knowledge in marginalized communities—as key to challenges and policies addressing discrimination (Parker & Stovall, 2004). My feminist collaborative model of critical refexivity is based on the assumptions of experiential knowledge, as defned from the standpoint of the person being interviewed as well as the journalist. This is explored further in Chapter 8. Preserving Ideologies and Power

With journalists empowered as the “revealers of truth,” the news is presented as color-blind, gender-blind, and class-blind, implying that these differences are irrelevant. This, say critical-media scholars, is a facade that hides racial and gender ideologies and ensures continued power and control by dominant groups (White, male, middle/upper class) in political and economic leadership, moral authority (Ansley, 1988). Four factors have fueled the roots of White male power in journalism (Alemán, 2014; van Dijk, 2005): 1. 2. 3. 4.

Overuse of White (mostly male) elites as sources. Disregard for minority and women’s organizations or groups. Depicting minorities as threats. Dismissing stories about racism and sexism.

In Chapter 6, we will see how the foundations of journalism in White power, in the White and male gaze, in industrialization, and in the normativized ideals of objectivity, fairness, and balance afect the creation of knowledge and news making. Superfcial understandings of democracy, neutrality, balance, and fairness still govern news-gathering processes.

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Fairness and Balance

The concepts of fairness and balance have been adopted by media organizations as alternatives to the objectivity ideal, but these sufer from muddy defnitions and applications as well, and from a gutting of their conceptual power. Merriam-Webster defnes fairness as “fair or impartial treatment; lack of favoritism toward one side or another,” and including diferent points of view (Diversity defnition and meaning, n.d.). Journalists interpret fairness as meaning accuracy and balance in reporting, avoiding the slanting of a story that attempts to lead the reader to some desired conclusion. The worthiness and validity of the concepts of fairness and balance are declining in public opinion. Because “balance” often comes down to journalists’ subjective judgement, it can open journalists to charges of imbalance or bias from the public and politicians. According to a 2020 survey by the Pew Research Center, 79 percent of news consumers said they believe that news organizations tend to favor one side when presenting news on political and social issues (Walker & Gottfried, 2020). This is a 7 percent increase from 2019 (conservative Republicans are more likely to perceive this bias. That same year, a Trusting News study showed that for news consumers, balance is a primary characteristic of high-quality journalism, preferring “just the facts” (Mayer, 2019). “Bothsiderism”

“Balanced news” is defned as obtaining “both sides” of a story, a condition known as bothsiderism. Unfortunately, bothsiderism doesn’t really work as a concept, for many reasons. 1. The fallacy of “only two sides” of confict. There are often more than just two sides to an issue, and both bothsiderism and balance may create the perception of confict when there is actually consensus (Starkey, 2006). 2. False equivalence. Aikin and Casey (2022) argue that bothsiderism is a fallacy of mistaking disagreement with actual evidence to support each position, as if they were equally valid, resulting in distortion of an issue. This happens, for example, when a reporter feels she must fnd and report “both” sides of a story to be fair and balanced. Yet, often these “sides” are not equal in voice or validity; that is, both these concepts of bothsiderism and balance can lead to the problem of “false equivalence”— or “false balance”—by presenting an opposing side or voice to a wellknown fact simply because of the assumption that, if there is any

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disagreement on an issue at all, then those “sides” should be given equal news space regardless of the validity of evidence on either side. As an example, consider climate-change coverage. This coverage is often replete with false balance; that is, equal news space is given to both climate change scientists and to skeptics, even though an estimated 99.9 percent of credible scientists agree that climate change is real and that human activity plays a major role in exacerbating it (Lynas et al., 2021). Anti-scientifc arguments are often vastly oversimplifed, framed in the either-or binary (e.g., climate change is real or a hoax) (Molek-Kozakowska, 2017). “I am convinced that journalism’s failure to properly report the climate story will be recorded as one of its great humiliations,” said Kyle Pope (2020) of the Columbia Journalism Review (para. 5). Media organizations fear alienating conservative audiences and advertisers by not including statements from the various sides, no matter how the evidence stacks up. Gans (1979) notes that “political balance is usually achieved by identifying the dominant, most widespread, or most vocal positions, then presenting ‘both sides’” (p. 175). As a result, major corporations with massive PR budgets may receive more news coverage on issues such as climate change. 3. Us vs. them. Bothsiderism can result in stories that reinforce perspectives of “us vs. them” or “insider vs. outsider.” The “them” are often people speaking out in protest or resisting the status quo. As a result, these individuals and organizations are often portrayed as deviants, criminals, or terrorists, and this serves to reinforce normative assumptions about whom or what should be on the public agenda. 4. Lazy reporting. Bothsiderism leads to lazy reporting because journalists can conduct two interviews with “ofcial” sources (a “he said”/“she said” dynamic) and call it a balanced story, despite lacking deep understanding or analysis of the key aspects of a story, including the essential points of view involved in the issue (Cunningham, 2003). That is, it can be less time-consuming to just spout the ofcial line. Of course, in the face of massive budget and staf cuts in newsrooms, responsibility for coverage of science, for example, is now often handed to generalist reporters who don’t have the knowledge, expertise, contacts, or time to thoroughly check the validity of scientifc claims (Boykof & Boykof, 2004). When this occurs, reporters are often relieved to turn to public relations (PR) frms and their press releases and pre-packaged media information—but this is information that benefts the PR frm’s clients. 5. Endangering the public and non-White groups. Providing fair and balanced coverage can fuel bias by including diverse viewpoints that may be dangerous for non-White groups. This was the case when The New

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York Times published a highly controversial editorial entitled “Send in the troops,” by Republican U.S. Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas, who called for sending the U.S. military into the streets to counter the BLM protests (Beauchamp, 2020; Cotton, 2020). When Black news staf complained in an editorial that it put them and others in danger, the editorial-page editor said, “all viewpoints matter.” A note added later to the editorial acknowledged that the piece should have been reviewed more carefully for inaccuracies and misleading assertions (Owen, 2020). Reliance on traditional news values or norms can contribute to distortion of issues by emphasizing uncertainty—or what is not known about a topic. This was a particular problem with COVID-19, since reporting was occurring as the pandemic exploded, as health scientists frantically conducted research on the virus to develop vaccines. As noted by MolekKozakowska (2017), emphasizing the negative aspects, such as what is not known about a topic, particularly with long-term issues, increases newsworthiness, but doing so has serious efects on public opinion. Presenting both sides meant giving the anti-science stance equal airtime. Newsworthiness and News Values

When I graduated from journalism school more than 30 years ago, I felt as if someone had touched me with a magic wand saying, “Now you have news judgement.” I never really knew what that meant, particularly with the canon of objectivity front and center in my neophyte journalistic mind. Schultz (2007) describes this “news judgement” as the “’journalistic gut feeling . . . how journalistic practice involves a seemingly self-evident and self-explaining sense of newsworthiness” based on experience and common sense (p. 190). “It would appear that news judgment is the sacred knowledge, the secret ability of the newsman [sic] which diferentiates him [sic] from other people,” said Tuchman (1972, p. 672). Newsworthiness and news values are based on the concept and claim of objectivity, and are ambiguous concepts with limited validity because they are part of a subjective and selective process based on a shared understanding (O’Neill & Harcup, 2009). Newsworthiness

De Uriarte (2005) says: The power to defne newsworthiness determines who and what has value. This action preserves history and assigns cultural signifcance. It erects the scafold for the social construction of reality, which becomes

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internalized as common sense—hegemony. In the current process, minorities become stigmatized, marginalized or disappear, left within a circle of silence. (p. 11) News is produced as a way to manage, control, and process the vast amount of information available, and then is packaged as a valuable commodity. Earl et al. (2004) argue that, while the “hard facts” of news coverage are usually accurate, it is “the newspaper’s decision to cover an event at all” that is a subjective process that merits further research (p. 65). Journalists may construct, distort, or confate the story in such a way as to create or accentuate newsworthiness, an activity known as the “distortion hypothesis” (Bednarek & Caple, 2017; Galtung & Ruge, 1965). As one example of that, a peaceful protest about immigration rights may get little or no coverage in mainstream news unless someone is arrested for throwing a rock and breaking a window of a nearby building, which then makes the event immediately newsworthy even though the actual issues and objectives of the event receive brief mention, if any. Once journalists determine the “newsworthiness” of an issue or event using “news judgement,” they apply news values to construct a story that will appeal to target audiences, and their editors determine where and how these productions/stories will be placed to attract the largest percentage of audience as possible for advertisers (Bednarek & Caple, 2017). Harrison (2009) calls this ongoing assessment of rejection and acceptance gatekeeping, discussed below. News Values

News values tend to be as abstract and vaguely defned as newsworthiness and can change over time and in diferent social, cultural, political, economic, and geographic contexts (O’Neill & Harcup, 2009). News values also are systems of selection criteria assumed to exist separately outside of events that can be applied as “routine and highly regulated procedures” (Bednarek & Caple, 2017, quoting Golding & Elliott, 1979, p. 114). News values are learned and processed by journalists through general interactions in newsrooms, in an environment of shared understanding about the nature and purpose of news and a shared perspective on the particular news organization (Golding & Elliott, 1979). Journalists are not necessarily trained in the policies, editorial slant, or ideology of a media organization; rather, they learn these things through “conformity” accompanied by overt and covert pressures or social control and enforcement (Dickinson, 2007).

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The application of news values to determine newsworthiness occurs at diferent points in the news-making process, according to Bednarek and Caple (2017), including assessment of the perceived properties of an event, as well as the process of gathering information and producing news stories. News values are, hence, likewise a social construction. Bednarek and Caple (2017) identify two types of news values: moralethical (truth, impartiality, honesty, fairness) and commercial values (speed, visual appeal in the case of television, etc.). In light of the pressure for major media conglomerates to earn profts, news values lean in favor of commercial values as media organizations are pressured to produce news that is more “sellable” to attract mass audiences for advertisers (Shoemaker & Reese, 2013). Newsworthiness and news values are aficted by all the same problems that beset objectivity, fairness, and balance, including lack of BIPOC voices, gender bias, and lack of diversity in the newsroom. An estimated 25–80 percent of news is shaped by public relations, and those practitioners often create “pseudo-events,” designed as newsworthy to get media attention for their clients—the result is fewer investigative reports and less journalistic autonomy (Fiske & Hancock, 2016; Obermaier et al., 2018). And journalists often focus on “bad news,” because if it “bleeds, it leads,” which promotes stereotypes and the focus (as we have seen) on violence, even if it is minimal. News judgement also includes categorizing news stories into diferent journalistic hierarchies as “hard news” and “soft news.” Hard news is usually timely and is typically associated with “important people, important issues, and important events” (as determined by those in power), such as politics, international afairs, and business news. These stories are often placed in the major headlines (Sanders, 2021). Gatekeeping

Gatekeeping refers to the fltering process of controlling information as an exercise of power by journalists to reinforce the status quo (Deluliis, 2015). Simply put, the process of “gatekeeping” refers to the process of deciding what news will be released from the organization. Each news story is selected from millions of events that occur daily, which means that each released story has been judged to be among the most “signifcant” news of the day. The gatekeeping power of mainstream media has been considerably diminished with social and digital media, because audiences have access to far more sources from which to obtain news (Gilardi et al., 2022). These technologies have shifted the power dynamics between gatekeepers and the

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“gated” (those afected by gatekeeping), from a one-way, top-down process to a two-way process (Barzilai-Nahon, 2008). Barzilai-Nahon (2008) explains that gatekeepers are no longer just journalists but can also be the public, organizations, and governments. Although the internet was originally hailed as the “great equalizer,” much of the hegemonic power structure remains in the hands of massive media conglomerates. Framing and Agenda Setting

Framing and agenda setting are theories about how media attract audience attention to various topics, shape interpretations, and afect later judgements. A frame refers to how information is organized within a specifc story as a way to guide interpretation (Iyengar, 1996, 2005). Agenda setting focuses on cumulative efects at a broader level, on the varied salience or importance of topics by audiences (public and political agendas) through repeated exposure to those deemed newsworthy and selected for coverage in news (media agenda) (Weaver, 2007). Agenda setting is part of the media-efects tradition, focusing on the way that media afect individual cognition or ways of thinking. Originally introduced by McCombs and Shaw (1972), hundreds of studies have explored diferent dimensions of the agenda-setting efect (Wu & Coleman, 2009). There is frst-level (issue) and second-level (attribute) agenda setting. First-level agenda setting refers to the amount of coverage received by, or the salience of, an issue, event, or prominent fgure that is viewed as newsworthy and, thus, featured prominently in news over time so it comes to be viewed as more signifcant and historically meaningful to audiences (Wu & Coleman, 2009). Second-level agenda setting (framing) focuses more narrowly on the salience of attributes or characteristics of those same issues or fgures that are emphasized in news coverage. Attribute salience of an issue may shift over time. Every story must have a frame, which is basically the angle or perspective from which the story about an event or issue is told. Frames serve as working routines for journalists, because they “organize everyday reality” for them and, in turn, for audiences and political actors (Tuchman, 1978, p. 193). As such, frames provide specifc interpretations and implied meaning of issues, denote judgements, and propose solutions (Turcott & Boykof, 2022). They often are the focus of negotiation between journalists and their sources, as well as between journalists and their editors. Frames are used in discourse to determine the order and context of presented facts, the sources that will, or will not, be included and in what order, among other factors (Kenix, 2011, p. 40; Scheufele, 2006).

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Framing leaves us open to potential bias, either deliberate or unintended. Framing and agenda setting are shaped by journalists’ values and belief systems, motivations, relationships with sources, and newsroom culture and routines, as well as broader social, cultural, political, and economic contexts related to the topic (diAngelo, 2018; Nelson & Willey, 2001; Scheufele, 1999). Over the long term, the salience of issues and coverage patterns derived from frames serve to magnify or diminish certain characteristics in the construction of a representation of reality, which may contribute to bias (Entman, 1991, 1993). The connections among framing and agenda setting help explain news bias when, for example, frames reinforce racial and gender stereotypes based on White patriarchal ideologies that are reinforced over time. What we do know is that devices such as story and language are key components of framing. These devices, for example, include the keywords and phrases used in headlines and text—headlines provide subjective definitions of a situation, which audiences read either to shape their processing of the text or to reject reading the article altogether (van Dijk, 1992). Story and language also include considerations such as the length of articles, quotes from selected sources, and images that imply certain interpretations, judgements, and solutions (Entman, 2004; Scheufele & Iyengar, 2012). Episodic and Thematic Framing

News stories about race or racism often rely on episodic frames, which focus on specifc events or news pegs (such as crime) rather than on thematic frames, which address a broader pattern and historical context (Iyengar, 1996; Iyengar & Simon, 1993). Episodic frames are a faster and cheaper way to grab audience attention, because they don’t require in-depth expertise on the part of journalists, nor do they require investigation (which provides context). Episodic frames leave journalists less open to accusations of bias, because they ofer a quick and shallow summary of an event or issue. This use of episodic frames, however, can leave readers uninformed about the story’s broader context. In this way, framing may reinforce news bias such as racial and gender stereotypes, portraying non-Whites as “problems,” for example, as perpetrators of crime and violence, with Whites as the victims and heroes (Dixon & Linz, 2000; Dixon et al., 2018; van Dijk, 1993). Episodic news stories about immigrants rarely include the broader context of immigration, including such issues as deportation, separation, detention of migrant families, asylum, and DACA (Deferred Action for Child Arrivals).

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The “White racial frame” is a meta-frame shaping the formation of specifc media frames. Feagin (2013) defnes it as “an overarching White worldview that encompasses a broad and persisting set of racial stereotypes, prejudices, ideologies, images, interpretations and narratives, emotions . . . as well as racialized inclinations to discriminate” (p. 3). This orchestrated view of social reality encourages an interpretation of story that reinforces White privilege and maintains Whiteness as the status quo. Consider, for example, stories of racist comments by celebrities and other well-known fgures, which are often covered as sensationalist news incidents but lack true context, standing instead as single acts of personal bigotry rather than as commentary shaped by a White supremacist system (Coates, 2014). “Journalism privileges what’s happening now over the long reasons for things happening,” Ta-Nehisi Coates (2014) says, “And for African-Americans [and other POC], that has a particular efect” (para. 20). Political Framing and Agenda Setting

A study of political candidates by Wu and Coleman (2009) found that the second-level efect had a greater impact on readers because it includes the characteristics of a candidate such as personality, qualifcations, and ideology. This works well for candidates who are less well known to the public. Second-level agenda setting shapes the tone of the coverage with a consistent focus in news over time on specifc positive or negative attributes of an issue or candidate, which, in turn, infuences public evaluations. Research by Conway (2013) of the extensive media coverage of the Afordable Care Act (“Obamacare”) when President Obama introduced it in 2009 and passed in 2010, showed that health care became a primary issue in the minds of the public (frst level). The overwhelming criticism by Fox News focused on criticism of Obama and on negative attributes of the proposal, and this coverage had the greatest cumulative infuence on public opinion (second level). Carragee and Roefs (2004) are critical of the “levels” conceptualization of agenda setting as it relates to framing, arguing that this conceptualizes frames as story topics only, ignoring the role of power and meaning making in the process. Also, new media, including the internet and social media, have transformed the agenda-setting phenomenon with salience transfer; audiences have greater power to participate in the agenda-setting process via sharing on Facebook and Twitter (Danesi, 2013). They also have a vast array of sources to choose from, so are less infuenced by one particular news source or agenda (Gilardi et al., 2022). A study by Broockman and Kalla (2022) explored news bias in partisan media (e.g., Fox News) in the context of the combined impact of framing, agenda setting, and what they call partisan coverage fltering. Partisan

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media cover only selected topics and frame events in a “one-sided” way (e.g., omitting negative information about President Trump), which both changes the salience and interpretation of issues and selectively reports only information that supports one side. The researchers conducted an experiment in which they paid Fox viewers to watch CNN for one month and, although participants had strong partisan views, they signifcantly changed their beliefs and knowledge along with their attitudes and assessments of political fgures and their understanding of the importance or salience of issues. Example: Framing and Agenda Setting with Mass Shootings

Research on media coverage of mass shootings (massacre of innocent people, often unknown to the perpetrator) shows that a vast majority of shooters are male (91 percent) and White (61 percent) (Kowalski, 2022). This is often overlooked in media coverage. Only when the shooter is a non-White does race become a prominent focus of news attention, which reinforces White privilege and the permanent “othering” of BIPOC (Mingus & Zopf, 2010). Critics of the media coverage of mass shootings at schools and elsewhere point to the typical sensationalist framing of the tragedy as a unique event, with little information provided about the broader context of the story (Mingus & Zopf, 2010). The primary focus of coverage in these cases is often on the alleged shooter, which serves to glorify that person, normalize their behavior, and build notoriety, particularly in the social media (Richmond, 2019). Critics have urged that media pay far less attention to the shooters (not sharing their names and visual images, for example), to avoid contributing to their notoriety and triggering copycat violence. Many perpetrators use social media accounts of past shootings as a script, viewing the shooters as heroes or martyrs. Other perpetrators have spouted conspiracy theories from White nationalist and right-wing media sources, and this points to an important broader context for the crimes, one that often is unexplored in news coverage. With the escalating number of mass shootings in the past few years, certainly more news stories are contextualizing the violence within broader issues such as gun-control debates. Yet, there remains an important missing piece: while motives vary in mass shootings, the perpetrators are often acting on personal grievances based in misogyny or racial hatred, and they vent this hatred on innocent victims using guns (Vandegrift, 2021). Nonetheless, typical news coverage frames the shooters as mentally ill, socially isolated, and as failures at school or jobs. What is often overlooked is the rooting of many of these crimes in toxic masculinity and White supremacy, in the feeling of White men that they have been robbed of their entitlement and privilege dueto bullying or other disrespect over time.

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Studies have compared agenda setting and framing in media coverage of the Virginia Tech shooting in 2007 and the Columbine High School shooting in 1999 (Muschert & Carr, 2006; Park et al., 2012). Research comparing these shootings showed that, for each, the extensive news coverage initially focused on the shooting itself and the individual perpetrator(s) (i.e., issue agenda setting), but then shifted to reactions of the community and beyond, examining the social perspectives and long-term implications (i.e., attribute agenda setting and framing) (Muschert & Carr, 2006; Park et al., 2012). Race and ethnicity were major aspects of the news coverage about the Virginia Tech shooting because the perpetrator was a Korean international student and not White (Park et al, 2012). Framing focused on the “outsider status” of the shooter, which implied the stereotypical misperception of connecting immigrants with criminality. In contrast, while the two male Columbine shooters were White, one of the boys (in particular) was obsessed with Hitler and the Nazis, according to Langman (2010), which was rarely mentioned in news coverage, and he often echoed Hitler’s rhetoric about survival of the fttest, of natural selection, and of eliminating “unft” people. On the day of the shooting, he wore a T-shirt that said “Natural Selection.” This aspect of racism was not revealed in the news coverage. Race and religion were front and center in the media coverage of the 2009 shooting at Fort Hood, Texas, which killed 13 soldiers and injured 30 others (Mingus & Zopf, 2010). The perpetrator was an Army psychiatrist, but he was also a Muslim, the U.S.-born son of Palestinian immigrant parents. The framing focused on his ethnicity and religion, indicating that these explained his motives and that he was part of a terrorist plot (which proved not true) (Shalal-Esay, 2009). Arab and Muslim American communities condemned the attacks, but then braced themselves for a backlash of verbal and physical attacks triggered by the sensationalist news coverage. The initial public horror over mass shootings usually generates calls for gun control (which are immediately dismissed by Republican lawmakers backed by the National Rife Association) or, in the case of school shootings, often leads to policy proposals with law-and-order approaches, such as armed guards in schools and even arming teachers. Both results ignore the root causes of the violence in White patriarchal ideologies that shape social and political power. Gendered Framing and Agenda Setting

Women continue to be absent or marginalized in mainstream news, despite the considerable progress made in that regard (Ross, 2009; Who makes the news, 2021). One of the most common frames of women in news is woman

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as victim, based on “the media’s fascination with the fragile female form and her vulnerability to violation,” which serves patriarchal power relations, with passive and dependent stereotypes of women and diminishes their agency (Ross, 2009, p. 70). Male perpetrators are often portrayed in episodic news stories as “crazed attackers” or “sex fends” in isolated incidents; there is little context to connect rape to broader gender ideologies and connections to violence (Ross, 2009). It is rarely mentioned that most convicted rapists are friends or acquaintances of those they assault. The efect over time is that the public may come to regard sexual violence as an unusual event perpetrated by strangers rather than a serious chronic problem happening to women, across demographic groups and contexts, with devastating impacts. A consequence of this problematic framing of sexual violence is the recent spate of anti-abortion laws being passed in several states that do not provide exceptions for rape or incest. As of May 2022, fve U.S. states have laws that would allow rapists and families of rapists to sue an abortion provider who provides an abortion to a woman who gets pregnant as a result of the attack (Tangalakis-Lippert, 2022). This “bounty hunting” statute grants more rights to the rapists’ families than to the pregnant women who survive the sexual assault, and even provides those families a means to proft from the crime (damages start at $10,000). This refects the attitude that rape is not a serious violent crime that seriously damages, even destroys, the lives of survivors. Sources and Interviews

Human sources are a key component of news routines. The press has an ethical obligation to include sources who refect the wide range of interests and perspectives of their audience, although it is questionable whether this diversity is fulflled (Friedman, 2014). This is important for many reasons, not least of which is implications of power: sources are granted agency with the power of access and voice, the power to defne social reality, and the power to respond to other sources (Franklin & Carlson, 2011). Serving as a source denotes higher status, greater agency, prestige, and validation for being an important public fgure, granting legitimacy and authority to their viewpoints.  It also serves to bolster the legitimacy and credibility of the journalist and their organization. News experts or offcial sources who are regularly used by journalists in stories have a form of “structured access,” says Chibnall (1977), and they are all too often White and male elites (p. 37). They become the “primary defners” of events and issues, using a top-down perspective— they shape social reality by being invited to subjectively declare “what really took place” (Hall et al., 2013).

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This chronic imbalance is what Nord and Nygren (2002) call a “media shadow,” with biased, single-sided, or incomplete coverage of an issue or geographic area. The result is lower-quality stories (Hall, 1997). The limited approach to source selection and the narrow defnition of “expertise” omits experiential knowledge acquired through individual and collective experience and practice. This is particularly important for BIPOC and other marginalized communities, who are often left out of mainstream news coverage (Hall et al., 2013). For example, with the alarming rise of anti-Asian racial discrimination and violence in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, many members of these communities say they live in fear and terror as the attacks “hit close to home” (Wang, 2022). Many Asian American communities are reluctant to open up about these crimes, and this can hinder the primarily non-Asian reporters who cover these issues from connecting with community-based sources and gathering the experiential knowledge and stories that refect the nuance and emotional impact of these situations (Schneider, 2020). Source bias was evident in a 2021 study of TV news coverage of immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border that revealed the voices and perspectives of immigrants and refugees themselves were often silenced (Rajkovic, 2021). The research by FAIR (Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting—a liberal media watchdog group)—showed 63 percent of all sources were former and current U.S. government ofcials and, although immigrants were often portrayed in visual images, just 6 percent of quoted sources came from those directly afected. The result is creation and reinforcement of “myths” of marginality and diference of “the Other” (Campbell, 2017). “Ordinary” people are often quoted in “person on the street” interviews based on their personal experiences rather than on their professional expertise. In this way, traditional sourcing practices based on gender and racial ideologies contribute to the maintenance of chronic power imbalances in society, normalizing White males as the most credible and universal frame of reference to interpret events and issues (Alemán, 2010, 2014). Over time, these source patterns have become hegemonic as “common sense.” Non-mainstream views of these issues are ignored or set up as oppositional perspectives with an “us vs. them” dynamic, based on gender, race, and class ideologies. Critical BIPOC voices who question the White majority and systemic racism are often presented as too radical and, therefore, less credible. BIPOC sources who agree with the dominant White perspective are given access, but are often presented as the minority point of view. The underrepresentation of women and BIPOC in news, as both sources and subjects of stories, means that audiences don’t learn about the perspectives and experiences of these groups on many issues and that many stories are never told. The 2020 Gender Media Monitoring Project (GMMP)1

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showed that, in U.S. news, just 34 percent of sources were women. In interviews using expert sources, just 41 percent were women (Who makes the news, 2021). A 2020 study by the Women’s Media Center of gender and race representations in fve major Sunday U.S. news shows revealed that women comprised only 32 percent of guest appearances (vs. 51 percent of the U.S. population), and BIPOC women comprised only 13 percent (vs. 20 percent of the population) (WMC Report, 2020, p. 3). These shows have a major impact on shaping other news narratives, and they also afect the tenor and content of policy and political agendas in the days and weeks following broadcast. A 1997 study of network news showed that just 3 percent of “talking heads” or experts were Black (Entman & Rojecki, 2000). BIPOC and female sources are less likely to be included in “hard news” such as business and war, but are more commonly sought for their insights on “soft” topics such as education or health (North, 2016). Such fndings are consistent with a growing literature arguing that, despite advancements in gender and racial equality over the years, the portrayals of these groups in popular media remain “frozen in time” (Cukier et al., 2019, p. 26). Studies also show women’s overrepresentation in news as victims, particularly of violence and especially sexual violence (Ross, 2009). Byerly (2013) asserts that a major reason for these imbalances is the paucity of women editors as gatekeepers. Steiner (2012) says that this imbalance diminishes the agency of women (and BIPOC), causing them to underestimate their potential in terms of what leisure and work activities they can undertake, what behaviors and values they can adopt, and, essentially, how far they can go in life (p. 204). Beats

The practice of assigning beats can also limit the choice of sources. Beats were developed in the early 20th century and used as a management tool to cut production costs and increase efciency by assigning reporters to specifc content or topics such as health, education, or foreign policy, or to locations such as the police, courts, schools, and government ofces (Becker & Vlad, 2009). Beats enable journalists to become familiar with their assigned territory or topic and to develop regular contacts and networks of reliable and accessible ofcial sources, saving them time while increasing the depth of reporting, despite severe budget and staf cuts in many mainstream newsrooms and the pressures of the 24/7 news cycle (Waisbord, 2013). This can make it easier for reporters to generate story ideas and collect information and facts (Baldasty, 1993; Becker & Vlad, 2009). As a result of

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these familiar networks, however, beats can also serve to restrict coverage of many BIPOC and other marginalized communities, including everyday persons who often have expertise through lived experience or other noninstitutional sources. Waisbord (2013) says that the result is that journalism becomes “a fortress separated from citizens” (p. 8). As newsrooms face major staf and budget cuts, more journalists become generalists, with less in-depth knowledge of an assigned topic. They may, as a result, avoid covering controversial or sensitive topics related to gender, sexuality, class, and race—or else cover them in a detached, superfcial manner with (often White, straight, male) established sources to avoid criticism (Dolan, 2011). Although some newsrooms had existing “racial beats,” more journalists were hired for diversity-related roles such as “minority beat,” “urban beat,” or “race and ethnicity” reporters (Lowery, 2020). There was little consensus on how race should be covered, whether a story should focus on race and pop culture, race and immigration politics, or everyday lives in BIPOC communities, for example (Ip, 2014). Power Dynamics of Interviews: Avowed and Ascribed Identities

Interviews, while a key method through which journalists gather information, present unique power dynamics. Numerous studies in intercultural communication have examined the role of avowed and ascribed identities in dynamics of personal interactions, particularly between persons of diferent cultures (Collier, 1997, 1998; Collier & Thomas, 1988). Ascribed identities are social, political, and cultural identities attributed to us by others, and may be shaped by media representations and stereotypes (Martin & Nakayama, 2017). Avowed identities are those we attribute to ourselves and may be very diferent from identities ascribed to us by others. During an interview, both the journalist and source ascribe identities to the other but are also infuenced by their own avowed identities. Reporters approach interviews with an ascribed identity and positionality of sources in mind. These may or may not align with the sources’ avowed identities. American Muslim women who wear hijabs are often ascribed identities as oppressed victims of misogynistic and patriarchal Islamic cultures, and mistakenly assumed by non-Muslims to be forced to wear the head covering (Jain, 2021; Tan & Vishnevskaya, 2022). The hijab has become a political symbol of Islamophobia, used as an excuse for abuse and discrimination against Muslim women, with assumptions that it represents support for violence and terrorism of Islamic extremists (Rahman, 2021). However, Muslim women’s voices are rarely heard in mainstream media, with little opportunity for them to explain that for many women the hijab is a form

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of empowerment and an assertion of religious identity. Since 9/11, these issues have multiplied and been difcult to counteract. People who are marginalized and have less power are often misrepresented in media, which shapes how journalists perceive them and report on them. What happens when the “all-knowing” professional and objective journalist misreads or mis-ascribes the cultural identity and positionality of a source due to lack of critical refexivity? How does that afect the authenticity of the interview and story? For example, a White, male, middle-class journalist who is not aware of his own cultural identities and privileges related to Whiteness, gender, or class may know little about undocumented immigration and may unconsciously carry biases that attribute stereotyped and negative characteristics to a non-White source, such as criminality, untrustworthiness, impoverishment, or violence. If that source also does not speak English (and the journalist does not speak the source’s language), there is also a language barrier as. All of these factors can lead reporters to give short shrift in the interview to sources, assuming they have little expertise or anything “newsworthy” to say. The problem can go both ways, as the interviewee recognizes the journalist’s ignorance and prejudice, becoming less forthcoming as a result. The outcome is a less authentic, more superfcial story and one that may reinforce stereotypes. These kinds of challenges can lead to an imbalanced interaction between reporter and source and to a less than successful interview. We know that journalists have their own avowed identities that are assumed to be rendered null by adherence to values such as professional objectivity, and to news routines that supposedly bestow upon the journalist the ability to be a detached observer of facts. What is often overlooked, however, is that sources, too, have their own agendas in media interviews and have ascribed identities to journalists. They may, for example, regard journalists as untrustworthy, ready to distort whatever the source says and, as a result, produce “fake news.” This greatly afects the trust in journalists and the source’s willingness to be interviewed at all. Journalists, particularly those of the “default” White male type, rarely are critically refexive and aware of this dynamic. I was very conscious of these power dynamics in my media work with Feminist International Radio Endeavour (FIRE), particularly in interviews with women from indigenous, immigrant, or other marginalized groups. As a White middle-class woman from the United States, I encountered this often, and worked to build relationships with the women before we started the interview. FIRE was well known and trusted as a women’s media source throughout Central and Latin America, well as other parts of the world, which greatly helped reassure the women of my good intentions.

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Interviewing is a skill to be learned and practiced, and styles and approaches vary widely with diferent people and contexts. Without this recognition and patience, interviews can become a fasco or, at the very least, awkward and uncomfortable for both parties, resulting in less authentic interviews. I experienced this problematic dynamic a few years ago when I accompanied (as a translator) Jeanette Vizguerra,2 a well-known Latina immigrationrights activist (who happened to be undocumented), to an interview solicited by an independent video producer. Per protocol, the producer (who happened to be a White male) asked that she sign a consent form before starting the interview. Upon scrutiny of the form, Jeanette learned that any profts from the interview clips would go to the producer because, as he then admitted, he planned to ofer it for sale to various news outlets, which is common. The activist refused to do the interview, saying that it was unfair for the producer to proft from her story. She unsuccessfully tried to negotiate sharing the monies. Jeanette was very willing to be interviewed by journalists and had consented to a vast number of interviews in the past as a way to beneft her community, but she was not willing to perform in a commercial venture for the producer. The producer became defensive. He urged Jeanette to do the interview, claiming it would beneft her to get the story out to the world. He said she would greatly regret not doing it. But obviously the producer had not done his homework, or he would have discovered that she already had achieved extensive media coverage locally and internationally. The producer’s ascribed identity of her as a Latina immigrant was based on the stereotypical assumption that she should be deferential, eager, and grateful for the interview. This assumption revealed his racist, sexist, and xenophobic assumptions. He didn’t (and refused to) take into account the identity of himself ascribed by the activist, and he assumed the default avowed position of a White male holding all the power in the situation. But the activist was savvy from her experience with journalists. Needless to say, the interview did not take place. Gans described the interaction between journalists and their sources as a “dance” that varies in diferent contexts (1979). Collier refers to “dancing with diference,” which focuses on the informal negotiation of power diferences in interactions, shaped by broader political, economic, social, and cultural infuences, and the refexivity of researchers and practitioners (2013). I argue that critical refexivity involving cultural identities is an important part of journalistic practice that is often ignored and, thus, serves to reinforce power imbalances that afect the quality of news. This often occurs when journalists interview people outside of their own experiences

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and knowledge, consciously or unconsciously viewing them as the Other and seeing diferences as a problem (Liu & Kramer, 2019). Conclusion

Power dynamics in journalism are a primary focus of this book and are explored further in Chapter 8, using the concept of critical refexivity in my proposal for a feminist collaborative model of doing journalism. I argue that journalists should be more refexive and aware of the impact of their own backgrounds, cultural identities. Positionalities shape journalists’ work by framing and constraining the news production process, including topic and source selection, interviews and framing, and content of the story. A sharing of the power of the microphone is particularly important with BIPOC and other marginalized sources, whose backgrounds and experiences fall outside of the journalist’s own purview. Ordinary people often must relinquish control and agency to the journalist in the interview; they have little power over how the interview is reported and the story is framed. Less prominent sources, who are unaccustomed to being in the limelight, must deal with the consequences of the resulting story, which may be inaccurate and unfair in representations of the source’s perspectives. The result can be increased status or stigmatization for sources in their communities, as we will see in Chapter 6. Notes 1 The Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP) is a global research project on gender representation in news media conducted every fve years (Global Media Monitoring Project, n.d.). For 2020, volunteer teams from 116 countries collected and analyzed data on gender from newspaper, television, and radio news on one “ordinary” news day in September, with stories that focused on politics, the economy, social issues, crime, and other issues. 2 Jeanette Vizguerra is a nationally recognized activist and community organizer for immigration rights who lives in Denver, Colorado. As an undocumented immigrant, she has fought tirelessly for 13 years on behalf of her family and community to remain in the US (Hernandez, 2019; Walker, 2019). Jeanette fed to the United States from Mexico with her family in 1997 for security reasons, living in Denver and raising her family while working at several jobs. In 2009, she was arrested after a routine trafc stop, and her legal struggle to remain in the country began with charges for possessing another person’s social security number and overstaying her tourist visa in 1997 (McCormick-Cavanagh, 2019). Despite these challenges, Jeanette continued her activism, founding a number of immigrant-rights organizations, while working as a union organizer and at several other jobs, in addition to running her own business. She was named one of Time Magazine’s 100 most infuential people in 2017. Jeanette entered sanctuary in a church twice—once in 2017 for 86 days, and more recently for nearly three years to avoid deportation and continue her work (Hernandez, 2019). She says

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her four children and three grandchildren come frst, but she has also become a community leader and a valuable resource for many other immigrants, who call her for help any time of the day or night.

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Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 89(3), 475–494. https://doi. org/10.1177/1077699012448873 Parker, L., & Stovall, D.O. (2004). Actions following words: Critical race theory connects to critical pedagogy. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 36(2), 167–182. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-5812.2004.00059.x Peifer, J.T., & Meisinger, J. (2021). The value of explaining the process: How journalistic transparency and perceptions of news media importance can (sometimes) foster message credibility and engagement intentions. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 98(3), 828–853. https://doi.org/10.1177/ 10776990211012953 Pickard, V. (2020). Historical roots of US press freedoms and failures. In Democracy without journalism? (pp. 11–39). Oxford University Press. https://doi. org/10.1093/oso/9780190946753.003.0002 Pope, K. (2020, Spring). The story of our time. Columbia Journalism Review. www.cjr.org/special_report/story-of-our-time.php/ Rahman, N. (2021, September 13). Opinion | How I embraced my Muslim identity after 9/11. YES! Magazine. www.yesmagazine.org/opinion/2021/09/13/ muslim-identity-post-9-11-america Rajkovic, A. (2021, June 19). TV news coverage of Southern Border lacks refugee sources, historical context. FAIR (Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting). https:// fair.org/home/tv-news-coverage-of-southern-border-lacks-refugee-sources/ Reyes Matta, F. (1981). Transnational communication and the alternative response. In Alternative communication and social change in Latin America. National Autonomous University of Mexico. Richmond, E. (2019, February 14). It’s time to rethink coverage of school shootings. Columbia Journalism Review. www.cjr.org/united_states_project/parklandanniversary-education-reporters.php Ross, K. (2009). Women in/and news: The invisible and the profane. In Gendered media: Women, men, and identity politics (pp. 67–88). Rowman & Littlefeld. Sanders, S. (2021, Fall). All of It matters. Columbia Journalism Review. www.cjr. org/special_report/all_news_matters_hard_soft.php/ Scheufele, D.A. (1999). Framing as a theory of media efects. Journal of Communication, 49(1), 103–122. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.1999.tb02784.x Scheufele, B. (2006). Frames, schemata, and news reporting. Communications, 31(1), 65–83. https://doi.org/0.1515/commun.2006.005 Scheufele, D.A., & Iyengar, S. (2012). The state of framing research: A call for new directions. The Oxford handbook of political communication theories. New York: Oxford University Press, 1–26. Schneider, G. (2020, December 4). U.S. newsrooms are very white. So are the critics and the journalists that cover them. Poynter. www.poynter.org/ commentary/2020/u-s-newsrooms-are-very-white-so-are-the-critics-and-thejournalists-that-cover-them/ Schudson, M. (1978). Discovering the news: A social history of American newspapers. Basic Books. Schudson, M. (2003). The sociology of news, contemporary societies. Norton. Schudson, M., & Anderson, C. (2009). Objectivity, professionalism, & truth seeking in journalism. In The handbook of journalism studies (pp. 88–101). Routledge.

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Schultz, I. (2007). The journalistic gut feeling: Journalistic doxa, news habitus and orthodox news values. Journalism Practice, 1(2), 190–207. https://doi.org/10/ fj82q4 Shalal-Esa, A. (2009, November 6). Some Muslims fear backlash after Fort Hood shooting. Reuters. www.reuters.com/article/us-texas-shooting-backlashidUSTRE5A55JI20091106 Shoemaker, P. J., & Reese, S.D. (2013). Mediating the message in the 21st century: A media sociology perspective (1st ed.). Routledge. Starkey, G. (2006). Balance and bias in journalism: Representation, regulation and democracy. Red Globe Press. Steiner, L. (2012). Failed theories: Explaining gender diference in journalism. The Review of Communication, 12(3), 201–223. https://doi.org/10.1080/15358593 .2012.666559 Sutclife, C.M. (2020, June 18). Objectivity vs. transparency: Let journalists be opinionated on social. Digital Content Next. https://digitalcontentnext.org/ blog/2020/06/18/objectivity-vs-transparency-let-journalists-be-opinionated-onsocial/ Tan, A., & Vishnevskaya, A. (2022). Stereotypes of Muslim women in the United States: Media primes and consequences. Lexington Books/Fortress Academic. Tangalakis-Lippert, K. (2022, May 8). Anti-abortion legislation in 5 states gives rapists and their families the right to sue abortion providers for at least $10k. Yahoo News. Tuchman, B.W. (1978). Making News: A study in the construction of reality. Free Press. Tuchman, G. (1972). Objectivity as strategic ritual: An examination of newsmen’s notions of objectivity. American Journal of Sociology, 77(4), 660–679. https:// doi.org/10.1086/225193 Turcott, R., & Boykof, J. (2022). Ex Libris discovery - The white racial frame in sport media: Framing of Donald Trump and LaVar Ball’s public feud following the UCLA basketball player arrests in China. Journal of Sport & Social Issues, 46(1), 25–50. Vandegrift, D. (2021, December 14). Mourning after mass shootings isn’t enough— a sociologist argues that society’s messages about masculinity need to change. The Conversation. http://theconversation.com/mourning-after-mass-shootingsisnt-enough-a-sociologist-argues-that-societys-messages-about-masculinityneed-to-change-173727 van Dijk, T.A. (1992). Discourse and the denial of racism. Discourse & Society, 3(1), 87–118. https://doi.org/10/fmp8kb van Dijk, T.A. (1993). Principles of critical discourse analysis. Discourse & Society, 4(2), 249–283. https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926593004002006 van Dijk, T.A. (2005). Reproducing racism: The role of the press [Paper presentation]. Congress on Immigration, Barcelona. Waisbord, S. (2013). Reinventing professionalism: Journalism and news in global perspective. John Wiley & Sons. Walker, S. (2019, October 9). Jeanette Vizguerra: Learn her name and story of resistance. Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences, University of Denver. https:// liberalarts.du.edu/news-events/all-articles/jeanette-vizguerra-learn-hername-and-story-resistance

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6 CURRENT JOURNALISM TRENDS Racism and Sexism

Introduction

The feld of journalism is undergoing revolutionary changes: rapid economic, political, and technological developments have disrupted the professional paradigm of journalism and ushered in major transformations toward digital journalism and news. With nearly instant access to information, digital media ofer enormous opportunities for new ways of collecting, producing, and distributing information from sources and communities, and these enable greater possibilities for citizen and alternative journalism. At the same time, mainstream legacy media are facing an economic crisis. Their traditional business model is failing, stemming from: audiences shifting to social and other digital media, which has caused severe declines in advertising revenue; and media organizations shifting their focus to profts via media conglomeration and investors. Even in face of these dynamics, however, the underlying professional ideology and culture of journalism, including basic news values and news practices, have changed far less (Deuze, 2005, 2009). I explore here current trends in how mainstream news stories continue to refect and perpetuate patriarchal and White supremacist values and practices and the resulting persistent and chronic imbalances and distortions in media coverage of BIPOC and women (Broersma & Peters, 2013). Despite decades of pledges to fx the situation, racial and gender diversity issues continue to plague newsrooms, with many BIPOC journalists

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condemning eforts as “window dressing” that bear few structural and cultural changes. Many mainstream stories, such as those about the numerous police killings of Black men and women, continue to be told through a White racial lens. Whiteness and White privilege remain evident in the coverage of too many stories about BIPOC and women, and their voices remain mostly unheard even in stories about situations that primarily affect them. This chapter will examine these issues as well as the rise of anticritical race theory (CRT). Additionally, I discuss the how female journalists face gendered online violence with brutal harassment and abuse in response to their work, with targeted attacks in both public and private digital spaces that include threats of sexual violence (Posetti, 2020). Patriarchy and misogyny continue to infltrate mainstream newsrooms and news content, including the “missing White women’s syndrome” (Robertson, 2021), where BIPOC women and girls who disappear or who are murdered are ignored or given far less coverage in media than are stories about similarly disappeared or murdered White women. Changes in Journalism as a Profession

Critics say that the feld of journalism is undergoing a “de-professionalization” process, shifting to a less autonomous and “coherent” occupation, which afects the quality of journalism and its role in a democracy. Declines in mainstream media use, shrinking audiences, decreasing advertising revenue, declining media trust, media monopolization, and increases in a certain type of investment (known vulture capitalism, this is covered below) are eroding the power and impact of traditional mainstream media, particularly newspapers (Witschge & Nygren, 2015). What hasn’t changed, however, is that the professional ideology and culture of journalism continues to be dominated by White patriarchy, constricting the agency of BIPOC journalists and marginalizing women. Mainstream Media Use

Overall, use of traditional news media—including television and online and print news—have declined in the past few decades (Pershan, 2021). Although the rise and fall of audience size is a common cycle, the declines in 2020 and 2021 were steeper, particularly for cable news. Despite newspapers moving to digital formats, the Pew Research Center reports that newspaper circulation has been steadily declining over the past several years, most recently with a 6 percent drop in 2020 over the year before (Pew Research Center, 2021).

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This trending decline changed following the 2016 election of President Donald Trump, when many news outlets experienced audience increases. “Trump was the goose that laid the golden egg” for cable news networks and major newspapers, thanks to constant drama and crises in his campaign and White House tenure (Choi, 2021, para. 9). In comparison, President Biden’s relatively low-key administration has brought on what some call the “post-Trump slump,” with declines in audience shares. This has occurred despite recent major crises such as COVID and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In fact, Nielsen ratings in February 2022 showed that only Fox News has seen a rise in audience shares, whereas CNN and MSNBC viewership has declined (Joyella, 2022). Analysts point to audiences moving to internet news and social media, declines in advertising revenue, and corporate ownership as contributing factors. Media Trust

In terms of media, public trust is measured with regard to fairness, accuracy, timeliness, and clarity (Mastrangelo, 2021). Surveys show that public trust in U.S. institutions, including government, science, and the news media, has declined since the 1990s, but even more so since 2016 with the election of Pres. Trump” (Hetherington & Ladd, 2020). Despite this general downward slide, people do trust specifc local news sources or those sources that support their own point of view (Pew Research Center, 2022). In 2021, the Pew Research Center found that about 58 percent of U.S. Americans said they have at least some trust in national news, which is a 7 percent decline from 2019 (Gottfried & Liedke, 2021). Yet this trust difers greatly with partisanship, with just 35 percent of Republicans reporting that they trust the media in 2021 (a 35 percent drop from 70 percent in 2016) and 78 percent of Democrats and Democratleaning independents expressing at least some trust. A vast majority of Republicans consider Fox News as the most trustworthy news source. Of greater concern is that a minority, but growing, proportion (38 percent in 2021 vs. 29 percent in 2017) of the U.S. population report often or sometimes avoiding the news, including coverage of important issues such as the COVID pandemic, the Russian invasion, and the cost-of-living crisis (Coster, 2022). In fact, the United States has one of the highest newsavoidance rates, particularly among women (Edmonds, 2022; Ripley, 2022). Why is there such decline in media trust? Audiences are turned of by perceived mainstream news as biased and politicized, particularly with the increasing partisan divide, as well as disinformation (fake news) (Coster, 2022). President Trump’s attacks on media certainly contributed to this

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mistrust. Many are seeking information through digital media, including social media (although few have great trust in those sources) and are, as a result, at greater risk of exposure to disinformation. Media Monopolization

The growing concentration of media ownership through corporate acquisitions and mergers in a highly competitive landscape means profts are the central objective of mainstream media that focus on attracting millions of “eyeballs” to view advertising (Solomon & McChesney, 1993). Concentrated media ownership increases the risk that news will be censored or biased toward specifc political or fnancial interests. In 2022, just six massive media conglomerates owned and controlled much of the mainstream media in the United States and worldwide, and this includes newspapers, books, magazines, flm studios, radio and TV stations, and internet news content. Waisbord et al. (2018) describe this as “runaway commercialism, [which] prioritizes sellable content regardless of its public virtues or contributions to democratic discourse” (p. 25). Mainstream news is a major business enterprise, shaped by neoliberalism that is based on the belief that the free market with new technologies is the best way to solve social problems (McChesney, 2015). According to Fenton (2011), “recognition and development of the product’s value as being directly related to the public interest leading to reinvestment in news journalism has been superseded by market ambition and the desire to deliver extensive profts to shareholders” (p. 66). “In a neoliberal free market economy, news has no right to exist if it cannot pay its way” (Fenton, 2011, p. 66). Neoliberalism focuses on individuals and individual rights, which discourages in-depth discussion of social and historical contexts (such as racial issues). Media mergers give greater power and control to owners, who are increasingly likely to use their partisan views in operations and content. A prime example is that of the Sinclair Broadcasting Group, which owns or operates 185 stations in 86 markets (a large portion of which are local TV stations) and reaches 72 percent of U.S. households (Corcione, 2018; Sinclair Broadcast Group, n.d.). Sinclair has been widely criticized for its conservative right-wing agenda, which infltrates many levels of operations. As one example, Sinclair headquarters sent out promo scripts containing right-wing, pro-Trump messages and required local news anchors to read these on air during regular programs, forcing these journalists to treat the scripts as if they were objective news (Graves, 2017). Critics argued that, even though Fox News audience members knew the news would be proTrump on the network, these “news” segments were read by local anchors

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as if they were original content and viewers were unaware of the actual source of the material. Many journalists felt outraged and manipulated. It is the “most dangerous company most people have never heard of,” declared Michael Copps, former chairman of the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) (Graves, 2017, para. 2). In general, mainstream news and advertising are pitched to the wealthiest one-third to one-half of the population, which means that workingclass and other marginalized audiences are ignored (McChesney, 2015). The proft-driven focus of news for advertisers has promoted “news deserts,” particularly true for local-based news. Between 2005 and 2021, about 2,200 local print newspapers were shut down, forcing communities to rely on regional or state news, receiving little information about local politics, public safety, and education (Joiner & McMahon, 2021). Given that so many media conglomerates are composed of numerous publicly held media and non-media corporations, news organizations are reluctant to undertake investigations of large corporations, including their own, for fear of lawsuits that could alienate advertisers or create political backlash (Battaglio, 2019; Pickard, 2019). Project Censored, a mainstream-news-monitoring project, identifed underreporting of soaring drug costs, for example, and the billions of dollars in profts made by pharmaceutical companies, including during the pandemic (Rosenberg, 2021). Of course, big pharma represents a substantial portion of media ad revenue. Major budget and staf cuts at media organizations also mean that an estimated 25 to 80 percent of journalists save time and money by relying on press releases and other material (called “churnalism” by critics) that is written to favor the sponsoring corporation or other organization (Davies, 2008; Obermaier et al., 2018). Economic interests and structural limitations are key contributors to racialized framing. News organizations focus on frames that are most “comfortable” for their primary target audiences (usually Whites) in order to increase ratings. Several years ago, I invited a guest speaker to my journalism class who was a well-known Black news anchor in a local metropolitan TV news station. A student asked if she had encountered racism in her job in the newsroom. She said that it wasn’t too bad, but one time she had pitched a story idea about racial profling to her producer, who responded, “Why? Our target audience is XXX” (a predominantly White afuent area), implying that it was not an issue there, so he didn’t view it as newsworthy. The anchor replied saying that, in reality, it was indeed a very serious issue in that area but was one mostly ignored by local media. Luckily, she had enough clout eventually to be able to produce and broadcast the story.

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These trends limit the range of stories and perspectives shrinking the “marketplace of ideas” and diversity of voices. Vulture Capitalism

Coupled with the problems named above is one of the most disturbing trends in the media industry: the increase in large investment groups— venture capitalists—behind media organizations. The focus of these groups is revenues and shareholders, not quality journalism. Called vulture capitalism, this ownership takeover is decimating the news industry, including hampering media coverage of BIPOC and women. The Denver Post (DP) was the target of this when it was purchased in 2010 by the secretive hedge fund Alden Global Capital—owner of Digital First Media, which owns hundreds of other newspapers and websites (Wamsley, 2018). Despite protests by the DP staf and others nationwide, Alden imposed aggressive cost-cutting measures, such as massive layofs that shrunk the newsroom to a “shell of its former self within a few years.” In 2008, the DP newsroom had a staf of 310, but by 2018 just 70 remained (Wenzel, 2018). And, despite major losses in ad revenue, in 2017, Digital First Media reported massive profts amounting to $160 million, of which $28 million came from The Denver Post (Wenzel, 2018). Eforts by a Colorado investment group to buy The Denver Post from Alden failed, since the hedge fund owns several other Colorado newspapers whose operations are entwined with that of the big daily (Roberts, 2018). Critics say venture capitalists such as Alden are eviscerating newspapers and “intentionally bleeding them dry” (Reynolds, 2018). Mass layofs starting in 2011 slashed two-thirds of jobs in all Alden-held media companies. Alden has gutted newspaper employees’ pension funds and borrowed millions against the newspapers, mainly to purchase high-end real estate and to fund other, non-media-related investments both in the United States and abroad. The owners have maintained a strict silence, refusing to give interviews or explanations to the thousands of media workers afected by their brutal actions Coppins, 2021). Journalists, including those currently and formerly with The Denver Post, are caught in the middle—between their professional values and the pressure for proft—and experience great anxiety about losing their jobs. With fewer reporting and editorial positions, the journalists who remain are scrambling to cover their communities, pressured by management to focus on more desirable (higher-income) consumer markets. For journalists, their sense of a civic mission, serving the public interest and as government watchdogs, is fading (Potts, 2018).

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In 2021, Alden purchased the Chicago Tribune and proceeded to gut the paper with massive layofs, leaving it so short-stafed that journalists could not cover in-depth major stories such as a bribery scandal with an Illinois state legislator and a brutal crime wave in Chicago in the summer of 2021 (Coppins, 2021). Racism in News as Contradictory: New White Nationalism and Color Blindness

The protests following the police killing of George Floyd in May 2020, and the massive Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests that followed, forced many mainstream newsrooms to look inward and undertake serious introspection about coverage and stafng related to racial issues, spurred on by shifts in public attention and opinion regarding racial justice issues. In response, hundreds of journalists throughout the country joined conversations on X (formerly Twitter) or pushed for open dialogue to express their frustration with management for years of empty promises to increase diversity and other policy changes in White-dominated newsrooms (Merrefeld, 2020; Tameez, 2022). The president of the National Association of Black Journalists, Dorothy Tucker, noted that “the thing that frustrates me more than anything is that many of these [news] managers come out with these statements that say ‘We support Black lives’ . . . that they support diversity, they support inclusion. Yet, when we ask them to publicize their numbers on diversity, they’re silent” (Gray, 2020, para. 2). The problem, however, goes far beyond numbers of types of people and points to something else (van Zoonen, 1994). To change White newsroom culture, de Uriarte (2005) contends that the diversity in newsrooms needs to go beyond “genetic” diversity to include “intellectual diversity,” meaning inclusion of diverse points of view and knowledge (p. 10). The assumption that merely adding a few BIPOC journalists to the workforce is inefective; it will not change the “white man’s lens” of news identifed by the Kerner Commission back in 1968 (Report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, 1967), which continues to defne newsroom culture and production of knowledge. Alamo-Pastrana and Hoynes (2020) say, “the Whiteness [and masculinized roots] of U.S. news [emanates] from cultural practices of professional journalism and institutional forces shaping the journalistic feld rather than simply the demographic characteristics of the newsroom workforce” (p. 67). This is evidenced by the fact that women comprise 42 to 45 percent of the staf in U.S. mainstream newsrooms—yet they make up a minority of upper-level managers (23 percent) (Kassova, 2020, p. 26). Likewise, BIPOC, and particularly BIPOC women, comprise an even smaller

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proportion, at 6 percent of all newsroom staf, and just 6 percent of newsroom management (The status of women of color in the U.S. news media, 2018, pp. 8–9). News continues to be often siloed by identity, but only if it is not aimed at White audiences. For example, consider the application of the terms “Black press” and “Black magazines” when referring to such publications as the Jackson Advocate or Ebony. Why aren’t similar modifers applied to such media as The Washington Post or TV networks such as Fox News? Why are these media not labeled as “White publications” or “White networks” (Hacker, 1997)? Likewise, while Black journalists are often designated as such, White journalists such as Jim Acosta of CNN or Savannah Guthrie of NBC are never referred to as “White” journalists. Since we have Black Entertainment Television (BET), why aren’t there networks labeled as “White Entertainment Television”? Since the production of knowledge takes place from a position of power based on White supremacy and patriarchy, knowledge created by women and BIPOC is assumed to have an innate bias (Steiner, 2012). For the most part, mainstream news, as a producer and maintainer of knowledge, leaves audiences ignorant about the lives of BIPOC, particularly BIPOC women. The result is that BIPOC are more susceptible to stereotypes. It also means that the dominant White elite are constructing knowledge of marginalized groups; that is, news is about these groups rather than constructed by them. Ideologies of White supremacy and patriarchy are infused in this production process, operating as hidden assumptions that reinforce racist and sexist power hierarchies and maintain structural and material inequalities (Hunter, 2002). Is Neutrality Skin Deep?

The assumption of an existent neutrality on the part of the journalist doesn’t seem to apply consistently when it comes to women and BIPOC journalists. Consider the 2018 case when The Washington Post banned its reporter Felicia Sonmez from covering sexual misconduct stories because she was a sexual-assault survivor and had announced that publicly. The Post reasoned that she had a confict of interest that prohibited her from being “objective” in her reporting (Barr, 2021; Donegan, 2021). Sonmez later fled a lawsuit for gender discrimination and retaliation by her editors, who, with other colleagues, also refused to defend her when she was publicly attacked and threatened by right-wing media and internet trolls, forcing her to fee from her home (Donegan, 2021). Sonmez also was disciplined and suspended for “poor judgment” by her editors at The Washington Post in

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2020 after Kobe Bryant was killed in a helicopter crash, when she tweeted a 2016 Daily Beast story and comments about rape charges against the famous athlete. She tweeted a follow-up note that she had received more than 10,000 comments, many of them abusive and containing death threats. She received little support from her editors, who responded by telling her to delete the tweets. The hypocrisy of the editors’ decisions was revealed when they allowed a male colleague to continue reporting #MeToo stories, despite the fact that he had been accused of sexual misconduct (Chang, 2021). National Association of Black Journalists president, Dorothy Tucker, argues that being Black provides an advantage in reporting on racial issues because it means having a better understanding of the culture, language, and neighborhood context (Gray, 2020). Yet Black journalists faced suspicions of bias when covering the BLM protests, particularly those who expressed concerns about news reports from the mainstream media that labeled the protests as “riots” focusing on looting, property damage, and conficts with the police, despite the fact that a vast majority of the participants were peaceful (Gladstone, 2021). Ernest Owens, an openly gay Black journalist and guest on In the Media, said that, because of the “sidelining of journalists of color when they cover race, or of LGBT journalists when they cover things that impact their community,” the only people left to report on subjects are “[W]hite people, straight people” (Gladstone, 2021). Unlike White reporters, BIPOC reporters are more often asked to remain silent on selected issues, which reinforces the White lens of news. Yet, how often are White reporters accused of bias when they cover (most) issues and events that are dominated by Whites? Robinson and Culver’s (2019) study of White reporters’ coverage of a racial controversy in a Midwestern city showed that many journalists were uncomfortable and anxious, so they tended to fall back on a type of passive objectivity, deferring to (primarily White) sources, reluctant to engage with community members beyond the simplistic “he said, she said” approach in order to appear neutral and objective. The authors questioned the ethics of these journalists for failing to practice active or pragmatic objectivity with greater engagement, analysis, and interpretation of the complex situation, and for not including a diverse representation of voices. Such engaged coverage, however, requires building relationships and trust with BIPOC communities. It takes more time and efort than simply asking a couple of questions on site. Amplifying Voices

Marginalized people know their oppressors. They have insights into issues that are often ignored by mainstream journalists. The intersectionality of

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identities means that U.S. Latinas, for example, will have diferent insights from their White counterparts on immigration status, class, and education, and these insights will likewise vary among Latinas of diferent ethnicities and other characteristics. BIPOC reporters might tap a variety of sources, sources that would be stereotyped by their White counterparts as less credible or desirable than “expert” or “ofcial” sources, whose knowledge is often based on White patriarchy, positionality, or occupation, for example (Crenshaw, 1991; Steiner, 2014). In my work with FIRE radio, we sought to amplify the voices of women, particularly those from non-White and other marginalized groups (De Ciccio, 2014). Katerina Anfossi (2000), FIRE co-founder, explained that we worked to shift the imbalance of information and knowledge fow from the predominant north-to-south direction by producing programs from the perspective of women from less developed countries and marginalized groups. We also worked to end women’s invisibility, particularly in mainstream media, to understanding society through the lens of women’s and BIPOC’s experiences. Research by Jaggar (2004) and Collins (1990) demonstrates that women’s experiences, and the knowledge gained from these experiences, can be used to draw attention to the inequalities and injustices in the wider society. By giving credibility to Indigenous ways of knowing and interviewing those directly afected, including villagers and activists, as journalists with FIRE radio we were able to provide more authentic coverage of the reality of the situation. Framing Race in News Coverage

Journalists are socialized to frame their stories of diferent groups around ethnic blame (Dixon & Linz, 2000), and the overall efect is that nonWhites are more often blamed for crimes and other problems (Dixon & Linz, 2000; Heider, 2000). “The lack of cultural and historical perspective from members of the media creates routine journalism that in many instances ends up refecting the ‘preferred meanings’ of a still dominant White society” (Campbell et al., 2012, p. xii). Consider the problematic framing the coverage of Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, which often oversimplifed the complexities of race, ethnicity, and culture, setting up an “us vs. them” dynamic. As an example, two photos and captions were written by Associated Press photographers— one that depicted a Black family and the other depicting a White family, both wading through chest-deep foodwaters looking for food in New Orleans (Haider-Markel et al., 2007). The Black man was identifed as “looting a grocery store in New Orleans,” whereas with the other image

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the White family was described as “fnding bread and soda from a local grocery store” (p. 590). In addition to obvious double standards, the example shows that news judgement involves racialized ideology that shapes subjective decision making among journalists regarding their selection of sources, their choice framing or angle of the story, and also their choice of specifc wording in descriptions. News addressing race head-on mostly focuses on discrimination or the disadvantages faced by BIPOC, rather than providing a critical examination of White privilege and its advantages (Dolan, 2011, p. 121). These racialized stories often highlight either extreme positives (such as heroic athletes, celebrities, rap stars) or extreme negatives (such as confict, criminality, and violence that focuses on individuals), ignoring the systemic complexities of racial bias (Entman & Rojecki, 2001; Thornton & Shah, 2012). Consider the case of Sandra Bland, a 28-year-old Black woman from Chicago who died in July 2015 in police custody (supposedly of suicide) in Texas after a routine trafc stop by a state trooper for failing to use her turn signal (Graham, 2015). The details are unclear, but Bland somehow injured her arm when she struggled with the ofcer and was arrested for resisting arrest and thrown in jail, where she was found dead three days later. Bland had been stopped by police in the past, but mainly for unpaid parking tickets. Even so, a Chicago media outlet ran the headline “Woman found dead in jail cell had prior run-ins with law,” which implies that she was a chronic and dangerous lawbreaker (Johnson, 2015). Media coverage did not mention the broader context: that Weller County, where Bland was arrested, has a long history of racial tensions and violence involving police (Graham, 2015). Bland had spoken out in the months before her death to criticize police violence. A study by Dilliplane et al. (2021) of coverage of the BLM protests and police brutality in three major daily newspapers throughout 2020 showed that, earlier in the year, most stories used framing and language that delegitimated the movement, portraying protestors as threats—to property, police, and other civilians—with little coverage of those who were harmed by rubber bullets, tear gas, and other methods of force used against the groups. This dehumanizing language generally decreased during the year, particularly after the George Floyd killing. Even everyday descriptions in news stories of groups reveal racialized representations. For example, a group of several Whites gathered for a meeting is hardly worth mentioning, whereas a group of Blacks or Latinx becomes a “balkanized racial enclave” (Duster, 2000, p. xi). News often uses racial identifers for non-Whites, but not for Whites, and too often omits all characteristics about a person or group except race (Walker, 2003).

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Immigration and Media

Fear and hatred of immigrants has reached a new high in recent public opinion polls, thanks in great part to the issues with media coverage named above. Research shows that overall coverage of immigration focuses primarily on Latinx (most often brown-skinned people from Mexico or Central America), dominated by themes of illegal immigration and the harsh government policies to control it. Latinx are more often linked with “problem issues,” such as undocumented immigration, and are falsely linked to criminality by right-wing politicians and media (Wilson et al., 2003). Any person with a Latinx-sounding name who allegedly commits a crime is more likely to face questions about their legal status in sensationalized news stories. Media frames of immigration vary widely, depending upon the ideological slant of the news organization and individual journalists (Haynes et al., 2016). For example, many mainstream (particularly right-wing) media sources use consistently biased framing and infammatory rhetoric to portray undocumented migrants as economic, social, and political threats—labeling them as violent drug dealers or menacing criminals, who “steal jobs” from U.S. citizens. On the other hand, pro-immigration activists and media point out that immigrants often work at unpleasant and physically demanding minimum wage jobs that U.S. American citizens don’t want (Krogstad et al., 2020). Language used in news stories to describe immigrants refects contrasting media frames. Anti-immigration activists use such terms as “illegal alien,” “criminals,” and “terrorists” invading the United States in “hordes,” while pro-immigration advocates use terms such as “undocumented,” “unauthorized,” and “without legal status” to advocate legalization and a pathway to citizenship for many immigrants (Haynes et al., 2016, p. 7). News reports quoting right-wing politicians refer to immigration as “invasion,” implying that border-crossers are intent on overthrowing the government, which requires state or even military action to “defend” the country (Bier, 2021). Anti-immigration activists continue to claim that any humanitarian or legalization eforts are granting “amnesty” to lawbreakers, which only encourages more migrants to “invade” from the south. Contrasting frames created by pro-immigrant activists tend to emphasize that many migrants from Mexico and Central America are feeing horrendous violence by gangs and drug trafckers and pose no threat (Haynes et al., 2016). This more positive framing also focuses on the fact that a vast majority of unauthorized immigrants are law-abiding people, who work hard at low-paying jobs, pay their taxes, and send their children to school.

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Gendered representations of immigrant women emphasize criminality through narratives such as those that state women cross the border “illegally” to ensure their children are born as U.S. citizens (“birther babies”), exploiting resources such as education and health care (Chang, 2000). “Following this logic, (im)migrant mothers are the ultimate thieves since, through their motherhood, they are able to “steal” that which is valued most by the U.S. body politic—citizenship” (Escobar, 2016, p. 46). Pro-immigration advocates also utilize stereotypes as a way to elicit U.S. citizens’ empathy and to change public opinion. They may employ representations of migrant women in heterosexual families with traditional gender roles, for example. This heteronormativity belies the fact that many LGBTQ+ migrants seeking asylum in the United States are feeing persecution and violence in their home countries (Carastathis & Tsilimpounidi, 2018). In my work with FIRE radio, I have interviewed multiple undocumented women, some with families that include children, others who are part of LGBTQ+ communities. I see the impact of the media’s dehumanizing representations of women in the fearful and even panicked look in their eyes when they speak of the “knock on the door in the middle of the night.” While this is a common fear we see in people living under dictatorships, never did I think it would become common in the lives of some people in the United States. These women are afraid for their children and themselves as they drive them to school; they fear being stopped and arrested; they are afraid their child may get sick, forcing them to seek medical treatment; they are afraid to leave their homes for everyday tasks. I also have interviewed women in sanctuary who must take sanctuary inside churches for fear of being identifed and arrested by ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement). And these women and kids have a legitimate reason to be afraid. I interviewed one woman, who was arrested after ofcials surrounded her car and demanded she step out. When she insisted on seeing an ofcial warrant (which is her right), they smashed her side window and literally dragged her out of her car as her children watched from inside the house. Her crime was the desire for a better life for her family.

Although images of migrants and border scenarios are common in news coverage, their voices (beyond a brief “person on the street” comment) are still rarely included in news stories, which deprives readers of the perspectives of those directly impacted by the broken immigration system.

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A 2021 study of fve major evening TV news shows by FAIR (Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting), a liberal media watchdog group, showed that most (63 percent) sources of immigration were former or current government ofcials, 21 percent were law enforcement, and just 6 percent were immigrants themselves (Rajkovic, 2021). While dialogues took place between the establishment sources and journalists, usually just one (translated) sentence was included for immigrants. Missing were Central American journalists, scholars, or immigrant activists, who could talk about the history and broader context of issues. In 2018, a large group of migrants from Honduras and other Central American countries traveled north to the U.S.-Mexico border, fearing violence and kidnapping by gangs and drug trafckers if they traveled alone. Right-wing media such as Fox News deployed sensationalist coverage of the caravan (reinforced by comments of then-presidential candidate Trump), framing them as criminals and terrorists, when most were women and children desperate to escape violence and poverty in their home countries and to reunite with family members. For example, the Fox network reported that the caravan included 100 ISIS terrorists who were caught in Guatemala, which proved to be false (Bell, 2018). Fox anchors and commentators related sensationalist stories and images of the so-called “invasion” and border clashes between migrants and the Border Patrol, which Newt Gingrich declared as “war,” fueling further support for massive militarization of the U.S.-Mexican border and Trump’s “Build the Wall” campaign (Stewart, 2018). Upsurge in White Nationalism and White Rage

A “new White nationalism” has upsurged through a coalition of White Christian nationalism, particularly since the election of former President Trump (Stebbins, 2022). Accompanied by a rise of “White rage” fueled by social media, these groups espouse racism, anti-Semitic, anti-feminist, antiLGBTQ+, and anti-government conspiracy theories. These White supremacist groups have long existed, but episodic framing means that stories of White supremacy, including their ideologies, racist rallies, and attacks, are told as isolated events without the context of their deeply rooted histories in the United States. Some Republican politicians, along with right-wing media, stoke White rage by preaching anti-White racism and the so-called “great replacement” conspiracy theory (Wilson & Flanagan, 2022). Tucker Carlson, once a popular Fox News host, is one of a number of right-wing media personalities claiming that White extinction is on the horizon, with deliberate and covert eforts to replace the White population with non-Whites (Noble,

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2021; Primack & Contreras, 2021). The conspiracy, which is also trumpeted by radical racist political movements online, is hateful and dangerous: in 2022, it was spouted in a racist manifesto written by the White teenaged shooter who killed 10 people and wounded three others in a massacre at a supermarket in a predominantly Black neighborhood in Bufalo, New York (Wilson & Flanagan, 2022). Color-blind coverage in media glossed over the racial roots of the January 6 siege, which were not only refected in the numerous neo-Nazi and White supremacist fags visible in the crowd. In contrast, the BLM protests in response to police killings of Blacks were often framed as Black rage, with questions about the possible criminality of Black victims such as Michael Brown and George Floyd, and whether protestors were justifed in their resentment and actions. As Anderson (2016) says: White rage is not about visible violence, but rather it works its way through the courts, the legislatures, and a range of government bureaucracies. It wreaks havoc subtly, almost imperceptibly. Too imperceptibly, certainly, for a nation consistently drawn to the spectacular—to what it can see. It’s not the Klan. White rage doesn’t have to wear sheets, burn crosses, or take to the streets. Working the halls of power, it can achieve its ends far more efectively, far more destructively. (p. 3) Coverage of White supremacy and rage is challenging for journalists, who have long faced a dilemma of whether, and how, to best cover racist hate groups, hate speech, and other forms of extremism. Many politicians and activists join journalists, as well, in their mixed opinions about whether neutral coverage of White supremacist groups, interviews with the rally organizers, and events such as the Unite the Right rally in 2017, are informative or cause harm by normalizing their cause and sanitizing their philosophy and actions (Harcourt, 2017). Journalists ask: Does it give these extremists too much of a platform and exaggerate their power and infuence? Does the traditional value of balance apply when it comes to interviewing and broadcasting the views of neo-Nazis and White nationalists, covering them as they would any other news (Bates, 2018)? Until recently, extremist groups who tout conspiracy theories were generally dismissed as a bunch of “crazies,” non-threatening, and— therefore—downplayed in news coverage (Katz Marston, n.d.). Now, reporters who have pursued the topic have often faced a vicious and dangerous backlash when angered activists target them with veiled and overt harassment and threats to themselves and also their families (Asher-Schapiro,

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2018). Women and BIPOC journalists face even more brutal threats, and the emotional and psychological toll is high. Anti-Critical Race Theory Campaign: Fighting Against a “Monstrous Evil”

Disinformation campaigns against the threat of the “monstrous evil” posed by CRT are erupting across the country (Harriot, 2021). Critics of CRT position the theory as a portrayal of white victimhood rather than as a way to reveal existent racism and pave a path for racial justice for BIPOC (Hollar, 2021). Although it seems that many people, including right-wing policymakers and journalists, have no real idea what CRT is, they have made it a culture-war scapegoat, portraying it as divisive and harmful, as anti-White racism with eforts to “make White kids feel bad” about their skin color. According to Florida governor Ron DeSantis, “Critical race theory is basically teaching people to hate our country, hate each other. It’s divisive and it’s basically an identity politics version of Marxism” (Hannity Staf, 2021). Kimberlé Crenshaw, a founding scholar of CRT, explains that it is not a conspiracy theory, but rather is a framework and “a practice—a way of seeing how the fction of race has been transformed into concrete racial inequities” (cited in Linly, 2021, para. 4), how institutional and structural racism have shaped and continue to shape laws and policies (Anderson, 2021). CRT also provides a lens through which to examine how other marginalized identities—such as gender, LGBTQ+, class, and disability—are hidden and silenced in media, policy, laws, and school curricula. The banning of CRT by legislatures in several states, as well as that of the 1619 Project, an in-depth program about slavery and Black history, establishes an extreme color-blind requirement in education that goes beyond the restrictions on teaching students about institutional and structural racism. It also prevents them from learning about the history of racial and ethnic groups, racial prejudice, stereotypes, and bias, while reinforcing a White ethnocentric and bigoted view of the world (Feagin, 2013). If students remain ignorant of the systemic injustices built into U.S. history and society, how can they not see racism as a personal individual problem that often blames the target or victim (Adler-Bell, 2022)? Many of the current proposals go beyond CRT to forbid discussions of any kind of inequalities and social justice issues, not only related to race but also to gender and gender identities, LGBTQ+ identities, and religion, anything outside of a pre-approved (White patriarchal) version of history and current events. Florida passed a “Don’t Say Gay Law,” which bans discussions of sexual orientation and gender identities in primary-grade

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levels. This has also afected other K–12 classrooms. In a growing number of states, teachers who mention anything about sexuality or gender identity issues are accused of “grooming” and may be fred (Natanson & Balingit, 2022). Mainstream corporate media have dedicated a good amount of time and space to anti-CRT dialogue, which serves to legitimize the anti-CRT campaign (Hollar, 2021). News stories generally use a White frame to focus primarily on the alleged impact of CRT on Whites, with little discussion of how it afects BIPOC students, particularly with the more extreme Whitewashing of the curriculum. In June 2021, Barr of The Washington Post identifed 424 articles in major U.S. newspapers that mentioned “critical race theory,” compared to just four articles in August 2020, the month before the right-wing attack on CRT was rolled out on Tucker Carlson’s Fox News show (2021, paras. 4–6). Fox News is one of the most vocal opponents of CRT, making it one of the network’s primary themes, juicing it with sensationalist coverage designed to raise an alarm. In 2020, Fox mentioned “critical race theory” just 132 times, but between January and June 2021 it was mentioned 1,860 times. Patriarchy, Sexism, and Misogyny in News and News Culture

In the 21st century, women’s representation in news has fatlined; they are continually underrepresented in newsroom leadership and as sources in news stories (Kassova, 2020). According to Meera Selva at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, “Gender representation and diversity is about power. It’s about seeding power at the top, and it’s also crucially about making sure that the people at the top, those making decisions, come from the most diverse range of society” (van Niekerk, 2020, para. 5). A “gender logic” shaping status, privilege, and power continues, with women’s voices often “drowned out,” or at least muted, in their media organizations, particularly female BIPOC voices (Djerf-Pierre, 2007; Supple & Muñoz, 2021).  Most mainstream news continues to be gender-blind, ignoring gender inequities and, in some cases, accusing those who step forward of being “feminists” (as a slur) or whining “bitches.” The result is that gender inequality has become socially normalized and is rarely the focus of news discourse. Although White women in newsrooms are achieving gender parity, BIPOC women continue to be marginalized (Meyers & Gayle, 2015). In 2021, 61 percent of newsrooms staf were women, although BIPOC women accounted for just 7.95 percent of journalists in print newsrooms,

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12.6 percent in local TV news, and 6.2 percent in local radio (The status of women in the U.S. media, 2021). Another survey, by the American Society of News Editors (ASNE) showed that, specifcally, Black women make up roughly 3 percent of the total workforce of U.S. American newsrooms (2019 ASNE diversity survey results, 2019). In that same survey, for newsroom leadership, Black women accounted for 3 percent of news executives compared to White women, at 31.84 percent. But, since 2020, the news industry is slowly placing more Black and other BIPOC women in charge of news operations. As in days of old, women have managed to shift the coverage of these issues so they can include a focus on the political aspects of these topics, such as reproductive rights, education, economics, childcare, divorce, and so on (Steiner, 2012). Compared with male journalists, women focus more on social problems, including sexual harassment and violence, and protests (Ross, 2009). Women journalists interviewed by Mahtani (2005) said that their perspective and style as women meant that they approach stories and interviews diferently and that they were better able to communicate and empathize, which made their interviews more successful. As noted by van Zoonen (1994), “Women are confronted with social and cultural expectations of femininity and, at the same time, are expected to meet criteria of professionalism” (p. 54). BIPOC women journalists, no matter their number in the newsroom, are still pressured to back of from their racial identities and experiences and to comply with (White-centered) professional norms (Nishikawa et al., 2009). Black and Latina women are pressured to conform to White beauty standards, including striving for lighter skin and straightened or short hair (Bock et al., 2018). Some BIPOC journalists who work in mainstream news organizations have reported that they feel compelled to write and think “White” (Drew, 2011). Black women who speak up about discrimination are dismissed as “angry Black women,” afrming stereotypes of Blacks as hostile and aggressive people prone to irrational anger, which is used to shame and silence the women and dismiss their concerns about discrimination or other problems (Motro et al., 2022). Some journalists fnd ways to resist these pressures and expand representation of BIPOC in news stories. Meyers and Gayle (2015) conducted a study with Black women journalists who had developed strategies and tactics to improve coverage of BIPOC communities and individuals. They emphasized using more diverse sources and experts, looking for nonstereotypical sources, or fnding White images and voices to balance Black images and voices that refect stereotypes. The few Black women in newsroom management serve as gatekeepers to shift decisions of what stories are covered and in what depth.

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Overall, news continues to be genderized, meaning that a person’s gender (usually women) is emphasized even when it’s not relevant to the story (Burke & Mazzarella, 2008; Meeks, 2012). For example, “woman judges” and “woman golfers” are common labels, whereas “judges” or “golfers” are assumed to be men. Gender issues in news are often presented as binary (male/female), and oppositional, with little mention of gender identity on a continuum (Ross, 2009). It also ignores intersectionality—that gender/ sex and race/ethnicity are assumed to be homogenous groups in a particular category, glossing over specifc cultural identities in laws and policy (Crenshaw, 1991). Women continue to be “symbolically annihilated” in news, severely underrepresented as both sources and subjects of stories, which undermines perceptions that women do and should occupy signifcant roles in society (Ross, 2009; Tuchman, 2000; Who makes the news, 2020). However, women are overrepresented as victims of crime such as (sexual) violence, which reinforces patriarchal stereotypes of women as passive and dependent, diminishing their agency. But not all women survivors of sexual assault are covered as extensively. When gender should be covered, it isn’t, especially when it most counts. Despite epidemic levels of abuse and violence against women, particularly those from impoverished and BIPOC communities, the crisis is consistently ignored or underreported in mainstream news (Macek & Voitl, 2022). Project Censored, which monitors and, each year, identifes 25 of the most signifcant news stories that go underreported, noted that many stories of violence against women are episodic and focus on individual cases rather than thematic stories that address the overall epidemic. “Missing White Woman Syndrome”

The “missing White women syndrome” is a term created by the pioneering Black journalist Gwen Ifl of PBS. It refers to primary news focusing on individual stories of missing White women, ignoring those about missing BIPOC women (Robertson, 2021). In 2020, 260,000 women were reported missing, of whom one-third were Black, but mainstream media often ignored these cases or gave them minimal attention (Edwards, 2021, para. 9). Consider the 2020 case of 22-year-old Gabrielle Petito (Rosner, 2021). The disappearance of this blonde and blue-eyed young woman during a cross-country adventure with her boyfriend generated massive and sensationalized national media coverage that followed her case with an intensive search that eventually resulted in fnding her body. Thousands of missing and murdered Indigenous women (MMIWG), both today and historically, have been disregarded by law enforcement

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and news media, who turn their backs, with little efort to investigate their cases (Missing and murdered Indigenous women & girls, 2018; Waddell, 2021). The women are most often targeted by non-Indigenous perpetrators, and their cases are lost in the confusion of local, tribal, and national law enforcement and laws. Families are left bereft, not knowing what happened to their loved ones, with little chances to pursue an investigation. Violence including sexual assault against Indigenous women can be traced back to colonialism with the arrival of Christopher Columbus and other Europeans, who routinely raped, tortured, and enslaved them (When sexual assaults made history, 2018). Although Indigenous women sufer much higher rates of sexual assault and homicide, data on this silent epidemic are grossly incomplete, which means that many cases fall through the bureaucratic gaps (Healy, 2019). Activists and a slowly growing number of policymakers say that it is clear that much of this is due to discrimination, active neglect, and apathy, which have kept this epidemic hidden (Smith-Morris, 2020). Why this unjust disparity? Robinson asserts that missing White women are frequently portrayed as innocent victims, as “damsels in distress,” whereas BIPOC women and girls are often assumed to be risk-takers, runaways, troublemakers, or somehow complicit in their disappearance, which normalizes their victimization (2005). Racial misclassifcation also is often a problem, which leads to undercounting of cases. A 2017 study by the Urban Indian Health Institute (UIH) found that 95 percent of cases of missing Indigenous women were not covered by national or international media, and news stories focused primarily on those cases located on reservations, bolstering the stereotype that reservations are ridden with violence and crime (Waddell, 2021). A large portion of the articles analyzed by UIH used violent language that was racist or misogynist, and focused on drugs, alcohol, sex work, and victim blaming, which served to reinforce negative stereotypes of Indigenous women. Coverage was often a single story rather than an ongoing investigation of a case. The Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women (#MMIW) movement is attracting greater attention from law enforcement, policymakers, and the media (#NNAHM Society, 2020). Using social media, advocacy groups are mobilizing in response to missing cases, but also to lobby federal agencies and national and state policymakers for legislative reforms to improve data collection and increase resources for law enforcement and missing victims and their families (Smith-Morris, 2020). Gender, Race, and Media in Coverage of the 2016 Rio Olympics

Women athletes have long been underrepresented in media, with far less coverage in general and much more distorted coverage compared with

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men, which greatly impacts public perceptions of women’s sports. Even though 40 percent of games played are women’s sports, they receive only 4 percent of media coverage (Lindzon, 2016). A vast majority of sports editors are male (83.3 percent) and White (79.2 percent) (Sports media racial & gender report card, 2021). The media focus on women athletes is more often on physical appearance, emotions, and hetero-feminine portrayals of women athletes as mothers, wives, or girlfriends (of male athletes). Also common in coverage of these women are “one and done” single stories about an athlete or event. Rarely is an entire women’s team covered over time, which is common in coverage of men’s athletics. The tone of the coverage of women’s sports is also far less animated and exciting—what Cooky et al. (2021) call “gender bland” sexism, where sports commentators speak in a monotone with bland and boring descriptions and use lower technical quality (game footage, graphics, interviews). A 2016 study showed that women athletes are more likely to be called “girls,” whereas male athletes are rarely referred to as “boys” (Aesthetics, athletics, and the Olympics, 2016). Common words used to refer to women athletes are “married” or “unmarried,” “older,” and “aged.” In contrast, men are described as “strong,” “big,” “fastest,” and “great.” The power of White patriarchal ideology was all too evident with the 2016 Rio Olympics. NBC, which had exclusive broadcasting rights, received multiple complaints about its commentators making ofensive comments with micro-aggressions, plus double standards or stereotypes related to race, gender, religion, and sexual orientation and body shapes, mostly aimed at women (Desmond-Harris, 2016). Commentators often downplayed spectacular performances by female—particularly BIPOC women— athletes, to focus on White males (Jensen, 2016). The reaction, however, was immediate and loud, coming from athletes themselves and from social media. In one case, Katie Ledecky set a new world record in the women’s 800-meter freestyle and was also the frst to win gold in the 200-, 400-, and 800-meter freestyle races (Desmond-Harris, 2016). Yet, news headlines focused on well-known swimmer Michael Phelps instead, making comparisons that buried Ledesky’s historic achievements. Also setting a world record at the Olympics was Hungarian swimmer Katinka Hosszu, who won the 400-meter individual medley by 2 seconds. Instead, the NBC cameras and commentator immediately focused on her husband and trainer, saying, “There’s the man responsible!” (Stubbs, 2016). Social media exploded with fury. Comparing women champions with men suggests that women do not normally have what it takes to win. A male Olympian quoted in Sports Illustrated commented on Ledecky: “She swims like a guy. Her stroke, her

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mentality: She’s so strong in the water. I’ve never seen a female swimmer like that. She gets faster every time she gets in, and her times are becoming good for a guy. She’s beating me now, and I’m, like, ‘What is going on?’” (Price, 2016). The major victories of the world champion USA women’s gymnastics team were demeaned as the athletes waited together for the scores following a near-perfect balance beam routine by Simone Biles. An NBC commentator noted that they “might as well be standing in the middle of a mall” (Feller, 2016). Another 2016 Olympics illustration of the media focus on irrelevant issues to women’s athletic performance was the debate on a Fox radio news program between two men who focused on whether women athletes should wear makeup during competition (Sasso, 2016). The show’s female host launched the program by saying that women athletes are “sexing it up more than ever by wearing makeup during their competitions.” BIPOC women faced the double challenge of sexism and racism in media coverage at the Olympics. Black champion gymnast Gabby Douglas had long been criticized for her hair, but was also criticized in social media as “unpatriotic” and (un)American” when she stood respectfully but did not place her hand on her heart during the U.S. national anthem played at her awards ceremony (Carpenter, 2016; Desmond-Harris, 2016). With a clear double standard, White male swimmer Michael Phelps laughed during the anthem for his medal ceremony, but his patriotism was not questioned. #MeToo Movement

Feminists have long fought on behalf of women survivors of sexual violence, but the #MeToo hashtag and movement took the world by storm in 2017, as an online campaign against sexual harassment, abuse, and assault (Frye, 2018). Riding on the tidal wave of outrage about the election of the sexist and misogynist President Donald Trump in 2016, the #MeToo hashtag hit the Twitter mainstream in the fall of 2017, and, within 24 hours, was retweeted half a million times (Tambe, 2018, p. 197). The #MeToo hashtag was originally created in 2006 by Black feminist activist Tarana Burke in support of Black women survivors of sexual violence—to share their stories and to bond as a means of collective empowerment. Although BIPOC women experience higher levels of sexual assault, they are often ignored in news reports and rarely fnd justice (Boyd & McEwan, 2022; Burke, 2021). The issues exploded into visibility when White women survivors started speaking out about their experiences as well, often overriding racial and class politics, such that some critics called it a “White women’s movement” (Tambe, 2018). They also noted that the

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#MeToo movement, including media coverage of it, focused on gender as a single identity, ignoring the intersectionalities of gender, race, class, and other identities. Critics say that the result was to create an “illusion of inclusivity” for Black and other BIPOC women which actually reinforced social inequities, White privilege, and systems of multiple oppressions (Boyd & McEwan, 2022). The movement generated enormous media attention, with an increase in articles on sexual assault. A study by the Women’s Media Center of the 14 largest national newspapers found a 30 percent increase in coverage of sexual harassment, assault, and sexual abuse between May 2017 and August 2018 and, with articles focusing specifcally on the #MeToo movement, total coverage increased by 52 percent (Steinberg, 2018). Although media attention to the #MeToo movement has waned in recent years, it has generated discussion among everyday people in everyday situations about their experiences as survivors of sexual harassment and violence (Burke, 2021). As a result of this, we have seen social and policy changes in boardrooms, political campaigns, and everyday life. Sexual Harassment and Abuse of Women Journalists

Women journalists have long faced the problem of sexual harassment in newsrooms by their editors, publishers, mentors, and colleagues, and these situations have chronically been ignored due to gender-blind power dynamics in many organizations (Steiner, 2017). Female journalists have pointed to factors such as newsroom culture that it continues to be dominated by men and glorifes macho, hypermasculine behavior. Many women journalists face constant and vicious online harassment and misogyny, called cyber gender harassment, including threats of rape or violence, that have become “an informal part of their job description” (Carlson & Witt, 2020). Gender-based trolling with negative online comments in response to their work on their news outlet website, and hateful comments on their personal social media, are common for women (Mantilla, 2013). A 2017 report by Amnesty International showed that, overall, women journalists and politicians in the United States and United Kingdom receive an average of one problematic or abusive tweet every 30 seconds (Troll patrol fndings, 2017), and Black women are 84 percent more likely than White women to receive abusive tweets (Troll patrol fndings, 2017). Online harassment was viewed as the biggest threat and safety issue, by 90 percent of female and gender non-conforming journalists in a 2019 survey by the Committee to Protect Journalists (Wescott, 2019). Janet Ross (2016), a reporter with The Washington Post, said that during the 2016 presidential campaign she was inundated with misogynist

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hate speech as well as racist insults from supporters of Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders about her work covering Sanders’ opponents. Ross (2016) noted: They use a variety of curse words and insults typically reserved for women. More than one has suggested that I deserve to become the victim of a sex crime. They critique the “objectivity” of what is clearly political analysis based on polling data and other facts, [and] they insist that Black voters are dumb or that I have a personal obligation to help Black voters see the error of their Clinton-voting ways. It is vile. (para. 6) Feminism: The “F” Word as a Commodity

Feminist ideology and issues are generally ignored in news, or treated as commodifed distortions of feminism. Women journalists who talk about feminism are accused of violating professional principles of objectivity and neutrality (Santos et al., 2018). Gender-based challenges already make it diffcult but for women, but to adopt a “feminist subject position in journalism is even more contentious” (North, 2009, p. 747). Those who use a feministcentered approach to explore issues of power, oppression, and privilege are dismissed as speaking from women’s perspectives, rather than from a general (more acceptable) approach to sociopolitical change (Santos et al., 2018). The rhetorical facade in mainstream media of “gender blindness” glosses over the diferences between women and men, ignores gendered power dynamics, and basically serves to sweep gender equity issues under the rug. The assumption is that, because there are laws against sex discrimination, this is no longer a problem, but this ignores the historical inequalities and advantages that come with male privilege. As noted by feminist activist and author Robin Morgan (2014), “The subtlest and most vicious aspect of women’s oppression is that we have been conditioned to believe we are not oppressed, blinded so as not to see our own condition” (p. 32). The increasing number of women in journalism has coincided with the depoliticized, market-led “post-feminist” redefnition of news (Chambers & Steiner, 2010). Journalism in the post-feminism era is not simply a “backlash” where previous gains are suddenly lost (Tasker & Negra, 2007, p. 1). Instead, as Angela McRobbie (2004) notes, feminism is invoked “as that which can be taken into account, to suggest that equality is achieved, in order to install a whole repertoire of new meanings which emphasize that it is no longer needed” (p. 255). The declaration that “feminism is dead” has been trumpeted in media so many times since the beginning of the movement that media critic

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Jennifer Pozner (2003) named it the “false feminist death syndrome” (p. 313). Likewise, references to “post-feminism” imply that feminism is no longer needed or relevant. In the mid-2010s, feminism became widely visible and popular in media—but marketed as a commodity through “femvertising,” which is ironic, given that feminists have long criticized sexist imagery in advertising (Douglas, 2016, para. 2). Slogans printed on lipsticks or T-shirts saying, “This is what a feminist looks like”; messages that say “girl power,” “bossy women rule,” and “feminism is for everybody”; sexy and violent female characters in flm and video games; and “feminist” pop music lyrics, etc.—all represent a “watered-down, de-clawed feminism that is rebranded as cool and relevant to young (middle/upper class White) women” (Fineman & McCluskey, 1997, p. 99; Zeisler, 2016). But no longer is the message calling for actual social change. The Pantene #ShineStrong campaign for hair products includes the message “Young women of the world, two things are lacking in your life: gender equality and shiny hair. And we can help you achieve at least one of those things” (Howard, 2014). Banet-Weiser calls this “safely afrmational feminism,” because it does not threaten the status quo, nor does it contribute to broader structural change (2018, para. 2). It implies that gender equality, freedom, and empowerment are achieved through consumerism as individual choice within a neoliberal free market system (Petersson McIntyre, 2021). Women and Politics “Why doesn’t she smile more?” “Could you see yourself getting a beer with her?” “Do people like her enough to win?” (Keilly, 2021, para. 1)

Women candidates and other female political fgures have long faced discrimination in media coverage. Although more women—particularly BIPOC women—are running for political ofce in recent years, they get far less and very diferent media attention than do their male counterparts. The news media reinforce sexist and racist stereotypes when they focus on likability, looks, and ambition, rather than experience and expertise, especially for women of Color (News coverage for the vice presidential candidate, 2020). News coverage of women candidates is often “genderized,” focusing on them as women (and BIPOC women) frst and political leaders second (Meeks, 2012; Verge & Pastor, 2018). They also get more negative coverage, a trend which has continued through and beyond the 2020 elections (Frandsen & Bajak, 2019). As noted by Sterling, a political sciences scholar,

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“Women in our society are supposed to be pleasing, kind, and somewhat deferential . . . so a woman who comes across as decisive and tough may also be frowned upon for being ‘nasty’ or ‘shrill’—for ostensibly violating feminine stereotypes of ‘likability’” (Frandsen & Bajak, 2019, para. 9). Rarely do male candidates face this scrutiny for being “likable.” A study of the 2016 and 2018 presidential campaigns by Gibbons (2022) found that female journalists were more likely to cover women candidates, and often used a human-interest frame that focused on their personal lives, including family and marital status, personal appearance, age, style, warmth, and likability, with minimal attention to their policy positions. Also commonly addressed in this coverage is the issue of “viability,” whether the female candidates really think that a woman could be elected president (vice president, etc.). This is a serious problem, because some voters without strong opinions end up opting for the candidate who seems to have the best chance to win, so lots of questions raised about a woman candidate’s “electability” put her at a disadvantage (Keilly, 2021). These gendered social constructions in media framing and agendas historically, and today, serve to protect and maintain power in White men’s hands (Palepu, 2022). In addition to reinforcing sexist and racist attitudes, media contribute to stifing women’s confdence about their ability to succeed in high-level political positions, which, along with the aggressive personal scrutiny in both mainstream and social media, may discourage them from seeking public ofce. This was confrmed in a study by Haraldsson and Wängnerud (2019), which found that sexist media coverage of women in general, including the scarcity of women experts as sources and few strong female voices, has a “bystander” efect and stifes women’s ambitions to run for public ofce. During the 2008 primary campaign, when Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, who was often criticized for being too cold, “nasty,” and even a “bitch,” spoke informally with a group of women in a cofee shop (Falk, 2010; Hertzberg, 2008). She choked up with tears in her eyes when they asked her how she kept so upbeat and took care of herself with all the stress and exhausting schedule of the campaign trail. The press went into a frenzy, with major debates about her tears—some said it was a staged ploy to make her seem more human; others saw it as authentic. Former President Barack Obama teared up a number of times in his public appearances with tragedies, such as the death of his grandmother, and his farewell speech, but this vulnerability was viewed positively (Seven times Barack Obama cried during an emotional eight years, 2017). BIPOC women political candidates face even greater challenges. An analysis of the media coverage of the 2020 campaign concluded that, “when women, and especially women of color, run for ofce, they are subjected to a double standard that has nothing to do with their qualifcations

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and everything to do with this country’s history of sexism and racism” (Vice presidential announcement media analysis, n.d., para. 2). Goodfellow (2015) calls this “misogynoir,” referring to misogyny directed toward Black women based on gender and race (Bailey, 2021). In Black feminist thought, Collins refers to this as the “outsider-within” standpoint, where race and gender create power positionalities in organizations controlled by White men, in this case for Black women in the political arena (Collins, 1986). Black women who run for, or are elected to, ofce are still marginalized from the central power structure controlled by White men. An analysis of the framing of news coverage of Vice President Kamala Harris’s nomination and campaign in 2020 showed extensive sexist and racist bias (Vice presidential announcement media analysis, n.d.). She is a mixed-race Black and Asian woman, and many stories focused primarily on her gender and race, as well as her ancestry, with little mention of her extensive professional experience and credentials. Harris was framed in some news coverage as fulflling the harmful “angry Black woman” trope, a stereotyped slur used against Black women who speak out strongly and are accused of being too reactive, unreasonable, and lacking emotional control, thus posing a threat to Whites in particular (Cooper, 2018). News stories about Harris used adjectives such as “nasty,” “mean,” and “phony,” as well as mentioning the racist “birther” conspiracy (that she was not born in the United States, similar to false accusations against former President Barack Obama) (Vice presidential announcement media analysis, n.d.). As vice president, Harris has faced more criticism, negative press, and disinformation than any other vice president (all of whom were White males) (Palepu, 2022). Conclusion

Despite massive changes in the mainstream news industry and ongoing pledges for change, gender and racial inequities continue to afict newsrooms and news content. Numerous examples included in this chapter refect what many BIPOC journalists call a “window-dressing” approach to change, with little attention to broader systemic and cultural issues that reinforce the White racial lens of news and White male privilege and power. In the next chapter, we explore how alternative media attempts, and fails, to cover the issues represented by traditional, mainstream journalism for BIPOC and women. References 2019 ASNE diversity survey results. (2019). News Leaders Association. www. newsleaders.org/2019-diversity-survey-results

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Joiner, W., & Alexa McMahon, A. (Eds.). Local news deserts are expanding: Here’s what we’ll lose. (2021, November 30). The Washington Post. www.washington post.com/magazine/interactive/2021/local-news-deserts-expanding/[ Joyella, M. (2022, March 1).Fox News gains as CNN, MSNBC drop signifcantly in February cable news ratings. Forbes. www.forbes.com/sites/markjoyella/2022/03/01/ fox-news-gains-as-cnn-msnbc-drop-signifcantly-in-february-cable-news-ratings/ Kassova, L. (2020, November 19). The missing perspectives of women in news. International Women’s Media Foundation. www.iwmf.org/missing-perspectives/ Katz Marston, C. (n.d.). Covering extremism: “As exhausting a beat as it is important.” Nieman Foundation. https://nieman.harvard.edu/articles/coveringextremism-as-exhausting-a-beat-as-it-is-important/ Keilly, A. (2021, May 24). What does “likeability” mean for women in politics? Ms. Magazine. https://msmagazine.com/2021/05/24/likable-electable-womenpolitics-elizabeth-warren/ Krogstad, J.M., Lopez, M.H., & Passel, J.S. (2020, June 10). A majority of Americans say immigrants mostly fll jobs U.S. citizens do not want. Pew Research Center. www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/06/10/a-majority-of-americanssay-immigrants-mostly-fll-jobs-u-s-citizens-do-not-want/ Lindzon, J. (2016, August 15). The results are in: Sports reporting is as sexist as you’ve always suspected. Fast Company. www.fastcompany.com/3062793/ the-results-are-in-sports-reporting-is-as-sexist-as-youve-always-suspected Linly, Z. (2021, March 19). Ron DeSantis says critical race theory excluded from education proposal. The Root. www.theroot.com/forida-gov-ron-desantis-declaresthat-his-new-civics-1846512705 McChesney, R. W. (2015). Rich media, poor democracy: Communication politics in dubious times. The New Press. http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/du/ detail.action?docID=1974566 Macek, S., & Voitl, S. (2022, April 4). “News that didn’t make the news”: How the media ignores important stories about gender violence and inequity. Ms. Magazine. https://msmagazine.com/2022/04/04/mainstream-media-gender-violencewomen/ McRobbie, A. (2004). Post-feminism and popular culture. Feminist Media Studies, 4(3), 255–264. https://doi.org/10.1080/1468077042000309937 Mahtani, M. (2005). Gendered news practices examining experiences of women journalists in diferent national contexts. In S. Allan (Ed.), Journalism: Critical Issues (pp. 299–310). Open University Press. Mantilla, K. (2013). Gendertrolling: Misogyny adapts to new media. Feminist Studies, 39(2), 563–570. Mastrangelo, D. (2021, August 9). Survey: Fox News only network to see increase in trust among viewers since February. The Hill. https://thehill.com/homenews/ media/567005-fox-news-only-network-to-see-increase-in-trust-among-viewerssince-spring/ Meeks, L. (2012). Is she “man enough”? Women candidates, executive political offces, and news coverage. Journal of Communication, 62(1), 175–193. Merrefeld, C. (2020, July 20). Newsroom diversity: 7 studies to know on race in journalism. The Journalist’s Resource. https://journalistsresource.org/race-andgender/newsroom-diversity-7-studies/

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Meyers, M., & Gayle, L. (2015). African American women in the newsroom: Encoding resistance. Howard Journal of Communications, 26(3), 292–312. https:// doi.org/10.1080/10646175.2015.1049760 Missing and murdered Indigenous women & girls. (2018, August 23). Urban Indian Health Institute. www.uihi.org/resources/missing-and-murdered-indigenouswomen-girls/ Morgan, R. (2014). The word of a woman: Feminist dispatches. Open Road Media. Motro, D., Evans, J.B., Ellis, A.P.J., & III, L.B. (2022, January 31). The “angry Black woman” stereotype at work. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr. org/2022/01/the-angry-black-woman-stereotype-at-work Natanson, H., & Balingit, M. (2022, April 5). Teachers who mention sexuality are “grooming” kids, conservatives say. The Washington Post. www.washington post.com/education/2022/04/05/teachers-groomers-pedophiles-dont-say-gay/ News coverage for the vice presidential candidate. (2020, August 6). Time’s up now. https://timesupnow.org/work/we-have-her-back/we-have-her-back-letter/ Nishikawa, K., Towner, T., Clawson, R., & Waltenburg, E. (2009). Interviewing the interviewers: Journalistic norms and racial diversity in the newsroom. The Howard Journal of Communications, 20, 242–259. https://doi.org/ 10.1080/10646170903070175 #NNAHM Society. (2020, November 12). #MMIW: Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women. Sicangu CDC. https://sicangucdc.org/blog/f/mmiw-missingand-murdered-indigenous-women Noble, A. (2021, August 14). Tucker Carlson insists there are “non-white people cheering the extinction of white people” [Video]. Yahoo News. www.yahoo. com/video/tucker-carlson-insists-non-white-181108285.html North, L. (2009). Rejecting the “F-word”: How ‘feminism” and “feminists” are understood in the newsroom. Journalism, 10(6), 739–757. https://doi.org/10. 1177/1464884909344479 Obermaier, M., Koch, T., & Riesmeyer, C. (2018). Deep impact? How journalists perceive the infuence of public relations on their news coverage and which variables determine this impact. Communication Research, 45(7), 1031–1053. https://doi.org/10.1177/0093650215617505 Palepu, H. (2022, February 4). Vice President Kamala Harris is making headlines again—surprised? No. Disappointed? Yes. Ms. Magazine. https://msmagazine. com/2022/02/04/vice-president-kamala-harris-approval-rating-sexism-racismbiden/ Pershan, C. (2021, November 4). A year after the election, America has turned the news of. Columbia Journalism Review. www.cjr.org/analysis/a-year-after-theelection-america-has-turned-the-news-of.php Petersson McIntyre, M. (2021). Commodifying feminism: Economic choice and agency in the context of lifestyle infuencers and gender consultants. Gender, Work, and Organization, 28(3), 1059–1078. https://doi.org/10.1111/ gwao.12627 Pew Research Center. (2021, June 29). Newspapers fact sheet. www.pewresearch. org/journalism/fact-sheet/newspapers/ Pew Research Center. (2022, January 5). Trust in America: Do Americans trust the news media? [Video] www.pewresearch.org/2022/01/05/trust-in-america-doamericans-trust-the-news-media/

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Pickard, V.W. (2019). Democracy without journalism?: Confronting the misinformation society. Oxford University Press. Posetti, J. (2020, September 24). Online violence: The new front line for women journalists. International Center for Journalists. www.icfj.org/news/online-violencenew-front-line-women-journalists Potts, M. (2018, Spring/Summer). The bought-out: What journalists sell when they take an exit package. Columbia Journalism Review. www.cjr.org/special_report/ media-buyouts.php/ Pozner, J.L. (2003). The “big lie”: False feminist death syndrome, proft, and the media. In R. Dicker & A. Piepmeier (Eds.), Catching a wave: Reclaiming feminism for the 21st century (pp. 31–56). Northeastern University Press. Price, S.L. (2016, June 1). Why Katie Ledecky is so dominant, yet so normal. Sports Illustrated. www.si.com/olympics/2016/06/01/olympics-2016-road-to-rio-katieledecky-swimming Primack, D., & Contreras, R. (2021, September 29). Racist “white replacement theory” goes mainstream with Republicans. Axios. www.axios.com/2021/09/29/ white-replacement-theory-gains-ground-among-gop Rajkovic, A. (2021, June 19). TV news coverage of southern border lacks refugee sources, historical context. FAIR (Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting). https://fair.org/home/tv-news-coverage-of-southern-border-lacks-refugeesources/ Report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders. (1967). Ofce of Justice Programs. www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/national-advisorycommission-civil-disorders-report Reynolds, J. (2018, April 13). Meet the vulture capitalists who savaged “The Denver Post.” The Nation. www.thenation.com/article/archive/meet-the-vulturecapitalists-who-savaged-the-denver-post/ Ripley, A. (2022, July 8). Opinion: I stopped reading the news. Is the problem me—Or the product? The Washington Post. www.washingtonpost.com/ opinions/2022/07/08/how-to-fx-news-media/ Roberts, M. (2018, May 14). Why the Denver Post will never be sold in a standalone deal. Westword. www.westword.com/news/why-alden-global-media-wont-selldenver-post-in-a-standalone-deal-10270263 Robertson, K. (2021, September 22). News media can’t shake “missing white woman syndrome,” critics say. The New York Times. www.nytimes.com/2021/09/22/ business/media/gabby-petito-missing-white-woman-syndrome.html Robinson, E. (2005, June 10). (White) Women we love. The Washington Post. www. washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/2005/06/10/white-women-we-love/ ce35c1c2-3e4b-40da-9236-d26a69ab4d91/ Robinson, S., & Culver, K.B. (2019). When White reporters cover race: News media, objectivity and community (dis)trust. Journalism, 20(3), 375–391. https:// doi.org/10/gfvqvk Rosenberg, P. (2021, November 28). Project censored: Top 10 underreported news stories of 2021. Gambit. www.nola.com/gambit/news/the_latest/article_ 9088dfc2-4962-11ec-8ec0-7f421d850ece.html Rosner, H. (2021, October 8). The long American history of “missing white woman syndrome.” The New Yorker. www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/ the-long-american-history-of-missing-white-woman-syndrome

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Ross, J. (2016, March 10). Bernie Sanders’s most vitriolic supporters really test the meaning of the word “progressive.” The Washington Post. www.washington post.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/03/10/bernie-sanderss-most-vitriolicsupporters-really-test-the-meaning-of-the-word-progressive/ Ross, K. (2009). Women in/and news: The invisible and the profane. In Gendered media: Women, men, and identity politics (pp. 53–69). Rowman & Littlefeld Publishers. Santos, A., Cerqueira, C., & Cabecinhas, R. (2018). “Challenging it softly”: A feminist inquiry into gender in the news media context. Feminist Media Studies, 22(1), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2018.1465445 Sasso, S. (2016. August 10). Two men debated whether female athletes should wear makeup—& it was as bad as you think. Refnery29. www.refnery29.com/ en-us/2016/08/119625/fox-news-olympic-beauty-debate Seven times Barack Obama cried during an emotional eight years. (2017, January 11). BBC News. www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-38582921 Sinclair Broadcast Group. (n.d.). Sinclair Broadcast Group. https://sbgi.net/ Smith-Morris, C. (2020, March 6). Addressing the epidemic of missing & murdered indigenous women and girls. Cultural Survival. www.culturalsurvival. org/news/addressing-epidemic-missing-murdered-indigenous-womenand-girls Solomon, W.S., & McChesney, R.W. (1993). Ruthless criticism: New perspectives on U.S. communication history. University of Minnesota Press. Sports media racial & gender report card. (2021). Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sports (TIDES). www.tidesport.org/associated-press-sports-editors The status of women in the U.S. media 2021. (2021, November 18). Women’s Media Center. https://womensmediacenter.com/reports/the-status-of-women-inthe-u-s-media-2021-1 The status of women of color in the U.S. news media 2018. (2018, March 6). Women’s Media Center. https://womensmediacenter.com/reports/the-status-of-women-ofcolor-in-the-u-s-media-2018-full-report Stebbins, L.G. (2022, April 13). White nationalism resurgence continues to shift and shape Michigan, U.S. politics. Louisiana Illuminator. https://lailluminator. com/2022/04/13/white-nationalism-resurgence-continues-to-shift-and-shapemichigan-u-s-politics/ Steinberg, B. (2018, October 5). Media coverage of sexual assault, #MeToo, is rising. Variety. https://variety.com/2018/biz/news/media-coverage-sexual-assaultmetoo-1202970077/ Steiner, L. (2012). Failed theories: Explaining gender diference in journalism. The Review of Communication, 12(3), 201–223. https://doi.org/10.1080/15358593 .2012.666559 Steiner, L. (2014). Feminist media theory. In R.S. Fortner & P.M. Fackler (Eds.), The handbook of media and mass communication theory (Vol. 1, pp. 359–380). John Wiley & Sons. Steiner, L. (2017). Gender and journalism. Oxford University Press. https://doi. org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228613.013.91 Stewart, E. (2018, November 26). Fox News wants you to be very afraid of what’s happening at the border. Vox. www.vox.com/2018/11/26/18112360/fox-newscaravan-coverage-border-tear-gas

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Stubbs, R. (2016, August 7). “The man responsible”: NBC broadcaster draws ire after crediting world record to swimmer’s husband. The Washington Post. www. washingtonpost.com/news/early-lead/wp/2016/08/07/the-man-responsible-nbcbroadcaster-draws-ire-after-crediting-world-record-to-swimmers-husband/ Supple, C.M., & Muñoz, E.L. (2021, April 23). To get more news coverage of women, we need more women making the news. Ms. Magazine. https://msmagazine.com/2021/04/23/women-journalists-media-sexism-news-organizationsleadership-inequality-covid/ Tambe, A. (2018). Reckoning with the silences of #MeToo. Feminist Studies, 44(1), 197–202. https://doi.org/10.15767/feministstudies.44.1.0197 Tameez, H. (2022, May 8). American journalism’s “racial reckoning” still has lots of reckoning to do. Nieman Lab. www.niemanlab.org/2022/03/americanjournalisms-racial-reckoning-still-has-lots-of-reckoning-to-do/ Tasker, Y., & Negra, D. (2007). Introduction: Feminist politics and postfeminist culture. In D. Negra, Y. Tasker, L. Spigel, & A. McRobbie (Eds.), Interrogating postfeminism: Gender and the politics of popular culture (pp. 1–25). Duke University Press. Thornton, M.C., & Shah, H. (2012). Newspaper coverage of interethnic confict: Competing visions of America. Sage Publications. Troll patrol fndings. (2017). Amnesty International. https://decoders.amnesty.org/ projects/troll-patrol/fndings Tuchman, G. (2000). The symbol annihilation of women by the mass media. In L. Crothers & C. Lockhardt (Eds.), Culture & politics: A reader (pp. 150–174). Palgrave Macmillan. van Niekerk, P. (2020, September 29). Moving the dial on gender equality in newsrooms. (2020, September 30). FIPP. www.fpp.com/news/moving-the-dial-ongender-equality-in-newsrooms/ Van Zoonen, L. (1994). Feminist media studies. Sage. Verge, T., & Pastor, R. (2018). Women’s political frsts and symbolic representation. Journal of Women, Politics & Policy, 39(1), 26–50. https://doi.org/10.108 0/1554477X.2016.1268878 Vice presidential announcement media analysis. (n.d.). TIME’S UP Now. https:// timesupnow.org/work/we-have-her-back/vice-presidential-announcementmedia-analysis/ Waddell, B. (2021, November 1). The link between missing indigenous women and missing data. US News & World Report. www.usnews.com/news/beststates/articles/2021-11-01/the-link-between-missing-indigenous-women-andmissing-data Walker, B.A. (2003). The color of crime: The case against race-based suspect descriptions. Columbia Law Review, 103(3), 662–688. https://doi.org/10.2307/ 1123720 Wamsley, L. (2018, April 9). “Denver Post” calls out its “vulture” hedge fund owners in searing editorial. The Two Way. www.npr.org/sections/thetwoway/2018/04/09/600831352/denver-post-calls-out-its-vulture-hedge-fundowners-in-searing-editorials Waisbord, S., Tucker, T., & Lichtenheld, Z. (2018). Trump and the great disruption in public communication. In P. Boczkowski & Z. Papacharrisi (Eds.), Trump and the media (pp. 24–32). MIT Press.

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Wenzel, J. (2018, May 11). The gutting of The Denver Post is a death knell for local news. The Atlantic. www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2018/05/ denver-post/560186/ Wescott, L. (2019, September 4). “The threats follow us home”: Survey details risks for female journalists in U.S., Canada. Committee to Protect Journalists. https:// cpj.org/2019/09/canada-usa-female-journalist-safety-online-harassment-survey/ When sexual assaults made history. (2018, October 9). HISTORY. www.history. com/news/sexual-assault-rome-slavery-columbus-jim-crow Who makes the news. (2020). Gender Media Monitoring Project. https://whomakesthenews.org/ Wilson, J., & Flanagan, A. (2022, May 17). The racist “great replacement” conspiracy theory explained. Southern Poverty Law Center. www.splcenter.org/ hatewatch/2022/05/17/racist-great-replacement-conspiracy-theory-explained Wilson II, C.C., Gutierrez, F., & Chao, L. (2003). Racism, sexism, and the media: The rise of class communication in multicultural America. SAGE. Witschge, T., & Nygren, G. (2015). Journalistic work: A profession under pressure? Journal of Media Business Studies, 6, 37–59. https://doi.org/10.1080/165 22354.2009.11073478 Zeisler, A. (2016). We were feminists once: From Riot Grrrl to CoverGirl®, the buying and selling of a political movement. Public Afairs.

7 ALTERNATIVE JOURNALISM AND “ETHNIC” MEDIA

Introduction

“Alternative media” includes alternative journalism and news, and “ethnic media”, which are flourishing in great part due to the rise of digital media and the internet.1 What is “alternative media” and how do we know it when we see it? This is not an easy answer because alternative media widely vary in principles and production, objectives, organizational structures, practices, and ideological influences (Kenix, 2015; Paiva, 1983, as cited in Rodríguez, 2001, p. 12). They encompass a broad range of formats and genres, including print, digital, audio, video, graffiti, music, street performance, and art. It’s even difficult to make an accurate tally of alternative media because most of these news outlets are online, and the digital environment is dynamic. To compound the problem, since digital media have blurred the boundaries between mainstream and alternative journalism, it raises more questions. What is a journalist, and who qualifies? What is journalism? What is non-journalism (Carlson, 2015; Nygaard, 2021)? Nonetheless, while the heterogeneity of these outlets and the hybridity of their practices make it difficult to draw generalized conclusions about “alternative media,” we can say that they are often activist media charged with mobilizing citizens for a cause or other goal while maintaining professional journalism standards. A growing number of partisan media organizations are more transparent in their blurring of the distinction between news and opinion, aiming to mobilize support for more extremist views and political actors (Waltz, 2005); that is, increasingly, progressive leftand right-wing partisan perspectives are slated as “alternative media.” DOI: 10.4324/9781315159171-7

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By “alternative media,” I specifcally refer to alternative journalism and news. While many alternative news outlets now operate primarily or exclusively online, I do not include blogs or social media in this analysis. I focus on organizations whose primary objective is producing and disseminating independent news from a counterhegemonic perspective of the dominant mainstream media narrative. As such, I do not include “apolitical” media such as niche special-interest media (e.g., general health news, sports news, etc.). I have included in this analysis “ethnic” media, which are designed for niche audiences of diferent racial and ethnic groups and are ideally produced by those populations. This category of media deserves its own book—and, indeed, many have been written. My purpose is to provide a contrast to my overall critique of mainstream corporate media. Specifcally, I focus on Black alternative media, which have a long and powerful history. Most research on alternative media focuses on social, political, and economic aspects of democratization of media and participation of citizens; far fewer studies examine alternative journalism practices (Atton, 2012). In addition to the sparsity of research attention to alternative media and journalism practices, even fewer studies of both alternative and mainstream media critically examine the power dynamics between journalists and their sources/subjects. This chapter will explore broader objectives as related to recoded journalistic values and practices in alternative news organizations (Atton & Wickenden, 2005). Alternative journalism (particularly the progressive Left) ofers a different epistemology— diferent ways of constructing knowledge. These media tend to: • Question the traditional assumptions of the profession, such as the representation of journalists as experts and objective observers of “reality” and the selection of “expert sources”—mainly elites and ofcials who perpetuate dominant narratives of the status quo. • Challenge conventional news values that determine what is judged as most important in the vast fow of information (Atton, 2002). Still, despite claims to the contrary, alternative journalism often remains guilty of allowing the ideologies of Whiteness and patriarchy to continue to shape many practices and content. What is “Alternative” Media and Journalism?

The debate about the defnition of alternative journalism and news includes how it difers from the mainstream in: • Editorial objectives; • The epistemology and production of content;

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• Principles and production; • The structure of alternative news organizations; • Ideological influences. (Cushion et al., 2021; Kenix, 2011) Scholars and news organizations have applied various labels to identify alternative journalism, including: • Independent media: refers to political economy, with journalists less constrained by the commercial pressures of corporate media, and therefore able to address a greater variety of topics and use more non-ofcial sources. • Citizens’ media: refers to media that are more participatory, with production in the hands of individuals or collectives to promote social change (Rodríguez, 2001, 2010). This production may be a transformative experience for producers, with the media practices and process that that enable construction of active citizenship and political empowerment (Atton & Hamilton, 2008; Rodríguez, 2001). • Radical alternative media: refers to media that are often part of social movements, produced by protest groups, dissidents, or radical activist organizations with aims to express dissent and mobilize for radical political change and empowerment (Rodriguez et al., 2014). Greater fexibility and fuidity of these media organizations are possible because they are often non-hierarchical and autonomous, which contrasts with traditional mainstream media, which are an “arbolic” model with more linear, hierarchical, and static organizational structures and practices rooted in the broader dominant power hierarchy of public and private interests (Deleuze, 1987; Vatikiotis & Milioni, 2019). While some scholars employ a David vs. Goliath framework to defne alternative media, I work with the notion that alternative media are important in their own right, as a way to amplify voices and ideas that are not necessarily counter-hegemonic but are signifcant and play a role for diferent communities (Bailey et al., 2007). Advocates of this approach focus on power dynamics. Many alternative media outlets seek social transformation and to contribute to the establishment of a truly participatory society by producing critical content. For Sandoval and Fuchs (2010), it is essential that alternative media be critical at the structural level and that media producers provide critical content that responds to the needs of individuals. As such, it is not necessary that these media are also alternative in terms of their production process and form as an economic product. In other words, commercial media and non-participatory media can also be called alternative media if they produce critical content.

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I am well aware that talking about alternative and mainstream news media as mutually exclusive binaries, and even opposites, is a vast oversimplifcation. There are numerous hybrid forms where each has adopted practices historically associated with the other, so that boundaries have become blurred, as the genres interact, infuence, and borrow from the other (Rauch, 2021). Kenix (2011) views the relationship between alternative and traditional media as a continuum or spectrum, although the objectives, practices, ownership, and ideological infuences generally remain distinct, so I use the distinction “alternative vs. mainstream” as an analytic device. Alternative media themselves also may be viewed on a continuum, with various levels of “alternativeness,” at the micro level of news producers and content, meso- or organizational level, and macro at the societal level (Holt et al., 2019). This takes diferent forms, including that of incorporating voices often left out of mainstream channels and focusing on topics and issues that are often ignored. The alternativeness of a medium also depends on how it utilizes alternative distribution systems as part of activist, partisan, or more neutral networks. History of Alternative Media

Alternative journalism is not simply a reactionary response to the dominance of traditional news; indeed, its history extends to before the development of commercialized news (Forde, 2011; Harcup, 2012, pp. 13–14). Many radical alternative media emerged out of social movements with “activist journalists” who sought to establish a counter-narrative to that of mainstream media to resist the mainstream’s tendency to undermine and delegitimize social movement through underreporting or misreporting (Atton, 2002; Gitlin, 1980). These alternative media were often produced with a specifc designation, such as the labor press, underground press, suffrage and feminist press, or Black press. The term “alternative media” emerged in the 1960s with the identity politics of various social justice movements including civil rights, opposition to the Vietnam war, feminism, LGBTQ+ and disability rights, etc. A central objective was to amplify the voices of “unofcial sources” who were ignored, marginalized, or demonized in mainstream media (Atton, 2002). “Activist Media”

Mainstream journalists may write in-depth stories to help audiences understand difcult issues and situations, which has the potential to empower audiences and generate social change, but the objective style of writing

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more often encourages disengagement and collective action for change (Atton & Hamilton, 2008). Many alternative journalists view their work as a form of collective resistance against the hegemonic power of corporate mainstream media. Forde (2011) states that the primary focus of alternative media is “to give a voice to the voiceless, to fll the gaps left by the mainstream, to empower ordinary people to participate in democracy, and in many instances, to educate people with information they cannot access elsewhere” (p. 45) Feminist media often play this vital role. As an example, Feminist International Radio Endeavour (FIRE), which first operated on shortwave, then later as a feminist online radio, was funded by a wealthy feminist philanthropist and by grants from other sociopolitical movements and various organizations. They were well aware of the ethnocentrism, bias, and stereotypes of news from the Global South. Thus, a primary objective was to counteract those messages by focusing on amplifying the voices of women from the Global South, including Indigenous and others from marginalized groups, as a way to counteract the dominant north-south fow of information. In general, alternative news organizations operate on a smaller scale and tend to be non-commercial, more independent, more participatory, and more accessible, while being less constrained by commercial interests and bureaucracy (Coyer et al., 2007). These characteristics, however, also make economic sustainability a major challenge, according to Kenix (2015), which means that many alternative projects are of short duration (Harcup, 2012). The journalists may or may not be professionally trained and may operate as a nonproft (or subscriber-supported) or with less commercial pressure (although they often have concerns about economic sustainability) (Harcup, 2014; Kenix, 2015). Yet, alternative points of view are often dismissed as “activist” and, because of that, alternative journalism has been further dismissed as unprofessional, limited in its ability to reach large audiences, and viewed as an advocate for marginalized groups. As a result, alternative media are often marginalized, sufering from the “low political priority given to what is considered to be ‘marginal’” (Bailey et al., 2007, p. 20). In the mainstream view, then, marginal is equal to irrelevant. Left Wing vs. Right Wing

Up until the 2016 presidential election, most alternative media research focused on progressive left news—particularly those associated with social movements. The explosion of extremist right-wing media organizations in recent years, however, has shifted the focus of study to include various partisan perspectives (Frischlich et al., 2020).

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In general, those on the left wing of partisan perspectives or ideologies have liberal views that support progressive reforms, particularly those that address social inequalities and rights, often favoring separation of Church and State. Right-wing perspectives may be conservative, neoconservative, or radical right wing, often characterized by an emphasis on “notions such as authority, hierarchy, order, tradition, reaction, and nationalism” designed to repress “The Other” (Heywood, 2015, p. 119). Regardless of political or ideological orientation, these media outlets present alternative interpretations of social and political events, many of which are not included in the mainstream public discourse, often to try to infuence public opinion (Holt, 2020). For example, while right-wing media serve to encourage participation and mobilize activism, they also “fuel cultural division and promote exclusionary views” by publishing online discourses of alienation, mistrust, and repression, promoting extreme antidemocratic agendas, even threatening public ofcials or journalists (Holt, 2020; Nygaard, 2021, p. 3; Padovani, 2016). My primary interest here is in the ways that progressive alternative media outlets have deliberately utilized a diferent epistemology, applying that through news values and practices. Many right-wing news organizations primarily focus on content rather than on the journalistic process and practice. Given the focus of this book on addressing the impact of White patriarchy on traditional mainstream media, it’s important to note that left- and right-wing alternative media generally take very diferent stances on issues related to race, gender, sexuality, etc. Many progressive outlets disseminate narratives that “specifcally oppose particular axes of domination (corporate capitalism, heterosexism, racism, sexism and misogyny, state authoritarianism), and often take an advocacy stance for social change that takes into account voices and issues marginalized in mainstream corporate media” (Hackett & Carroll, 2006, p. 58). In recent years, the number of extremist right-wing groups has exploded on the internet and in society in general. Claiming that their White identity is under threat by shifting demographics, multiculturalism, and social justice initiatives, they use nostalgia to promote an idealized version of national history (which does not exist and really may never have) that was (theoretically) homogenous (White, Christian, for example) (Goulding, 1999; Kondor & Littler, 2020). Many of these right-wing media outlets have ties to evangelical Christian groups and some are part of the White Christian Nationalist movement (WCN) that advocates for a particular idealized form of Christianity in U.S. American life and policy that is based on White ethno-

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culture (Luo & Perry, 2022). Mainstream news outlets are paying greater attention to these discourses, noting that a growing number of Republicans are espousing these views and that Christian nationalism is creeping into the courts, such as is the case with the recent decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court regarding abortion, Christian prayer in public schools, and public funding of private religious schools (Yousef, 2022). Right-wing media have long focused on what they perceive as liberal media bias. Many outlets now criticize and challenge the journalistic authority of mainstream media (particularly that viewed as more liberal), claiming they are biased and publish “fake news” as part of a wider liberal or Democratic conspiracy (Figenschou & Ihlebæk, 2019; Hemmer, 2016). Characteristics of Alternative Journalism

Alternative news organizations often share common characteristics, including: confronting media power and hegemony and representations of social reality; critiquing and creating alternatives to traditional journalism epistemology (including objectivity, topics, and sources); challenging mainstream defnitions of “professional” journalism; and participation of audiences and everyday citizens. Confronting Media Power, Hegemony, and Representations of Social Reality

The key focus of alternative media is on media power. They produce counter-hegemonic stances in relation or in opposition to mainstream legacy media. They question the taken-for-granted construction and hegemonic representation of reality of mainstream news and confronting claims of media to be able speak for and to everyone (Atton & Hamilton, 2008; Frischlich, et al., 2020). Some alternative media, indeed, function as watchdogs on mainstream media. Corporate media are key creators of the public sphere, defned as “the social space in which diferent opinions are expressed, problems of general concern are discussed, and collective solutions are developed communicatively” (Wessler & Freudenthaler, 2017, para. 1). This space is limited by defnitions of newsworthiness and elite sources to produce content that meets commercial needs, and places democratic responsibilities of the press to inform citizens as secondary (Manning, 2001). Alternative media contribute to formation of alternative public spheres, spaces in which “experiences, critiques and alternatives could be freely developed, [on a]

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self-managed, democratic basis—itself a major alternative to the media hierarchies of the ofcial public realm” (Downing, 1988, p. 168). Alternative journalists construct realities that oppose the conventions and representations of the mainstream media. Participatory, alternative media production contests the concentration of institutional and professional media power and challenges the media monopoly on producing symbolic forms. Therefore, to consider alternative media is to recognize the relationship between dominant, professionalized media practices and marginal, amateur practices. The struggle between them is for “the place of media power” (Couldry, 2000). A key objective of progressive alternative journalism is to strengthen democracy through disseminating a wider cast of voices and ideas that are often left out of mainstream media and through the subsequent construction of a counter-discourse. While the language often refects racist, anti-Semitic, xenophobic, and homophobic ideologies, many right-wing organizations and media have co-opted more progressive language, such as having “rights,” but apply that language to their ideology that Whites’ rights are being threatened and violated by government and liberal forces. One of the primary criticisms of alternative media is that it does not have a powerful impact in shifting imbalanced fows of information with mainstream media, but rather that these sources are more efective at circulating new ideas and underrepresented voices and building social and political relationships to strengthen popular organization and mobilization (Kaplún, 1983, in Rodríguez, 2001, p. 13). Developing Alternative Journalism Epistemologies

Alternative journalists and activists critique and revise traditional journalism epistemology, including its principles and practices, such as the selection of “newsworthy” topics, news sources, objectivity, audienceas-receiver subordination, framing and representations in stories, and the inverted pyramid formula of many news reports (Atton & Hamilton, 2008; Rodríguez, 2001). Waisbord (2013) asserts that a more fexible epistemology enables alternative journalists to contribute more to democratic ideals, allowing for greater diversity and articulation of ideas, participation, and criticism. The result is that these alternative practices have greater potential of performing a “bridging and bonding function” of media with marginalized communities with stronger and more genuine relationships that enable reporters to gather more relevant information, include a greater diversity of sources, and produce more authentic stories (Poepsel & Painter, 2016).

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Rejecting or Reformulating Objectivity

Alternative news practitioners from both the left and right often reject the objectivity ideal as being unrealistic, calling for a recognition of the subjective nature of journalism practice and news judgement. Yet these practitioners still may see “truth” as aligning with their particular ideology and perspective on issues. Many suggest reformulating objectivity with a recognition that there are a plurality of “truths” and perspectives, seeking “truthful, credible journalism, rather than the ‘neutral’ or ‘detached’ journalism of the mainstream” (Forde, 2011, p. 113). Expanding the Range of Topics

Many alternative news organizations view their role as one of flling the gaps left by mainstream media. They are redefning news values and defnitions of newsworthiness to include news topics that have gone uncovered, under-covered, or mis-covered by the mainstream press (Atton & Hamilton, 2008). They strive to present new angles on previously covered issues by bringing in non-traditional sources and using alternative framing such as focusing on social movements and issues that question the dominant mainstream perspective and framing. Mainstream news coverage is based on “news hooks,” with a recent event or issue development (the “newest news”) that justifes publication, often with episodic frames (Iyengar, 1996). Depending upon the event, follow-up coverage is often minimal or left out altogether. This means that long-term issues such as racism, poverty, and gentrifcation tend to get left out or relegated to the back pages (thematic frames), and the broader historical and ideological context of many current issues is ignored. For example, mainstream coverage of the protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) (described later in this chapter) often focused on the confict, ignoring the broader context steeped in a long history and ideology of White supremacy and theft of Native lands. Inclusion of a Wider Range of Sources

Certainly, alternative journalism includes a wider cast of sources for news than seen in mainstream media, which serves to invert the “hierarchy of access” to mainstream media, although issues still exist (Atton, 2002, p. 17). While alternative news outlets include a wider variety of topics and communities, prioritizing participation of non-elite sources as primary defners, few if any of these outlets incorporate critical examination of

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the power dynamics between journalists and sources, which contribute to racism and sexism (Hall et al., 1978). Also, despite the ideal of giving voice to “ordinary” sources, case-study research by Atton and Wickenden (2005) showed that sourcing in the alternative media outlets they analyzed was still dominated by counter-elites, with reliance on “expertise, authoritativeness and legitimacy as are mainstream sourcing routines,” often related to political ideology (2005, Abstract). That is, ordinary citizens continue to be a minority. Rather than invert the hierarchy of access related to power with alternative media, the hierarchy was basically reconstructed. Nonetheless, as noted by Harcup (2012), “Through diferent sourcing practices, alternative news media seek to privilege the powerless and the marginal; to ofer a perspective ‘from below’ and to say the ‘unspoken’” (p. 77). According to Atton (2002), alternative journalists focus upon “giving voice to those people, about reporting news from their perspective, presenting stories where they are the main actors, where they are permitted to speak with authority, as counters to the mainstream’s regularized interest in public fgures as the only authoritative voices, the predominant sources of ‘validating information’” (p. 98). This is the objective of many feminist media outlets, where according to Weiss-Wolf (2023), “. . . you will fnd the voices best able to call out and counter the rise in antidemocratic impulses and action that is growing all around us” (para. 8). In my work with the alternative media outlet FIRE radio, we sought to address the way that women’s perspectives on issues and voices are often left out of mainstream discourses, particularly those of Indigenous and other marginalized groups. For example, we focused on women’s experiences and perspectives of armed confict and war, along with their eforts to bring peace, which are often ignored or distorted in mainstream media coverage (Thompson et al., 2007). We traveled to Columbia to cover the massive biannual women’s peace marches in the face of armed confict, as well as the Middle East to interview Palestinian women and Israeli women peace activists, and also women activists in Lebanon during the Israeli-Lebanon confict in 2006. This recognition spurred many invitations to attend events, including UN Conferences and other international and regional events around the world, because organizations and movements knew that we would address the common gaps in mainstream discourses. Alternative journalists seek to revise the defnition of “expert” and reach to non-traditional counter-elite sources with subjective or knowledge gained through lived experiences and other forms of expertise (Atton & Wickenden, 2005; Kunelius & Renvall, 2010). “Native” reporting or “active witnessing” are frst-person accounts of individuals, groups, or communities by people who speak directly about their experiences and perspectives (Atton & Hamilton, 2008).

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For example, homelessness is all too often covered from the perspective of policymakers and nonproft organizations, with little inclusion of voices of the persons who are homeless themselves. When these voices are included, the focus is primarily on their personal stories (e.g., “How did you become homeless?”) rather than on their view of solutions to the overall problem. This depoliticizes homelessness, depriving agency for persons without homes themselves, and framing homelessness as a problem of individual responsibility (Schneider, 2011). As another example, during times of war, mainstream U.S. media generally rely primarily on government and military sources that are likely to view military force and armed response as the best (and only) ways to deal with disagreements and confict. Sources who advocate non-violent solutions are generally left out of this mediated discourse or given minimal space. Ignoring the perspectives of civilians or survivors, particularly women, leaves out major experiences of war. In our work with FIRE radio, we addressed the issue of women and war. We did so to provide an alternative paradigm of mainstream media coverage of war and armed confict that focused on the (male) military combatants, troop movements, etc. Although it is often the men and boys who leave home (voluntarily or involuntarily) to join the military forces, it is the women who carry the responsibilities for their children, elderly, and communities. In many cases, women and girls become the “booty” of war, subjected to sexual violence and kidnappings to be held as sex or domestic slaves (Frederick, 2001). This is the core of community media, where everyday people, activists, or community leaders act as reporters of their own experiences, struggles, and lives, providing authentic and more relevant and meaningful stories for local communities (Rodríguez, 2001). They become primary defners of problems or issues, rather than politicians, government leaders, academics, journalists, and so on (Atton & Wickenden, 2005). Reconfguring the Relationship Between Journalist and Sources

In alternative journalism, reporters often step away from their detached observer positionality to establish a more egalitarian relationship with sources and audiences, seeking interviews, feedback, and participatory dialogue with everyday people, activists, and movement leaders (Rodríguez, 2001). Mainstream news uses “person on the street” or “vox pop” interviews for short and shallow comments from everyday people that mainly add “local color” or a human-interest element to the story. As a journalist with FIRE feminist radio, I encountered this contrast in interview styles at an Encuentro Feminista  de América Latina y el Caribe (Latin American and Caribbean Feminist Meeting) in an interview with a Salvadoran woman about her experiences in the brutal civil war in her

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country during the 1980s and early 1990s. I arranged the interview, and I agreed when a feminist journalist from Puerto Rico whom I knew asked to participate. Unfortunately, that journalist kept interrupting the woman when she didn’t speak directly and immediately in response to her questions. The interviewee became very frustrated and basically stopped speaking except in one-word or short sentences. Although there is much variation, some alternative media facilitate participation of audiences and community members in the organization and content production as a form of active citizenship (Harcup, 2011). Called “citizens’ media” by Rodríguez (2001), it involves direct participation by citizens in reporting, analysis, production and dissemination of news and information, where media users become media producers. Some prefer the term “participatory” journalism, to avoid the direct relation of “citizen” to the nation state (acknowledging how millions around the world are stateless). Rodríguez (2001) has conducted extensive research in several diferent countries, many of which were experiencing armed confict and/or autocratic control of media. She found that, through producing their own media, everyday people undergo a transformative experience as they become active citizens, empowered through greater agency to “claim a space for their public voices . . . citizens’ media materialize as important sites where citizenship is forged” (2001, p. 158). Even alternative news outlets with a more professional staff can serve as a change agent; instead of collaborating to maintain the status quo, alternative journalists seek greater collaboration with their sources and community instead of established mainstream government and economic institutions. In our work at FIRE radio, we attended an international women’s conference and handed the microphone to a young girl who interviewed her mother and grandmother about feminism. The result was an excellent interview, and her approach and the responses of her foremothers were very diferent than what we might have produced as journalists. A Challenge to Mainstream Conceptualization of Professionalism

Who is a journalist? What is a “professional” journalist? To consider alternative media is to recognize the relationship among dominant, elite, and professionalized media practices and marginal, amateur practices. Alternative journalists may report and write from their position as citizens, activists, or community members (Atton & Hamilton, 2008). Atton (2012) compares mainstream journalists, whose work generally refects the interests of the power elite and corporations, to alternative journalists, whose work represents the needs and interest of underrepresented groups

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(Schudson, 1978). For alternative journalists, moving away from a corporate model and control of news enables them to become more involved in both the organization and content production, as a form of active citizenship (Harcup, 2011). Case Study: Media Coverage of the #NoDAPL Protests

Media coverage of the massive mobilization by Indigenous peoples against the proposed Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) illustrates the stark diferences between mainstream and alternative media in reporting and framing of issues and events. It also revealed the extreme hostility of authorities— both private and public—against journalists whose reporting practices and stories raised issues about the legitimacy of the pipeline and the military tactics of security forces. In early 2016, Indigenous youth using social media began organizing grassroots opposition to construction of the DAPL by Energy Transfer of Texas, and the running of half a million barrels of oil daily nearly 1,200 miles across four states from western North Dakota to southern Illinois (KickingWoman, 2020). The route crosses under the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, and under part of Lake Oahe, just north of the Standing Rock Indian Reservation. The pipeline was controversial from the start. The #NoDAPL movement grew to become a symbol of a global rallying cry for Indigenous rights and climate change activism. The resistance drew thousands of local Standing Rock Sioux and other Indigenous tribes across the nation, the Americas, and northern Europe, as well as non-Indigenous supporters, who set up camps to try and block construction (Kidd, 2020). Another 1.5 million supporters followed the protests on social media. The controversy refected vastly diferent paradigms about Indigenous rights, land, and resources, with the Indigenous viewing water as sacred and vital to life, confronting the voracious demand for fossil fuel. The clashes showed the implications of the historical and ongoing imbalance of power and social justice issues for Indigenous peoples. From the beginning, Indigenous opponents said they weren’t protestors but “water protectors,” and were reclaiming their land that was stolen from them (Kidd, 2020, p. 239). Yet, even as this peaceful and non-violent resistance grew, security forces for the pipeline company and government law enforcement became more aggressive and violent, with hundreds in riot gear and armored vehicles using water cannons, tear gas, pepper spray, rubber bullets, and attack dogs, and resulting in mass injuries and arrests (KickingWoman, 2020). Women activists were particularly targeted with cruel misogynist and inhumane treatment. Many were seriously injured,

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including a 21-year-old woman who nearly lost her arm from an explosion of a concussion grenade (Blau, 2016). Media coverage refected these contrasting paradigms. For example, the protests were underway for nearly a year before many major mainstream outlets arrived, not deeming the situation as newsworthy. As Ahtone (2016), an award-winning Indigenous journalist, commented: It’s been entertaining to watch the press crowd come out to Indian Country. They didn’t want to, of course, but after a few months of United States security forces using tear gas, rubber bullets, mace, water cannons and concussion grenades on hundreds of [I]ndigenous protesters intent on stopping an oil pipeline, they had to. (para. 1) Award-winning Native journalist Jenni Monet was on site, reporting from the early days of the standof, intending to fll the void of mainstream media coverage: “It was the most under-reported story around the world,” said Monet (cited in Dodds, 2018, para. 9). Many mainstream media reports consisted of fash coverage, with episodic framing of the more heated incidents of the protests from the perspective of government ofcials and the pipeline/oil company in favor of the project. CNN quoted the Morton County Sherif’s Ofce’s claim that the water protectors were armed and had started fres, which required the use of water cannons—but videos later proved this to be false (Sainato & Skojec, 2016). The focus of many news stories was on the confict and spectacle of the camps, portraying protestors as unlawful and criminal and ignoring the motivations of the resisters as being deeply spiritual water guardians (Kidd, 2020). Coverage refected the ignorance and inaccurate knowledge of the colonial history and current struggles of Indigenous people with political and economic challenges in their communities and beyond. And the exclusion of Indigenous voices in many of these reports reinforced the invisibility and silencing of Native perspectives, which perpetuated racism and stereotypes. Also missing was the climate change aspect, an environmental-justice issue, which for Indigenous also is embedded in a history of settler colonialism with aggressive land dispossession, extraction of minerals, and destruction of Native American cultures and societies (Dillon, 2017). Even though construction of the pipeline across Sioux tribal lands without permission violates an 1851 Treaty, the resisters were portrayed as unlawful and illegitimate.

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Alternative media were present from the beginning, with blogs, citizen journalists on cellphones, and other alternative media organizations produced by Indigenous and non-Indigenous journalists and activists. In contrast to mainstream media, coverage often refected an Indigenous paradigm focusing on social justice issues regarding the land and environment, framing the Indigenous protestors as water protectors. Many reports were highly critical of the police, government, and company ofcials, unlike what we saw in mainstream media coverage. Gregg Leslie, of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press (RCFP), explained: Prosecutors and judges should recognize that the public is best served by allowing reporters to document the scene. If protesters are engaging in criminal acts, the public should know. Likewise, if government agents are overreacting or committing civil rights violations, the public needs to know that too. (cited in Ellerbeck, 2017, para. 8) Leslie noted that reporters often have to go onto private land to cover a story, but criminal trespassing charges should be based on criminal intent. Unlike arrests and prosecutions of journalists for covering other demonstrations, the Morton County prosecutor refused to drop the charges (Springer, 2018). Monet (2017) said that, despite showing police her press pass and following orders to walk away, she was arrested, handcufed, held in a chain-link cage (“dog kennel”), strip-searched, and jailed without charges for 25 hours. Charges for “engaging in a riot” and criminal trespass were eventually dropped. Amy Goodman, a senior producer with the leading alternative news organization Democracy Now!, was arrested after she and her crew recorded and broadcast video of private security guards using attack dogs and pepper spray to assault protestors, many of whom were elderly and children (Fuentes, 2016). Goodman was charged with trespassing, a charge that was later replaced with “misdemeanor rioting.” All charges were eventually dropped. In response, Goodman declared: This is a complete vindication of my right as a journalist to cover the attack on the protesters, and of the public’s right to know what is happening with the Dakota Access Pipeline,” Goodman said, according to Democracy Now! “We will continue to report on this epic struggle of

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Native Americans and their non-Native allies taking on the fossil fuel industry and increasingly militarized police in this time when climate change threatens the planet. (Fuentes, 2016, para. 2) Goodman’s arrest was widely covered in both alternative and mainstream media and denounced by a number of organizations. However, the arrests of Jenni Monet and other Indigenous journalists did not receive nearly the same amount of coverage or attention. White Patriarchy in Alternative Media

Although alternative news organizations seek to break away from the status quo and establish an alternative social order, Whiteness is “an ideological system that prizes white skin and confers privilege” and it is built into journalistic values and practices for media across the mainstream— alternative continuum (Alemán, 2014, p. 73). Even though alternative journalism values and practices are based on dissatisfaction with the limitations and biases of mainstream media and emphasize an alternative epistemology of news, these revised values and practices usually do not address issues of White patriarchy as an underlying force of media or society, so there is no guarantee that this takes place. Neither do alternative journalistic practices necessarily include the concept of critical refexivity, a process that addresses journalism as a social process with (often unequal) power dynamics between a journalist and her sources, one in which journalists recognize their own subjectivities and the infuence of their own identities, cultural positionalities, privilege, and agency, as well as that of their sources (Collier, 2015; Mason, 2014; Mudambi et al., 2023). This perpetuates unequal power dynamics of Whiteness and male privilege. Digital Media’s Role

Social media, particularly Facebook and X (Twitter), have been hailed for fostering freedom, equality, and democracy, and giving a voice to millions regardless of their positionality in the power structure. However, they are not neutral entities; they refect social and cultural norms (Demirhan & Çakır-Demirhan, 2015; Petray & Collin, 2017). That is, social media have also been criticized for perpetuating and even amplifying political divisions, fueling autocratic power, and genocidal and femicidal violence (Diepeveen, 2022). For example, research shows that social media, particularly Facebook, may have toxic efects on mental

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health, particularly for teenage girls. Racism and White supremacy are multiplying on social media, and they use racist speech, proliferate toxic subcultures, and coordinate harassment, and all of this is fueled by anonymity (Petray & Collin, 2017). The platforms provide fertile ground for the endemic misogynistic and homophobic content, including hate speech and trolling against women, BIPOCs, and LGBTQ+ communities. Disinformation and misinformation, likewise, feed conspiracy theories based on hateful ideologies. While it is true that social media ofer opportunities for the combat of sexism and misogyny through discourse and publicizing protests and campaigns that are not covered in mainstream media, such as the BLM protests, there are problems (Bonilla & Rosa, 2015). The economic and technological structure (including algorithms) of social media platforms are not value-neutral, but are biased along gender and racial lines, which emphasize content that supports White patriarchal norms (Diepeveen, 2022). The result is censorship and silencing of voices that are marginalized by, or critical of, the White patriarchal power structure. White patriarchy needs to be carefully kept in mind by the managers and users of alternative media. In order to stay true to the mission of alternative media—ofering up a wider cast of voices and viewpoints—alternative media need to remain refexive and refective on their own participation in mainstream, hegemonic narratives and practices. Ethnic Media and Journalism

There is a long and vibrant tradition of ethnic journalism in the United States. Although I am reluctant to use the term “ethnic” (which lumps together a vast array of groups and cultures), the term does serve to demarcate this type of journalism as the “Other,” which is important to understand in terms of mainstream representations of marginalized populations. Ethnic journalism is the practice of journalism by, for, and about ethnic groups, which may include immigrants, racial, ethnic, linguistic, and Indigenous groups (Lazarte-Morales, 2015). Not all ethnic media are produced by these groups. In fact, more mainstream corporate media recognize the growing ethnic markets in their areas and have sought to create commercially proftable ethnic media publications. Some ethnic media include more alternative types of publications, based on nonproft causes or ideals, and provide more participatory structures with production by those in ethnic communities. Ethnic media organizations prioritize voices and perspectives of the ethnic communities they serve, and produce content that informs,

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educates, and counterbalances the discrimination and oppression perpetrated by White mainstream media. Given that ethnicity is a social, political, and historical construction, power and diference play a key role in even the definition (Ethnic journalism, 2020). “Ethnicity” is defined here as a group having a shared history, race, religion, cultural ancestry, language, traditions, or geographic region (Ethnicity, n.d.). By this definition, all media are ethnic media, but within a dominant White patriarchal culture ethnicity is marked as the “Other,” silencing or misrepresenting marginalized groups. Brief History of Ethnic Media

The histories of ethnic media in the United States vary with diferent groups and contexts (Matsaganis et al., 2011). The Black press has a long and rich history that began in the early 19th century, providing information and support for Black communities from a Black perspective, as part of the abolitionist movement both during and after the end of slavery, and for mobilization of Blacks during Reconstruction (Baker et al., 2019). As Blacks migrated to urban areas around the country, African American newspapers were started in many major cities, and played a major role in culture, politics, and business afairs, and a crucial role in social and political movements with struggles for racial justice (Gallon, 2021; Simmons, 1998). As with other ethnic media, studies of the Black press showed that these media organizations have provided alternative interpretations and framing of Black issues and events. For example, a study of media c overage of the Emmett Till murder in 1955 showed that an African American newspaper gave far greater coverage, used sources including Emmett Till’s family and community, and connected the crime to larger issues of civil rights and racial injustice, calling for social and political reform (Spratt et al., 2007). In contrast, three (White-owned) mainstream newspapers framed the case by blaming the victim for his own death, with few calls for justice or reform. Spanish-language ethnic media have been produced since the early 19th century, with an original focus on Spanish-speaking immigrants to provide information and support in the face of widespread cultural, political, and linguistic policies and attitudes, and also news from their home countries (Retis, 2019). More recently, Spanish-language media serve the growing Latinx communities in the United States, for both those who speak primarily Spanish and others who are bilingual with English but speak Spanish at home. Given the broad diversity of Latinx ethnicities, the feld of Hispanic media is very diverse and broad, with a strong and vibrant history with

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newspapers and radio in particular. In addition to providing information on events and issues relevant to Latinx communities, some have served as platforms for advocacy and activism to expose discrimination and oppression (Retis, 2019). The explosion of Spanish-language media in recent years is primarily through corporate media, as investors recognize the rapidly growing Latinx markets, crowding out community-based and independent producers. The goal is “not to serve [Latinx communities] . . . but to divert Spanishlanguage advertising dollars to help their bottom-line” (Hilbert Morales, publisher El Observador, a bilingual weekly published in San Jose, California, cited in Ballvé, 2004, p. 21). “The diversity of opinion and that kind of perception through a diferent cultural value system, that diferent kind of ethos, . . . will ‘disappear’ with corporate involvement in ethnic media,” says Morales. “Corporations talk about community coverage as they rush to roll out Latino publications and broadcast outlets, but only as an afterthought” (Ballvé, 2004, p. 21). The Native American press can be traced back to the early 19th century, published by tribal leaders to promote literacy and to inform and educate people on the increasing encroachment of laws to support theft of tribal lands and treaty rights using violence against Natives (Matsaganis et al., 2011). Since that time, and today, many Indigenous media producers seek to counterbalance the absent, inaccurate, or negative framing and stereotypes of mainstream coverage, to enable Indigenous peoples to become part of the public sphere in debates about Native policy on education, health, treaty and sovereignty rights, and land and natural resource issues, among others (Burrows, 2018). As such, Indigenous media may serve as a resistance tool, as discussed earlier in this chapter in the case example of the #NoDAPL (Dakota Access Pipeline). An Aboriginal journalist from Australia, Amy McGuire, said that primary goal of her work is “unravelling the lies” (Burrows, 2018, p. 1123). Native media outlets have fourished on the internet, with numerous projects on radio, television, flm, online press, and social media. Many occupy an important space in local contexts, focused on community needs and cultures, which shapes their choices of topics and sources, including local people with relevant experiences and knowledge. But Indigenous media are also emerging into national and international networks, media discourses, and policies. Some Native news media seek to include perspectives of government ofcials and politicians as a way to formulate debate, but also to raise awareness of Indigenous views and perspectives with these leaders (Burrows, 2004). To counteract the confict-driven news of Indigenous afairs in mainstream media, some Indigenous media focus on

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solutions to problems and issues, but also positive portrayals of Indigenous communities and individuals’ achievements to boost cultural pride, particularly for young people. The scandalous lack of coverage of thousands of missing and murdered Indigenous women in the United States is a prime example of racial bias and sexism in mainstream media (Slakof & Fradella, 2019; #NNAHM Society, 2020). A study by the Urban Indian Institute showed that 95 percent of the cases studied in the U.S. were not covered in national or international media (Missing and murdered Indigenous women & girls, 2018, p. 18). Ethnic media have been criticized by mainstream media as biased, lacking in objectivity, unprofessional, and preaching to the converted (Burrows, 2018), but—as explored earlier in this book—professional standards and practices are based on White patriarchy, which shapes mainstream media as “White news.” Ethnic media producers argue that their journalistic work confronts and counterbalances the hegemonic power and distorted representations of mainstream media, which impedes participation of their communities in the dominant public sphere and contributes to oppression and discrimination against BIPOC and other ethnic communities and individuals (Burrows, 2004). Ethnic media producers, many of whom are professional journalists who are ideally from or advocate for their communities, must negotiate professional conventions and expectations and community responsibilities (Burrows, 2004). Ethnic media serve important roles both within and beyond communities. Audiences use these media to engage with their ethnic group and reinforce cultural and social identities and to fnd resources and services (Lazarte-Morales, 2015; Matsaganis et al., 2011). Ethnic media can also empower audiences and serve as a mobilizing force by identifying relevant social and political issues and covering them from the perspective of community members, serving as a platform for dialogue. For example, research has shown that Spanish-language media tend to produce a greater amount of, and more positive, coverage of immigration, including perspectives of immigrants themselves (Branton & Dunaway, 2008). Research shows, however, that exposure to Spanish-language political news can increase perceptions of ethnic divisions and racial resentment among Whites, particularly White Republicans (Darr et al., 2020). A 2021 study by the Black Media Initiative of the CUNY Newmark Journalism School’s Center for Community Media showed that Black media provide six times more coverage of Black issues than mainstream media, including voting access, racism, and health disparities (Chakradhar, 2021, para. 1). Mainstream media tend to cover many of these issues as

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episodic stories without connecting them to wider issues of injustice or historic or systemic racism (Chakradhar, 2021). Even after the death of George Floyd, some mainstream media did not connect these issues to voting and justice in the way that Black media did. Many of the 180,000 stories in nearly 100 African American media sources analyzed by researchers connected current issues to historical contexts of longtime racism and violence (Chakradhar, 2021, para. 2) The Latinx and particularly Spanish-language media are increasing rapidly, parallel to the growing population of those communities. While much of this media is for Latinx communities, a shrinking number are owned independently and controlled by Latinx in communities (Awad, 2008). A vast majority are produced by media corporations, targeting Latinx as a growing market, which critics say is not serving the community but “divert[ing] Spanish-language advertising dollars to help the [corporate] bottom-line” (Morales, cited in Ballvé, 2004, p. 21). “The diversity of opinion and that kind of perception through a different cultural value system, that diferent kind of ethos” is disappearing (Morales, cited in Ballvé, 2004, p. 21). While these trends help increase the overall diversity of the media industry, some question whether these separate media productions actually hinder addressing the lack of inclusion and underrepresentation of Latinx overall in media with greater attention to Latinx issues and events as part of the overall society (Awad, 2008). And, if few of these media are independently owned by Latinx, do they really bring diverse perspectives from Latinx? The ability and relevance of ethnic media to reach out and connect to specifc ethnic communities is often lost with ownership and control by White-dominant news corporations that impose their defnitions of newsworthiness and professional standards (Awad, 2008). As an example, when the Mercury News (formerly San Jose Mercury News) acquired two formerly independent ethnic weeklies for the Spanish- and Vietnameselanguage communities, it announced that these papers would be required to follow the professional “values and standards” of the mother paper, forcing the weeklies to change their “more adversarial or political form of journalism” (Awad, 2008, p. 87). Conclusion

Alternative news is thriving in a vast variety of formats, particularly online. Despite the assumption of alternative and mainstream media as binary opposites, boundaries have become blurred, with construction of hybrid forms that adopt practices historically associated with the other. My focus

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in this chapter was the way that some alternative news organizations have recoded journalistic values and practices including the defnition of “newsworthiness” related to topics and sources, rejecting or reformulating objectivity as an ideal, and shifting the one-way power dynamics of traditional journalism to be more collaborative between journalists and sources. Despite historical and current eforts of many alternative media organizations to reformulate journalistic values and practices, White patriarchy often continues to shape news production. “Ethnic” media are also thriving, with greater recognition that much of mainstream news is told through a White lens as a result of imbalanced news staf and biases in reporting and news production. Note 1 I want to acknowledge that, although the term “ethnic media” is common in research and applied descriptions, it is problematic because it lumps together immigrants, racial, ethnic, linguistic, and Indigenous groups and cultures, and serves to demarcate this type of journalism as the “Other.” But I employ it here as a useful tool for analysis and to contrast with “mainstream media.”

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8 THE FEMINIST REFLEXIVE MODEL OF JOURNALISM

Introduction

This chapter describes a proposed feminist refexive model of journalism. A major objective of my model is its potential contribution to easing the chronic problems of racism, sexism, and misogyny, and other -isms that are the outcomes of White patriarchal ideology that founded mainstream journalism. My proposal calls for greater self-awareness and refexivity to improve collaboration between journalists and their sources to produce higher-quality journalism. The model incorporates the strengths of alternative media and feminist news practices, based on issues of media power. Foundational to the model are critical refexivity and feminist standpoint theory (FST). “Critical refexivity” is a term used to describe the refexive process of applying a critical lens to one’s own journalistic practices and is a widely accepted process in qualitative research, particularly by feminist scholars. My concept of critical refexivity is based on FST. Standpoint epistemology originates from feminist theory and the feld of sociology, contending that women’s experiences cannot be understood using the antiquated “truth claims” of positivist research methods and can instead only be understood through a consideration of the position of women in a patriarchal society (Haraway, 1988). Of course, this applies to BIPOC as well as women: different structural and social positionalities can shape power hierarchies and also experiences (Harding & Hintikka, [1983] 2004). Rather than expound on the critical refexivity and FST individually, I have woven their descriptions with that of my model, in each component DOI: 10.4324/9781315159171-8

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of that model. I begin here with a story about an interview I did for FIRE radio (Radio Internacional Feminista or Feminist International Radio Endeavour) to illustrate critical refexivity and FST in action within the feminist refexive model. After that, I explain each component of my model. Interview with “Lorena”1

In a small village in the Western Highlands of Guatemala, I interviewed “Lorena,” a Guatemalan Mayan woman who probably was in her mid- to late 20s but looked 20 years older. Her four children had runny noses and eyes (from chronic infection), matted hair, and dirty faces and arms. One little girl was wearing a “huipil” (traditional Mayan skirt) made of a worn and dirty Pepsi beach towel. They lived in a shack with tarps as the walls, and Lorena cooked tortillas on a grill laid over an open fre. I knew that as a White woman journalist from the United States I might be looked on with suspicion, so I had brought a friend who had lived in this village as a human-rights accompanier the year before. My friend would introduce me to Lorena and help me build a rapport with her. Lorena was one of the few people in the village who spoke Spanish; most spoke Ixil or K’iche’. After we chatted a few minutes, she started to tell her story in a very hesitant way, but soon relaxed and related a tale of her husband and parents being massacred in their village in the mountainous Ixil region in the early 1980s to mid-1990s, including beatings, torture, and rape of women and children. Lorena fed with a group of survivors who were forcibly displaced from their homes under the military dictatorship during the 36-year civil war in Guatemala. She was part of the Communities of Population Resistance of the Sierra (CPRSierra), one of thousands who lived in hiding from the death squads during the civil war (1966–1996) (Ecumenical Program on Central America and the Caribbean [EPICA] & Center for Human Rights Legal Action [CHRLA], 1993). Speaking in Spanish, I told Lorena that this was her chance to tell her story to the wider world.  I said I could ask questions, or she could tell me her story. I also told her that if during the interview she wanted me to stop the recorder, I would, and would only resume when she wished. Afterwards, I explained, if there was something she did not want included in the story, I would take it out. I asked her one question—to tell me how she came to live in this place, and she began talking tentatively at frst . . . and then nonstop. The result was a very painful and intimate story of Lorena witnessing the massacre of her family and feeing into the mountains without being able to bury them, per traditional Mayan custom.

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But it was also clear that Lorena was a survivor, that she and her comrades had fought to survive for several years in the mountains feeing the military, and here she was to tell her story. FIRE extensively covered the voices of Guatemalan Mayan women survivors of the war, and in numerous journeys to Guatemala we also interviewed other activists fghting for peace and justice in the face of massive human-rights violations. Our journalistic focus contrasted sharply with that of U.S. mainstream news coverage of the armed confict in Guatemala, which used primarily U.S. and Guatemalan military and other government sources in stories framed to justify the massive U.S. military funding of the war against the people and the training of a brutal dictatorship. Feminist Refexive Model: The Key Components

Traditionally, objectivity in journalism meant reporting “one synthetic truth,” an ahistorical and value-free reality from the viewpoint of ofcial sources, but key to this book and my model is the need to include knowledge from rather than knowledge about groups that are directly afected, to achieve maximal objectivity based on social locations and identities (Durham, 1998; Longhurst, 1989). Standpoint epistemology and critical refexivity require that researchers/ journalists are aware and transparent about their own positionality from which they construct and hold knowledge and that they recognize that constructing knowledge and power is essentially a social, historical, cultural, and political process (Harding, 2009). Interestingly, journalists are more objective when they are aware and acknowledge their own and their sources’ cultural identities and social locations in a more refexive way of reporting. Durham (1998) calls on journalists to: Rethink themselves and their craft from the position of marginalized Others, thus uncovering unconscious ethnocentric, sexist, racist, and heterosexist biases that distort news production as it is governed by the dominant news paradigm. Again, these problems would be acknowledged in news reporting rather than erased. (p. 132) By acknowledging and analyzing their motives and attributions, sources and journalists manage their identities and the perceived identity of the “Other.” This creates greater transparency and accountability, resulting in more comprehensive and authentic stories from more points of view (Mason, 2014).

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My interview with Lorena illustrates a number of the key components of my feminist refexive model, starting with the sharing of power. Sharing the Power of the Microphone

The traditional power dynamics of news production dictate a one-way process in which journalists apply values and practices that give them the power to set news agendas and focus on gathering facts and data, mostly from ofcial sources. That is, I, journalist, ask you, interviewee, a pre-established set of questions that serve my preconceived idea of what the story is about. There are several problems with this, all leading to the exclusion of a tapestry of voices that could lead the journalist to a far richer, more nuanced, even more accurate, story. To do so, however, requires shifts in the way journalism is traditionally performed, disembedding it from its foundations in White patriarchy. This approach recognizes news as a social construction—that the journalist is a mediator who cannot remain detached and neutral. Based on feminist standpoint epistemology, this involves deliberative focusing on the structures, reach, and impact of White patriarchy to root out racist, sexist, ageist consciousness (Drew, 2011). By giving Lorena choices about how we conducted the interview and what information she wanted to be included afterwards, I was sharing the power of the microphone as an application of this epistemic privilege. Lorena controlled the interview; I listened to and learned from her as the source, placing her voice at the center of the interaction. Doing so enabled her to frame her story and tell it in her own way and with her own voice. According to María Suárez Toro, co-founder and co-director of FIRE, this includes: Dropping the assumption that the journalist knows all, which is the corporate communication belief that the journalists have the knowledge, and know what the public wants, whereas from a feminist perspective, it’s the other way around. For us with FIRE, the approach of the journalist was to make no assumptions and ask for direction from the women who were interviewed and give them the space to have a voice. (Personal communication, February 23, 2023) This refexive interviewing style enables an autonomous dialogue that fows between the interviewer and the interviewee, going beyond the usual volley of questions pitched to a source who is forced to answer only the questions posed, often without chance of elaboration or reframing. Placing

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interviewees at the center of the interview requires humility on the part of journalists, because it removes them as the traditional authoritative center of the interaction. This more collaborative style challenges the post-colonial and ethnocentric power imbalances between North and South that are refected in many global media as well as in hierarchical power structures the United States. It also provides agency to the source, realigning the balance of power. Agency

People and groups with higher status positioning have more agency, defned here as the capacity and freedom to make choices, to take action on those choices, and to make a diference (Barker, 2004). Cultural positioning shapes individual and social group agency. That is, those who are “othered,” such as women and many BIPOC, have less individual and social-group agency, being viewed as “objects” subservient to the subjectivity of White males (Renegar & Sowards, 2009). Agency may be longterm or context-based. In my work with FIRE radio, we were very aware of the need to amplify the voices and agency of women, particularly those from marginalized groups, many in developing countries.  We explored the problems experienced by women within their localities and beyond and regarded these women as experts with “strategies of survival” that involve their families and/or communities (and which are rarely included in news reports), sharing their experiences, strategies, and solutions. Although Lorena was shy and reluctant to talk to me in the beginning, she soon relaxed and told her story. Afterwards, I gave her earphones so she could listen to her own story in her own voice (the recorder I used had no external speaker). This served to empower her, to enact agency, as evidenced by her encouragement that other women in the village talk to me. Something rarely addressed in journalism research, education, and practice is the impact of interviews and stories on sources, particularly those from marginalized groups. Collier (2014) noted that power diferences in social interactions (such as interviews) shape and enable negotiation of cultural identities and status hierarchies. Power diferences mean that some individuals have greater agency in the interaction and are “able to distribute resources, set agendas, categorize others, and impose standards by which others are evaluated” (Collier, 2014, p. 300). While traditional journalism places the reporter at the center of the story in a structured one-way process of gathering “facts” (the reporter selects and frames the information as they see ft), a more refexive

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approach shifts the power dynamic to center both the reporter and the source. This is a recognition that the interview process, by nature, produces multiple realities. As a feminist journalist with FIRE radio, I witnessed how our dialectic approach to storytelling afected the sources we interviewed. Being able to hear their own voices—and understanding that others would want to listen—empowered sources, enhancing their sense of agency. Sharing the power of the microphone acknowledges and respects the agency of the interviewee as well as that of the interviewer; supports the source’s capacity and agency for individualized choice and action; and limits or enables an individual’s freedom and power to take action (; Collier, 2006; Collier et al., 2016). Voice People are “voiceless” not because they have nothing to say, but because nobody cares to listen to them. (Servaes & Malikhao, 2005, p. 91)

Voice is the capacity and the claim to speak of such things in one’s own name, a distinct and key part of human agency. However, voice is also something more. According to Spivak (1990), “‘Who should speak?’ is less crucial of a question than ‘who will listen?’” (p. 59). If there are listeners, people’s voices will be recognized and registered as having something to say (Couldry, 2009). This is harder to achieve than one might think, thanks to everyday language hierarchies, which refect power dynamics of oppression such that voices of BIPOC and women and other marginalized groups are ignored or silenced, including in media (Bickford, 1996; Dreher, 2009). In fact, research shows that White male (often mid-Atlantic) speech patterns are often perceived as more masculine, more authoritative, and more credible, which is not surprising considering they have dominated voiceovers and advertising. In contrast, feminine and some BIPOC speaking styles are often viewed as less certain and trustworthy. Accented or non-standard English voices are often left out of media coverage, all of which serves to silence or mute a wide variety of beliefs, politics, and identities (Dreher, 2009). To feminist scholars, silencing is a tool of oppression (Rowe & Malhotra, 2013). In the hands of mainstream media, silencing is a discursive strategy that delegitimizes and marginalizes BIPOC and women and enforces stigmatization, alienization, homogenization, scapegoating, and stereotyping (Nartey, 2022). Feminist poet and essayist Adrienne Rich says, “silencing is used to isolate people disempowered by their gender,

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race, and class, even in the speaking contexts of their daily lives” (cited in Houston & Kramarae, 1991, p. 388). As Solnit (2017) so elegantly states, Being unable to tell your story is a living death and sometimes a literal one. If no one listens to you when . . . you say you are in pain, if no one hears you when you say help, if you don’t dare say help, if you have been trained to not bother people by saying help. (p. 19) For this reason, FIRE radio committed to “amplifying women’s voices,” rather than “giving women a voice,” recognizing that women already have a voice in that they have the capacity to speak but are often not heard beyond their immediate contexts. Alternative media outlets seek to enable “non-elite” sources—those who are less powerful and more politically marginalized—to access media, resisting dominant ideologies and versions of reality (Atton & Wickenden, 2005). We know that a central objective of community media is to enable ordinary people to report their own experiences and struggles, to become primary defners of social reality, and to present their own ideas for solutions (Rodriguez, 2001). Still, BIPOC who speak up about prejudice or discrimination or introduce racial issues may be met with hostility, threats, or shaming, and fnd themselves accused of racism or “playing the race card,” says Kinouani (2020). This, then, becomes another channel of silencing, forcing those individuals who speak up to shift their behavior to ft into White values and behaviors as a mechanism of survival. For journalists, the reliance on the same elite news sources promotes more erasure of voice from many other potential sources. Journalists are pushed to record the “8-second sound bite,” and, in doing so, miss listening to a wider variety of sources in the community, which likewise shortchanges the audience (Stearns, 2014). Deliberate eforts to shift this imbalance include those from the Women’s Media Center (WMC), which operates a website called SheSource, ofering a diversity of women experts on a wide variety of issues who are available for interviews (WMC SheSource, n.d.). These feminist practices emphasizing voice and agency and using media as a means of empowerment are designed to break through barriers of racism and sexism that perpetuate White patriarchal ideology in news, which dehumanizes and marginalizes any person considered outside the mainstream of White, heterosexual populations. Thus, the interview itself can have a transforming efect on the person being interviewed.

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Using critical refexivity methods can cultivate a “social awakening” for both interviewer and interviewee through the interaction (Mitchell & Radford, 1996). In my work, I have found that, when employing a collaborative approach to interviews—i.e., not using a prescribed set of questions and, instead, listening carefully to the interviewee and adapting my questions to the situation—my sources would talk about things about which I had no idea beforehand, and this generated a richer interview tapestry. Collier (2006, 2015; Collier & Lawless, 2016) calls this “dialogic refexivity,” engaging in dialogue rather than the traditional aggressive approach of fring questions at someone to get them to say something which they might not otherwise reveal. Seeking Self-Awareness Through Understanding Cultural Identities and Positionalities

Sharing the power of the microphone frst requires deep and extensive selfrefection on the part of the journalist to explore their preconceptions, biases, and prejudices. To do so requires an acute understanding of one’s “identities.” Individuals have multiple intersectional cultural identities, including those based on gender, racial, ethnic, sexuality, class, nationality, and political ideologies, which shift in salience in diferent contexts (Collier, 2006). These identities are also shaped by cultural positioning within power and status hierarchies, and they infuence our everyday behavior at work and in social life (Collier, 2014). Coupled with professional identities and norms, cultural identities form a “paradigmatic belief system” that shapes actions and behavior (Robinson, 2023, pp. 80–81). People communicate and negotiate their multiple identities or multivocalities depending on diferent social contexts (and this includes the interactions of journalists and sources) (Broome & Collier, 2012). For example, an immigrant woman without legal status talking to her family or friends will mostly likely enact diferent cultural identities than she will during an interview with a journalist (depending upon her experiences with media and her perception of the journalist and their media organization as supportive or hostile). Traditional journalism ideology requires journalists to stife their cultural identities under an umbrella of “professional identity,” to ensure their observations are detached, neutral, and objective. To illustrate the problem with this, when I (a White, female, middle-class, educated journalist) plan to write a story about racial discrimination by police against BIPOC, is it

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possible for me to be neutral? Is it possible for me to thoroughly understand the situation when it’s not part of my experience? According to Robinson (2023), “I can get closer to the truth if I call out my identities that will infuence how I approach the story and constantly interrogate them as I report” (p. 81). Awareness of one’s cultural positioning points to multiple locations of speaking and acting that refect as “us” vs. “them” (Collier, 2014). Those with higher status and power have little incentive to know about the Other. Ignoring this has serious consequences, including maintenance of the status quo and social inequities. As Collier (2006) says, “what are the consequences of ignoring cultural positioning? Silencing. Violence. Oppression. Racism. Privilege remaining invisible. Continuing domination. Injustice. Assimilation” (p. 264). Self-awareness work is an ongoing process in the sense that Collier (2015) notes: I am an individual socialized with [W]hiteness and many other forms of privilege, and I live within racist, classist, sexist, heteronormative, able-bodied, neoliberal systems and circulating discourses, which also valorize getting individual credit for unique contributions. (p. 220) The key here is that, by asking themselves what preconceptions they are bringing to an event or issue, journalists can become more aware of how these factors may create bias in their reporting, whether by infuencing the selection of topics and sources, interview approaches, questions, and by the framing and content of stories. Avowed and Ascribed Identities

Individuals construct or communicate their identities through diferent processes and perspectives, as ascribed or avowed identities, as described in Chapter 5. Journalism practices are often based on these ascriptive descriptions of groups (applied to individuals). Assumptions about the ascribed identity of a person or group are often the basis of source selection and journalists’ interview questions, which may be constructed with faulty or biased perceptions, emphasizing diferences from the norm, and may be very diferent from the avowed identity of that person or group. The hijab, for example, has become a political symbol of Islamophobia, accompanied by assumptions that it represents support for violence and terrorism of Islamic extremists (Rahman, 2021). However, Muslim

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women’s voices are rarely heard in mainstream media, with little opportunity to explain that, for many, the hijab is a form of empowerment and an assertion of religious identity. These media stereotypes and silencing have a serious impact on many, including Rahman (2021): Embracing who I was, I changed the way I acted and spoke. I made a point to talk more to people and introduce myself, to ft in with those around me. I was constantly asked, or felt compelled to explain, about Islam. As a Muslim woman I had to be a good role model for myself, as well as to strangers who could misjudge me or my religion based on what they saw or read in the news. (para. 8) By being aware of the interaction of ascribed and avowed identities from diferent cultural positioning, and the implications when they difer, journalists can help preserve the integrity and diversity of the narratives from their sources, amplifying the voices of those who are marginalized. FST is wise about this uneven distribution and operation of power and the ways that these dynamics are concealed (Steiner, 2021). With Lorena, it was important I remain aware of the cultural identity I ascribed to her, recognizing that my assumption may be very diferent from her own avowed identity. Likewise, it was just as important that I remain aware of her possible perspectives of my avowed and ascribed identities. Lorena and I engaged in a collaborative interviewing style that helped to ease tensions of conficting identities, enabling each of us to remain fuid with our perceptions. This also provided an opportunity for me to learn about the issues from Lorena’s perspective, and to frame them in a diferent way. People’s accounts of their lives are never completely transparent; that is, they are selective on what they talk about and how they represent things and, as such, the accounts are generally incomplete (Daly, 2007). The eventual news stories are a co-construction shaped by power dynamics and the identities of the journalist and sources, which is why, according to Katerina Anfossi of FIRE radio (personal communication, April 17, 2023), it is key for journalists to be aware of cultural identities and their own positioning, with the understanding that their interactions with sources can add a richness to interviews and greater depth of interpretation. By being aware of our ascribed and avowed identities, methods of silencing, and the importance of agency, FIRE radio created a dialectic approach that enabled journalists to avoid the use of simplistic categories and generalizations about a group or community and, instead, to recognize the

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multiple, contextual, and intersectional social locations of sources (Collier, 2014). FIRE, for example, broadcast in both Spanish and English, and its staf, all native Spanish speakers, were from Latin America and the Caribbean (and me, an English-speaking volunteer from the United States). Interviews with women, held in Spanish from a Latin American perspective, served to center them as protagonists who held opinions and knowledge likely diferent from women in North America. In this way, FIRE’s work provided greater understanding of issues from geographic, as well as gendered, perspectives. Critical refexivity makes visible the traditionally invisible “I” in journalism by recognizing that everyone, including journalists, is socially situated or positioned in interactions with sources, engaged in an interplay between one’s own motives and attributions and those of the source in the construction of news. Applying critical refexivity to journalism practice means “seek[ing] to expose and understand the forces—such as the conventions, routines and structures in a practice, and practitioner and/or researcher understandings and ways of working—that limit decision-making and curtail the development of practices that provide more human autonomy and agency” (Mason, 2014, p. 162; see also McCabe & Holmes, 2009). Objectivity is an unrealistic ideal, but, if journalists remain aware and open about their own identities, coverage can be more transparent and accurate. Listening

Recognizing agency and voice is one thing; enacting these is another. Traditional journalism practice has long been a one-way “extractive” communication process. Incorporating listening as practice cultivates a more transactional process, enabling journalists to be more responsive to audience needs and interests (How well are journalists really listening to their audience?, n.d.). While critical refexivity requires greater awareness of who is speaking or has a “voice,” listening to what is said is also an important component—but listening means more than just paying attention. Wolvin and Coakley (1988) state: Listening, however, is not automatic .  .  . we must know that (1) listening can be learned, (2) that listening is an active process, involving mind and body, with verbal and nonverbal processes working together, and (3) that listening allows us to be receptive to the needs, concerns, and information of others, as well as the environment around us. (p. 7)

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Listening involves giving people/sources the time and respect they need to tell their stories in their own way, providing them opportunities to “self-edit,” and fnding ways to maintain the “authenticity” of the stories once translated and presented in mainstream media formats (El-Gawley & O’Donnell, 2009). As Servaes and Malikhao (2005) say: Communication between people thrives not on the ability to talk fast, but the ability to listen well. People are “voiceless” not because they have nothing to say, but because nobody cares to listen to them. Authentic listening fosters trust much more than incessant talking. (p. 91) This is a more refexive approach that provides more authentic opportunities for witnessing, for learning about and understanding events and issues in greater depth and from angles and sources that are missing or distorted in mainstream stories. It means “listening across diference” within multiculturalism and understanding how media may enable or constrain the silencing or amplifying of voices (Dreher, 2009). O’Donnell (2009) proposes that listening should be the “anchoring practice” for change in journalism, as a means of re-examining media power, agency, and change, and of producing stories that are told from the perspective of those most afected. Listening can efectively address the declining trust in media, plagued by accusations of fake news, and build stronger ties with audiences, especially in situations where reporters seldom visit the communities they are reporting on, which has resulted in overreliance on non-diverse, elite sources. Not only that, but Robinson (2023) contends that emphasizing relationship engagement and other trust-building approaches can help mainstream journalism to create new revenue streams, and restore relevance and credibility in political, commercial, and cultural arenas. Calling it “listening literacy,” Robinson et al. (2021) say: Centered listening [is] a major component of news literacy—listening to ourselves, listening to information sources, listening to communities, listening to each other. These strategies are being billed as an essential element in saving our democratic souls by rebuilding trust in our public information-exchange system. (p. 1220) Referred to as “reciprocal journalism,” interactions with audiences become an information exchange that benefts all (Lewis et al., 2014). Establishing a two-way conversation can serve as a transformational process

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to cultivate more authentic and meaningful connections among media organizations and communities as a means of building trust (Stearns, 2014). Reporting becomes focused on conversation, and journalists function as communicators rather than conduits or objective transmitters of information (Anderson et al., 1994): “Gone are the days when sources can talk only to journalists, who regurgitate information in a sender-receiver model” (Robinson et al., 2021, p. 1232). In the journalism-as-a-conversation model, news-gathering is recognized as a social process of interpretation and negotiation of meaning resulting in deeper and more consequential stories on social issues fostered by inclusion and empathy (Anderson et al., 1994). A more refexive approach to reporting involves exploring and validating perspectives of people generally not sought out as “experts,” and yet who have their own knowledge and experiences that give them expertise. This would help journalists to make more authentic connections with people afecting and afected by current events. Conversation can become a key metaphor for journalism, enabled and supported by the dominance of social media, as a more responsive social force in shaping the public sphere. A growing number of mainstream media organizations recognize the importance of this (Batsell, 2015). Woods (2019) describes “conversations across diference,” related to interactions with people whose culture may be diferent from a reporter’s own, which can create fear and discomfort, such as White reporters covering BLM protests. Lack of acknowledgement of this discomfort can result in journalists covering the story in a color-blind or stereotyped manner or retreating to interview ofcial (often White) sources who are highly critical of the protests, rather than protest participants. The result is negative framing of the events, thus reinforcing the White lens of mainstream news. Storytelling as a Means of Engagement and Empowerment

Listening and giving voice to sources is part of telling a story. Kovach and Rosenstiel (n.d.) describe journalism as “storytelling with a purpose” (para. 2). Storytelling has long been recognized in journalism as a means of presenting information in a way that increases audience engagement through appeals to emotions, and storytelling also helps journalists understand more complex issues by providing context and meaning. Stories foster empathy with others, particularly with people and groups who have been dehumanized by stereotypes and negative ascribed identities.

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Under my feminist model, critical refectivity means recognition that the interview itself can have a transforming efect on the person being interviewed, by enabling interviewees to become their own storytellers as a means of empowerment (Rodriguez, 2001). Amplifying voices is a powerful way to enable people to confront negative and inaccurate ascribed identities of others and to renegotiate their own avowed identities. As I noted in the story of Lorena, telling and later listening to her own story in her own voice empowered her to encourage other women to speak with me. Increasingly, journalists are trained to function in roles beyond that of the watchdog and storyteller, becoming more refexive, examining their own biases, privileges, and marginalization as well those in the communities they cover. This involves journalists educating themselves about historical and systemic oppressions related to racism, sexism, classism, and homophobia to develop better analytical and critical skills on related issues. As an example, the initiative “Resolve Philly” encompasses a variety of projects designed to reorient misrepresentations of vulnerable communities and to bridge the information divides (Resolve Philadelphia, n.d.). Journalists are provided with opportunities to better engage and build trust with these communities through collaboration and forward-moving solutions, reexamining their choices of topics, sources, framing, and storytelling. Other eforts, frst initiated in the 1990s and 2000s through what was called public or civic journalism, organized citizen forums encompassing diferent points of view to foster dialogue with politicians, community leaders, and citizens on key community concerns and issues (Morell, 2018; Rosenberry & St. John, 2009). These have been particularly efective at the local level. Interestingly, although social media is structured and presented as a way to enable dialogue, how frequently this occurs is another matter—users often operate within echo chambers with people with similar beliefs rather than encountering opposing perspectives (Barberá et al., 2015). Research shows that these spaces may actually increase political polarization and extremism and reinforce circulation of disinformation. Witnessing

Witnessing is a key component of journalism practice, with reporters serving as professional and, presumably, neutral observers. As we have seen, however, these observations are by nature selective, providing a partial view of events shaped by personal subjectivities and experiences.

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Also, witnessing may be severely limited or distorted. Budget cuts in media organizations have resulted in: • Fewer staff with more for them to do. • Less funding for travel for in-person reporting. • Growing dominance of new technologies that results in more mediated, rather than in-person, observations. • Less investigative reporting and more ignoring and minimizing coverage of important stories. (Hill, 2022) In addition, because of ideological and advertising pressures, journalists are less willing to ask tough questions. Backlash and attacks on the press, such as we saw from former president Trump, who banned selected reporters from press conferences and rallies, likewise stife the witnessing role. To encourage the witnessing role, we need more reporters “who understand the real-life stakes of the issues they cover” (Cheung, 2021, para. 3). Of course, one would think this would obviously apply to having BIPOC and women reporters cover their communities, but, as we know, these reporters are, instead, often suspected of potential bias when covering issues related to their group or community (Cheung, 2021, para. 5). Being aware of ascribed and avowed identities on the part of editorial management might go some way to rectifying this. Witnessing Through Citizen Journalism

With the rise of digital media, including social media, everyday citizens are witnessing and recording newsworthy events using angles and sources missing from mainstream media (Allen, 2013). This enables marginalized individuals to create their own narratives of events, as “a break with the monopoly of journalistic storytelling” (Andén-Papadopoulos & Pantti, 2013, p. 961). Citizens on the ground record frst-person accounts of events with camcorder video footage and cellphone pictures along with text, which are posted on blogs, social networks, and personal websites. For example, citizen journalism played an important part in the 2010 earthquake in Haiti (Bojarski et al., 2020), the Syrian civil war (Idibi & Eid, 2017), and the Russian invasion of the Ukraine (Bond, 2023). This type of social media witnessing of protests and social movements presents diferent framing beyond the “protest paradigm” of mainstream media that often denigrates the protest by focusing on confict, ignoring the broader context and motives

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of the movement, and featuring primarily critical ofcial sources (Leopold & Bell, 2017). Consider, for example, the importance of social media to the protests in 2014 against the police killing of Michael Brown, which were key to organizing and expanding the BLM movement, despite negative coverage in mainstream media. Citizen journalists are often dismissed as unqualifed amateurs, but there is value to citizen witnessing, including to mainstream media’s political economy (regarding cutbacks in staf and resources). This “networked journalism” highlights the potentially collaborative nature of journalism called for in the refexive model: professionals and amateurs work together to get the real story, linking to each other across brands and old boundaries to share facts, questions, answers, ideas, and perspectives. It recognizes the complex relationships that make news, and it focuses on the process more than the product. FIRE—“You are our eyes and ears to the world”

The work of FIRE radio was designed to help make visible women’s lived experience. We interviewed hundreds of women and served as an important witness and accompanier of women, to help strengthen and make visible their experiences. Through our work investigating violence against women in armed conficts, we interviewed women not only as victims but also as active agents in their survival, as the backbone of families and communities, and as community leaders in peacebuilding eforts (Thompson et al., 2007). For example, in our coverage of women in the armed confict in Lebanon, Palestine, and Israel in 2006, we interviewed Samir Khoury, an activist from Lebanon, who said she had been very frustrated with the lack of, and nature of, coverage of women in mainstream media. She was delighted to talk with FIRE, saying, “You are our eyes and ears to the world” (Thompson et al., 2007, p. 442). FIRE’s work provided a space for women’s personal testimonies about their experiences, told in their own words, which are more authentic stories than those that are paraphrased or selectively quoted in media stories (Logan, 1997). These stories help counter stereotypes of marginalized women as passive, voiceless, and submissive, and demonstrate their resistance, activism, and solutions to problems, which are often ignored by male leaders and media. Personal testimonies were key to breaking the silence of thousands of Indigenous Mayan women who sufered systematic sexual violence during Guatemala’s civil war (Doyle, 2008). Most had kept silent as a means of survival, pushing away the trauma and memories of torture and massacres of family members accused of being part of the leftist guerilla (Canby, 2013).

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An Example of a More Refexive Approach Designed to Amplify Unheard Voices

The Ngäbe and Buglé (generally referred to as the Ngábe Buglé), Indigenous groups in Western Panama, have struggled to maintain autonomy and control of their lands. In 2016, I traveled to this area with a group of feminist activists and journalists who were asked to assess a situation there by M10 (Movement of April 10l), the resistance movement, and local villagers. They were protesting massive hydroelectric projects contracted without their permission by the government on a number of rivers in their “comarca” (Indigenous reserve). They were frustrated by the government’s refusal to hear them, as well as by the coverage in mainstream media that either ignored their struggle or provided minimal coverage (relying mostly on ofcial government and company sources, rather than those with lived experience). Our group traveled to a small Indigenous village on the Tabasará River, one of three communities designated to be destroyed by construction of the Barro Blanco dam (González-Quiel, 2016). For the Indigenous, the river was a critical agricultural and water resource as well as an important spiritual site. The government and the GENISA company had completed their own environmental assessments and concluded that the water would not rise above a certain level, and therefore did not threaten the nearby villages. But the villagers disagreed. Indigenous community experts and leaders testifed that these calculations ignored the fact that every ten years or so there had been a major rain accompanied by fooding that rose far above the riverbanks, beyond the imaginary line claimed by the assessors. Yet this knowledge, acquired through experience and observation, was ignored, and plans for the dam proceeded. This forced displacement of villagers in three communities meant that many people lost their land, owned for several generations, with no renumeration (In conversation with the NgäbeBuglé community in Panama, after fve years of Barro Blanco-dam, 2021). As a result of the dam, the river rises and falls throughout the year, washing out crops. It became polluted, endangering people’s livelihoods and health. To add to the injury, the energy generated by the hydroelectric project was planned to be sent to nearby countries, with no beneft to the Indigenous, many of whom lived without electricity. Resistance to the Barro Blanco dam was strong, including a march in 2012 by Ngábe Buglé women, who blockaded the Pan-American Highway for one week (Informe de visita a comarca Ngäbe-Buglé, Chiriquí, Panamá [Report of the visit to the Ngäbe-Buglé reserve], 2012). The government sent military troops, who beat, assaulted, and arrested the women. The national press provided minimal coverage of the protest. What they did report featured mainly ofcial government and military sources.

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We interviewed a 15-year-old girl who had been held captive for three days by military police in a local church and raped repeatedly. She was extremely traumatized and was taking shelter deep in the mountains with her family. There were no consequences for the soldiers. We traveled with local village women to interview her and eventually gained her trust to tell her story. As a White woman from the United States, I deferred the interview to a Latin American colleague, knowing the girl would be more comfortable talking to them. Stories such as those of the Indigenous villagers and also the traumatized girl are very important—as eforts of witnessing that validate people’s experiences and perspectives, informing the world of actual events, helping to break the dominant narrative in mainstream media favoring perspectives of corporate and government sources. According to Chicago Tribune reporter Lolly Bowean, “Stories shape how we think about each other . . . stories shape how we see the world . . . and so, often, I fnd myself thinking about who has been left out of the story and why” (Patterson, 2019, para. 5). This enables richer stories by encouraging more authentic witnessing by journalists, who can then make visible the experiences of marginalized persons by providing space for personal testimonies through listening and recording their stories in their own words. By going beyond the “victim” or “perpetrator” binary, these stories of lived experiences in the face of inequities and oppression help counteract ascribed identities with negative stereotypes.

Avoiding Stereotypes

By focusing on people’s strategies for survival rather than on the typical ascribed identities and framing that portrays them as victims or as “Others” who don’t ft the dominant norms, we help to generate agency, focusing not on problems but on interviewees’ suggestions for solutions to those problems. Human-rights photographers and reporters face many of these same issues, according to Gillian Laub, a documentarian and human-rights photographer (Palmer, 2018). In her work, Laub seeks to present the more “human side” of human rights and to avoid the normalized journalistic frame of “victimization.” Laub looks for more complicated stories, ones that speak of subtle resistance in the ways that people who have sufered terrible violence and brutalities can rise up and move forward. Of course, this strategy requires journalists to spend time with their sources, building trust and understanding of the situation beyond the immediate trauma. As a journalist, I have interviewed many undocumented

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immigrant women, including Jeanette Vizguerra of Mexico/Denver, Colorado, whom I have interviewed several times. Jeanette has struggled for 25 years to remain in the United States. Rather than focusing on her losses and fears of deportation, we discuss her strategies of resistance, such as becoming a community organizer and activist on behalf of other undocumented persons. Her primary motivation to remain in the United States is to be with her four children and three grandchildren, and this dream motivated and sustained her through a long and brutal trek through the Sonora Desert to reach the U.S.-Mexico border. Expanding the Choice of Sources

Both culturally refexive journalism and my model call for journalists to incorporate an expanded range of sources, particularly being inclusive of BIPOC, women, LGBTQ+, people with disabilities, people from low-income communities, and other underrepresented groups, recognizing their diversity of identities, perspectives, and experiences as individuals. For those who face multiple oppressions, such as Black women, the intersecting power dynamics of race, gender, and class give them a “unique angle of vision” on the social world, shaped by their everyday experiences and resistance to oppression (Collins, 2000, p. 184; 2019). Deliberate eforts to incorporate gendered and racialized perspectives into reporting practices puts marginalized persons at the center of the story as protagonists and “recognizes that the diferences attributed to men and women—with the exception of those that are biological—and racial/ethnic diferences are socially and historically constructed to position women (and BIPOC) in a subordinated place” (Suárez Toro, 2000, p. 12). This feminist approach to journalism amplifes the voices of marginalized people to let the world know that these populations have needs and ideas, and answers to problems, and are not themselves the problem. Topics and Framing

My feminist refexive model requires an expanded range of topics, especially including those centered on marginalized populations, but also including all issues incorporating underrepresented sources and perspectives. In the case of Lorena, I was able to listen to her tell the story of the Guatemalan Civil War and its aftermath from her perspective—a diferent way of framing from than that typical in mainstream media. Topics should go beyond what is popular and sellable to address an entire community’s needs and interests. Incorporating a greater diversity of topics related to

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underrepresented groups does not mean covering topics only about those groups, of course, but incorporating a greater variety of perspectives from these groups on all issues. Also important is revision of the typical framing of stories, particularly involving BIPOC and women. This includes avoiding the easy approach of “victimization” or “othering” people from marginalized groups, but taking time to talk to them and their families and communities, to understand what it means to be directly afected by whatever issue or event is being covered. As one example, many mainstream media stories about sexual violence use episodic frames that focus on a single incident rather than incorporating thematic frames of the broader context of power dynamics of domination that create the systemic and cultural conditions for this crime. “Sexual violence—of diferent forms, against diferent bodies, and across locations and time—maintains and creates power asymmetries” (Armstrong et al., 2018, p. 100). Coverage that contextualizes stories and incidents in power imbalances can reveal these complexities instead of reinforcing stereotypes and misperceptions. Claiming to be “not racist” is not enough; the opposite of racist is not “not racist,” but rather “anti-racist” (Kendi, 2019, p. 9). Anti-racism must be undertaken by journalists, individuals, groups, and media organizations and it requires applying deliberate eforts that include: • Encouraging people (including journalists) to speak out about bias and stereotypes and to listen to each other as a way of collaborating on antiracism initiatives. • Listening to the experiences of BIPOC women in people’s own communities, resisting the urge to leap in with claimed solutions—this is a White savior complex. • Focusing on marginalized communities that have experienced extreme racism and the silencing of their voices in the struggle for equality and justice. • Undertaking self-education to understand the historical and current roots of racism and the impact on BIPOC. • Acknowledging how and why White patriarchal ideology shaped the origins and current values, norms, and practices of journalism, including the impact on newsroom cultures and news production and content. • Examining the role and effects of White supremacy in one’s own culture and history and how Whiteness has provided power and privilege. A commonly heard denial is the claim “I didn’t know,” or the description of one’s own oppressions (North, 2020). It’s not the job of BIPOC to

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educate White people about race or anti-racism. As a White woman of privilege, I constantly need to remind myself that I am racist, that I see racism, sexism, and other oppressions far less clearly than people who are directly afected by ongoing marginalization (DiAngelo, 2018). Although I am a lesbian, part of a marginalized population, I still hold power and privilege via my race, class, and education. Conclusion

Critical refexivity is a key component in my feminist refexive model of journalism, recognizing interactions such as interviews as a collaborative process that involves sharing the power of the microphone. Critical refexivity involves using critical-thinking skills to refect on the ways in which our own biases, values, cultural identities, life experiences, and political beliefs may infuence our reporting (Mason, 2014). Understanding the dynamics of media power at the level of individual journalist, as well as between that journalist and the source, demands awareness and acknowledgement of the cultural identities and positioning of both journalists and their sources. It’s vital that journalists be aware of how their own power and privilege shape topic and source selection, interviews, and framing of stories. Critical refexivity—what Schön (1991) calls “refection-in-action” and “refection-on-action”—takes place during and after the news-making process. Refection-in-action involves an internal dialogue when the reporter makes fast news judgements, including source selection and story angles or framing, based on professional knowledge and experience, as well as tacit knowledge of news routines, implicit values and norms (Ranaker et al., 2015). Ideally, this “on-the-feet” thinking is more than just “doing”; rather, it is enabled by editorial experience and awareness of one’s own assumptions and role in the wider social context. Refection-on-action involves a journalist looking back and assessing their reporting and stories for new insights and strategies for action (Mason, 2014; Schön, 1991). The more contextual and situated journalistic practices based on critical refexivity enable more authentic and deeper work so that we can amplify voices of women and BIPOC (Steiner, 2017). Note 1 Lorena was part of the CPR-Sierra (Communities of Population Resistance), a group of mainly Ixil and Quiché Maya subsistence farmers from the Ixil area of northern Quiché, Guatemala, which was one of the areas hardest hit by the confict and violence (Ecumenical Program on Central America and the Caribbean

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[EPICA], & Center for Human Rights Legal Action [CHRLA], 1993). Many displaced families fed into the remote mountains and were forced to live clandestinely as refugees within their own country, where they formed the CPR-Sierra as a resistance movement. The families faced ongoing bombing and attacks by military, who hunted them down as part of “scorched earth” campaigns. Soldiers would invade a village or encampment and slaughter everyone in sight, raping women, and smashing the heads of infants and children. An estimated 440 Mayan villages were destroyed in this genocide during the war. After the peace accords were signed in 1994, many Mayans had lost their ancestral lands in the mountains and were forced to relocate to areas with completely diferent climates, which greatly afected subsistence farming practices and health. María was living in a relocated village in an area that was once a sugar plantation, which people slowly built, initially using tarps for walls of shelters. The brutal 36-year civil war in Guatemala (1960–1996) was generally not regarded as newsworthy in U.S. mainstream media. Millions of dollars were spent for U.S. military and diplomatic support for this and other murderous regimes, going back to orchestration of the 1954 invasion of Guatemala to depose the democratically elected president, Jacobo Árbenz. Following the coup d’etat, the United States supported installation of a military regime for decades afterwards. U.S. mainstream news coverage was minimal, typical of international coverage of many countries, covering only “hot spot” news in countries such as Guatemala, and instead focused on bad news, such as military conficts, poverty, and violence. Stories primarily focused on justifying the U.S. role in Guatemala, using mostly U.S. and Guatemalan military and other government sources (CounterSpin, 1999). The news rarely mentioned that the Guatemalan regime was conducting genocide against the Mayans, using torture and committing massacres, and reports erroneously blamed the violence on the rebels (Jonas, 1995). Nor did mainstream U.S. news reports mention the U.S. military training of the army as a “killing machine” and formation of paramilitary “death squads” (Jonas, 1995, p. 147). Likewise, U.S. news coverage of immigration rarely addresses the fact that many Central American migrants are feeing from poverty, inequality, and violence caused by the longtime instability following U.S.-sponsored wars and government overthrows (Borger, 2018). Borger commented that the families in the migrant caravans trudging towards the U.S. border are trying to escape a hell that the United States has helped to create” (2018, para. 5).

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9 PEDAGOGICAL IMPLICATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS

I had two primary goals for this book. One was to address the age-old question of why U.S. mainstream journalism continues to ignore, minimize, or distort coverage of BIPOC and women. As part of this, I asked how traditional journalism values and practices contribute to racism, Whiteness, sexism, and misogyny to reinforce prejudice and discrimination. What can be done to change that? My second goal emerged from my experience of designing and teaching a multicultural journalism course. I found few textbooks that address multicultural issues at a broad, systemic level. Most basic journalism textbooks include a chapter at the end that examines multicultural issues. Other books with a specifc multicultural focus include individual chapters focused on one social group at a time. Often missing in all these books are analyses of power and privilege issues among journalists and the way that the traditional rigid rules of top-down journalism refect and maintain dominant power hierarchies based on White patriarchal ideology. My feminist refexive model of journalism is designed to address these issues, and focusing on the power dynamics within news practice makes my feminist refexive model unique. Challenges to Incorporating Critical Refexivity in Mainstream Journalism

The mainstream news industry, particularly newspapers, is facing a major crisis, with enormous losses in ad revenues exacerbated by the COVID pandemic that have resulted in huge budget cuts, massive layofs, pay cuts, and closures (Harris, 2021). This has ricocheted and brought on reductions in DOI: 10.4324/9781315159171-9

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local reporting and less original reporting. Additionally, intense commercial competition among mainstream news organizations has encouraged them to view their audiences as consumers rather than citizens with the right to be informed. As more newsrooms become dominated by business and marketing concerns, editorial decision makers are less likely to approve stories that may ofend advertisers and, instead, publish stories that are more acceptable “infotainment,” designed to attract large audiences (and are less costly to produce) (Picard, 2004). As a result, coverage of racial or gender issues has retreated even further into color- and gender-blind practice. Critical self-refection has not been regarded as an important component of journalism culture, which is odd, because it is viewed as a key component of the profession (Shoemaker & Reese, 2014). Shoemaker and Reese (2014) call it the “anti-refective profession,” with defensive responses to both external and internal criticism (p. 107). Even if journalists wish to engage in self-refection, it is difcult to do in practice because of the changes in the industry cited above. Ramaker et al. (2015) call for fostering a critical, lived refective competence with “refection in action” that is developed through ongoing learning and practice as a part of the development of individuals’ professional judgement and autonomy, which also meets the call for greater transparency and accountability of the press. Self-refection enables adaptation to innovation in a profession replete with turmoil and change. It is also important that journalists are mindful of sustaining greater transparency, as advocated by Kahn (2017), who says, “Sharing the process of reporting with the audience works as a seal of authenticity, an indelible marker of credibility” (para. 13). I would add that sharing the power of the microphone through more inclusive and refexive reporting routines would help accomplish the same goals. In an article for the 2023 Predictions in Journalism report by the Nieman Lab, Parker Malloy (2022) said she fears that the mainstream media crisis also makes the industry more vulnerable and more compelled to bend to right-wing pressures out of fear of being labeled “too liberal.” As a result, mainstream media may cover right-wing outrage over “culture war” issues, even covering drastic legislation proposals that attack critical race theory and LGBTQ+ issues, among others. According to Malloy (2022), the “more hollowed-out and understafed mainstream media outlets will fnd themselves either embracing right-wing moral panics about LGBTQ people or simply not having the energy or resources to fght back against them” (para. 4). It became apparent to me during my research that multiculturalism is one of the most important challenges for journalism today. While shifting the balance of BIPOC and women staf in newsrooms is important, there

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also needs to be a revision of journalistic epistemology. My experiences as a feminist journalist with Feminist International Radio Endeavour (FIRE) (Radio Internacional Feminista) infuenced my own journalism practice, encouraging me to seek ways to reshape the power dynamics between myself and for sources to be more inclusive with more authentic representations of BIPOC and women. Based on my research and these journalistic experiences, my proposed feminist refexive model is designed to do just that. My purpose is not to advocate discarding traditional journalism values and practices altogether, but rather to examine ways to encourage journalists to become more refexive and cognizant of the epistemology and ideology that shape the power dynamics in their work. This includes awareness of the impact of their own backgrounds, cultural identities, and positionalities on the news production process, including topic and source selection, interviews, framing, and story content. I also understand the realities of mainstream news production, with 24/7 time pressures, deadlines, staf shortages, and the push for profts, for example. Yet, I encourage journalists to reassess their assumptions about professionalism, objectivity, and neutrality and whether they can truly separate themselves and their own cultural identities, biases, and experiences from their work. How do these aspects of identity shape their understanding and ability to cover issues with diverse communities, to reach out to sources beyond their standard pool of ofcial experts? Revision of Journalism Pedagogy

Is it possible we revise the “professionalism” model of pedagogy, which currently emphasizes training students in corporate media practices, alliances with the corporate media industry, and addressing problems of racial and gender bias in media representations at the surface level, as Zelizer says (2018)? I believe so, and that is a goal of this book to advocate the application of feminist pedagogical methods and standpoint theory to journalism education. My proposed feminist refexive model is built on this, and the model might be most impactful when applied to journalism curricula. I built the case for these recommendations throughout this book using historical, social, political, and cultural analyses of traditional journalism values and practice. Using a feminist journalistic epistemology can enable critique of how we teach traditional journalistic methods and reveal how these have been designed with the corporate media marketplace in mind (Walker et al., 2009). Despite plenty of criticism of traditional journalism values and practices, many of these are still touted in journalism textbooks and taught in courses,

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albeit with modern twists. As Brooks (2002) says, this outdated pedagogy “reinforce[s] dominant and traditional ways of teaching, learning, and studying mediated communication, most of which serve to reinforce media hegemony while silencing transformative multicultural discourses and practices” (p. 73). A lack of multicultural approaches and insights as part of journalism education means that too often students “lack the aptitude to write with anything other than a ‘White bias’and have little awareness or understanding of the importance of racial and gender diversity” (Alemán, 2014, p. 1) Rakow (1993) criticizes traditional journalism pedagogy for stressing values such as “competition, individualism, aggression, and hierarchy” and a passive form of citizenship (p. 365). We need critical media literacy and “critical citizenship” that teaches critical-thinking skills as applied to media, and an interest and engagement in public afairs, with concerns about inequality and social justice, and active participation for social change (Brooks, 2002; Castro, 2013; Schwoch et al., 1992). Adoption of Feminist Pedagogy and Epistemology

The following are specifc recommendations based on my feminist refexive model for revisions of traditional journalism pedagogy: 1. Situate Journalism in U.S. History Explore the histories and concepts of racism, Whiteness, patriarchy, White supremacy, sexism, and misogyny in the United States and identify how, when, and where these have manifested 9and continue to manifest) at the micro and macro levels, with what efects on whom. 2. Analyze Journalism’s Development as a Field a. Explore the ways in which the histories and concepts named above shaped the origins and development of journalism. b. Explore the impact of these histories and concepts on marginalized populations. Understand how they were used to justify oppression of and violence against racial and gender groups as the “Other.” c. Explore how these histories and concepts lodged ownership and management in the hands of White male elites and established news production through a White lens. d. Explore the efects of capitalism and neoliberalism on media organizations and on journalism practices. 3. Introduce and Situate Multicultural Journalism a. Explore the meaning of multicultural journalism.

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b. Explore the value of weaving multiculturalism and multicultural issues into all journalism curricula rather than compartmentalizing the topic in separate, special courses on multicultural journalism, which are generally only taken by students already interested in racial, gender, and other multicultural issues (Deuze, 2005). As a note, any time that I included “gender” or “race” in the title of the course, most students would be women or BIPOC. As Deuze (2005) states, “Multiculturalism is not a separate ‘part’ of the whole that is society; it is society” (p. 399). c. Teach students the critical importance and value of engaging with constituents and sources whose cultural identities and positionalities may be diferent from their own (Woods, 2020). d. Examine the implications of expanding the range of sources as a means of breaking the silencing of marginalized voices. e. Increase awareness of how to incorporate a wider diversity of sources in all stories rather than story topics focused solely on race, gender, or other multicultural factors. f. Explain the value of including a variety of expertise, perspectives, and experiences to the depth and authenticity of news. Show how doing so can better serve communities by ensuring that news is told by and from the perspective of members rather than about them. g. Help students to learn to identify stories that are meaningful to community members and to examine and understand the diferent impacts of events and issues on diferent communities (de Uriarte et al., 2003). i. Encourage students to go beyond the typical “diversity lite” stories that ft the “diversifcation activities” for editors in the coverage of Kawanza, Cinco de Mayo, and other ethnic holidays, going beyond the “add women (or BIPOC) and stir” approach (de Uriarte et al., 2003). h. Teach students how to cover multicultural communities by developing relationships and source networks and having “conversations across diference” (Woods, 2020, pp. 21–22). i. Encourage students to be honest about their discomfort, fear, and ignorance with regard to working with multicultural populations (particularly for White and class-privileged students) (Woods, 2020, pp. 36–37). ii. Cultivate a classroom climate in which students can talk openly about these issues and their fears and discomfort.1Explore how

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the failure of reporters to acknowledge these emotions can lead to avoidance, where they ignore voices within multicultural communities and focus instead on ofcial (often White) government or other sources, which reinforces the problem of color-blind and White-centric news (de Uriarte, 2005; Robinson & Culver, 2019). iii. Emphasize the importance of taking time to study and learn about the culture, history, interests, and issues of diverse communities journalists plan to cover and how media can promote social change. Teach about broader systemic and power issues that underlie oppression and inequities with social groups. 4. Apply Media-Literacy Concepts to Journalism Epistemology a. Discuss the power dynamics in journalism. b. Critique normative rules of writing that emphasize a top-down oneway manner with third-person voice to remove the “I” in stories (Walker et al., 2009). c. Analyze the efects of the positivist paradigm on journalism. What has been the impact of the assumption there exists one knowable and observable truth (rather than recognizing that truth is a contested terrain) (Walker et al., 2009)? d. Analyze how “habits of thought”—with cognitive biases based on a journalist’s own attitudes, prejudice, and assumptions—can occur automatically, and often sub-consciously, which may create unintentional bias (Christian, 2021, pp. 27–28). e. Critique the journalistic ideals of objectivity and fairness, and question who defnes those ideals, who decides whether something is objective, and if objectivity is even attainable. f. Use an intersectional approach to demonstrate how oppressions interact with each other rather than focusing on separate categories (which may be more politically charged). g. Analyze how proscribed news routines such as “bothsiderism” create in stories simplistic dualities serving normative ideals of balance and fairness resulting in news discourse that legitimizes binary thinking and maintains hierarchy, inequality, and oppression (Walker et al., 2009). Analyze how this oversimplifes complex issues and shortchanges audiences of in-depth understanding as a result. h. Critique the epistemology of topic and source selection by exploring the concept of “newsworthiness,” including its defnition, who has the power to decide which topics and sources are more newsworthy than others, and the implications of the exclusion of those who are judged “not newsworthy.”

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i. Explore the implications of relying on ofcial (primarily White, male) sources as experts in the construction of knowledge and keeping marginalized voices out of the news based on the assumption they do not have credible knowledge. Explore how this reinforces power hierarchies, inequality, and oppression. j. Examine how target audiences are determined, particularly in the commercial journalism industry where they are often identifed as consumers with incomes sufcient to buy the products promoted by advertisers. What are the implications of this marketing approach? 5. Analyze Identity a. Identify and analyze a journalist’s own power and privilege and personal cultural identity and how these factors interact with professional identity in news-gathering. Guide students in exploring their own power and privilege related to race, gender, and other factors and how this shapes their approach to journalistic work. b. Explore the idea that everyone has multiple identities that shift over time and context. Introduce the concepts of avowed and ascribed identities that shape interactions with sources and afect the authenticity and accuracy of stories. c. Explore the infuence of cultural identities of both journalists and their sources and the way that ascribed and avowed identities shape interactions between them and overall reporting. Robinson (2023) calls this “identity-aware caring,” and asserts that acknowledgement of these dynamics that are also afected by privilege and bias helps to rebuild trust with audiences (p. 75). d. Explore the concepts of racism, Whiteness, sexism, patriarchy, and misogyny to identify whether and how students personally relate to these concepts and the implications of that for their work as journalists. 6. Introduce standpoint theory and critical refexivity a. Guide students in understanding feminist standpoint theory and the relevance for feminist journalism. b. Introduce the link or intersection of feminist standpoint theory with the assumption that news is a social construction. In this context, what are the implications for journalist neutrality? c. Apply critical refexivity in an analysis of students’ professional development so they may examine their own standpoint, multiple cultural identities, and power and privilege, and how these interact with those of their sources.

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d. Examine how bringing critical refexivity into news practice can help curb the perpetuation of silencing or stereotyping marginalized groups by expanding the concept of “newsworthiness” to apply to a wider diversity of sources and topics. e. Explore the concepts of agency and voice as they relate to news reporting and content, especially as they concern matters of inclusion and exclusion. How does silencing of marginalized communities vs. fair coverage afect the agency and voice of underrepresented communities? How can journalists serve as witnesses, particularly for those who are not part of a specifc community from which they are reporting? 7. Incorporate alternative media into the curriculum a. Increase students’ awareness of journalism beyond the evidencebased style of passing information to audiences to help them learn other approaches and styles of writing that challenge the status quo. Awareness and appreciation of alternatives can also open job and career opportunities for students beyond corporate mainstream media. Concluding Remarks

In summary, the objective of my model and my pedagogical proposal is to amplify grassroots voices and provide a platform for empowerment through refexive connections with sources and audience members. I recognize that change is difcult, and that my proposals will not result in drastic change or shifts in power dynamics, but I see ways that practitioners and educators can use the ideas and concepts to refect on themselves and their sources and modify their practices. Revision of journalism values and practices can help the feld regain credibility and trust and revisions of journalism education create the path to this future. While the path is long, I have suggested that perhaps the most efective place to begin is with journalism education, helping those entering the feld or continuing their education in the feld, understand the broader, systemic challenges to the profession that are ingrained in U.S. history, slicing across and through most sectors of our culture. U.S. mainstream news has historically served as the mouthpiece for dominant interests and the elite with frameworks that support the economic, political and social status quo for construction and distribution of information, and are ingrained in White, patriarchal, capitalist culture (Jackson, 2013). Alternative news outlets, while still sufering from a host of imbalances due to the “-isms” mentioned throughout the book, at least

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provide a lens into how to step outside the boundaries of traditional mainstream journalism, to consider new ways of seeing and thinking, of practicing and producing. We have the keys to unlock this problem, but we frst must see the problem. Engaging in more collaborative practices of production is not going to happen until we contextualize it in the benefts available, not only for those historically omitted from much of the press coverage, but also for media organizations and professionals as well. Note 1 For example, I taught a class on media, culture, and immigration issues in which we traveled to Tucson. Students met and interviewed several immigrants, including activists and community leaders. We met with a group called Mariposas Sin Fronteras (Butterfies Without Borders), who were trans people from diferent countries seeking asylum because they faced abuse and death threats back home. We spent a lot of time before the trip discussing readings and videos, so the students learned about and understood many of the issues and people we would meet there. As a result, they were able to feel more comfortable to interact and listen to people whose lives and situations were far diferent from their own, with very intense stories or diferent experiences. Students were also able to ask far better questions in interviews.

References Alemán, S.M. (2014). Reimagining Journalism education through a pedagogy of counter-news-story. Review of Education/Pedagogy/Cultural Studies, 36(2), 109–126. https://doi.org/10.1080/10714413.2014.898538 Brooks, D.E. (2002). Pedagogy of the dispossessed: Race, gender and critical media literacy in the “malltiplex.” Symploke, 10(1/2), 71–88. https://doi.org/10.1353/ sym.2002.0003 Castro, A.J. (2013). What makes a citizen? Critical and multicultural citizenship and preservice teachers’ understanding of citizenship skills. Theory & Research in Social Education, 41(2), 219–246. https://doi.org/10.1080/00933104.2013. 783522 Christian, S.E. (2021). Overcoming bias: A journalist’s guide to culture & context (2nd ed.). Routledge. de Uriarte, M.L. (2005). Circles of certainty: Confronting the intellectual construction of mainstream newsrooms. The Diversity Factor, 13(4), 8–15. de Uriarte, M.L., with Bodinger-de Uriarte, C., & Benavides, J.L. (2003). Diversity disconnects: From class room to news room. University of Texas. Deuze, M. (2005). Multicultural journalism education in the Netherlands: A case study. Journalism & Mass Communication Educator, 60(4), 390–401. https:// doi.org/10.1177/107769580506000407 Harris, L. (2021, March 3). Five big fndings from the Journalism Crisis Project. Columbia Journalism Review. www.cjr.org/business_of_news/fve-fndings.php

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Jackson, S.J. (2013). Framing Megan Williams. Feminist Media Studies, 13(1), 46–63. https://doi.org/10/fz337s Kahn, G. (2017, September 27). Transparency is the new objectivity. MediaShift. http://mediashift.org/2017/09/transparency-new-objectivity/ Malloy, P. (2022, December). We’ll reach new heights of moral panic. Nieman Lab. www.niemanlab.org/2022/12/well-reach-new-heights-of-moral-panic/ Picard, R.G. (2004). Commercialism and newspaper quality. Newspaper Research Journal, 25(1), 54–65. https://doi.org/10.1177/073953290402500105 Rakow, L.F. (1993). A Bridge to the future: How to get there from here through curriculum reform. In P.J. Creedon (Ed.), Women in mass communication (2nd ed., pp. 363–374). SAGE Publications. Ramaker, T., van der Stoep, J., & Deuze, M. (2015). Refective practices for future journalism: The need, the resistance and the way forward. Javnost, 22(4), 345–361. https://doi.org/10.1080/13183222.2015.1091622 Robinson, S. (2023). How journalists engage: A theory of trust building, identities, and care. Oxford University Press. https://global.oup.com/academic/product/ how-journalists-engage-9780197667118?cc=us&lang=en& Robinson, S., & Culver, K.B. (2019). When White reporters cover race: News media, objectivity and community (dis)trust. Journalism, 20(3), 375–391. https:// doi.org/10.1177/1464884916663599 Schwoch, J., White, M., & Reilly, S. (1992). Media knowledge: Readings in popular culture, pedagogy, and critical citizenship. State University of New York Press. Shoemaker, P., & Reese, S.D. (2014). Mediating the message in the 21st century: A media sociology perspective. Routledge. Walker, D., Geertsema-Sligh, M., & Barnett, B. (2009). Inverting the inverted pyramid: A conversation about the use of feminist theories to teach journalism. Feminist Teacher, 19, 177–194. https://doi.org/10/bns9dw Woods, K.M. (2020). Talking across diference. In M.E. Len-Rios & E.L. Perry (Eds.), Cross-cultural journalism and strategic communication (2nd ed., pp. 21–41). Routledge. Zelizer, B. (2018). Resetting journalism in the aftermath of Brexit and Trump. European Journal of Communication, 33(2), 140–156.

INDEX

Note: This is a Preliminary Word Order index: words in order of appearance in chapters ABC news 21, 80 abstract liberalism 13 abolition 48–50, 52–3; 178 abortion 81, 107, 167; Roe vs Wade 79 active witnessing 170 activism, activists 57, 76–77, 137, 142, 168, 171–72, 175; see also Guatemala; women, activists; feminism; immigration; Middle East advertising 75, 126–27, 193, 202; as revenue 42, 123–25, 179, 181; women 74, 78; racism 75; sexism 147 African American 43, 76; media 178, 181 agency 42, 107, 109, 113, 192–94, 199; homeless 171; journalists 124; media, alternative 172, 176; women 141 agenda setting 42, 92, 102–6 American fag 15 Anti-critical race theory 138, 195 anti-semitic 24, 136, 168 Arab 14; Arab American, 106 Asian 14–15, 20–1, 61–2, 108, 149; anti–Asian 14–15, 20, 62, 108 asylum, seeking 19, 20, 72, 103, 155

athletes 21, 131, 153; Black 21; women 140–144; see also Duke; Stanford; Olympics; Kaepernick, Colin Atlanta 14; see also mass shootings audience 4, 63, 74, 92, 102, 107, 126; engagement 103, 124, 200; mass 15, 42, 90; needs of 198; ratings 25; shares 125; size 39, 100, 124; target 127 balance, in reporting 24, 92, 96–8, 101, 137, 220 beats, news 92, 109–10 bigotry 17, 24, 27, 104, 138 Biden, Joe 22, 125 birther myth 11, 25, 135, 149 Black Lives Matter (BLM): protests 99, 129, 131, 133, 137, 177, 200; movement 15–16, 203 Black media 180–1 Black men 1, 10, 15, 44, 58–60, 63, 96, 124; rape 55; stereotypes 50–2, 149; see also Tulsa Massacre; lynching; athletes Black women 1, 15, 96; activists 57, 85; intersectionality of identity 51, 206; scholars 57, 95; as leaders 48;

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in media 76–7, 145; rape 52, 55, 144; stereotypes 51–2, 54, 76, 79; work force 140; see also women Bland, Sandra 133 Bly, Nellie 72–3 bothsiderism 97–8, 220 Brown, Michael 16, 137, 203 capitalism 42, 48, 218; corporate 166; vulture 124, 128; see also neoliberalism Carlson, Tucker 24, 136 censorship 43, 126–7, 141, 177 Central America 5, 19, 134, 189 Charlottesville, Virginia 22; see also mass shootings Chicago Tribune 129, 205 China 23 Chinese 20, 43, 60; “Chinese virus” 20 Christian, Christianity 43, 45, 48, 166; Christian nationalism 136, 166–7 circulation see newspaper citizen journalism 202; civic journalism 201 civil liberties 17 civil rights 55–7, 164, 175, 178; see also civil rights movement civil rights movement 78, 80, 84 Civil War, American 50–4, 171 Clinton, Hillary 26, 148 CNN 19, 30, 105, 125, 174 collective memory 5, 62–5 colonialism 39, 41, 142, 174 color-blind racism 10–16, 42 Confederate, Confederacy 21, 53–4, 63 conspiracy 25, 27, 105, 136–8, 167, 177; see also birther myth consumerism 74–75, 128, 147 consumers 42–3, 74, 79, 97, 216, 221 consumer products 75 COVID-19, see pandemic cowboys 46 criminal justice system 2, 10, 13 criminal: acts 174–5; criminality 10, 106, 11, 133–5, 137; record 20; cases 21 critical refexivity 4–5, 96, 111–13, 176, 188, 195 critical race theory 4–6, 120, 124, 138–9, 216; see also anti-critical race theory cultural racism 13–14

Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) see Standing Rock Indian Reservation democratic: anti-democratic 166; conspiracy 167; discourse 126, 199; intuitions 27; nation 38, 43, 47; journalism 57, 90, 167–8; rights 17; society 91 Democrats 25, 125; lawmakers 19, 146; see also Clinton, Hillary; Biden, Joe; Harris, Kamala; Left, the democracy 19, 23, 38, 91, 96, 121, 165, 168, 176 Democracy Now! 175 democratization 162 Denver Post, The; see capitalism, vulture Department of Justice, U.S. 17 digital media 7, 123, 126, 161, 202 disablism 21 disability 138, 164 divorce 41, 74, 79, 140 Doctrine of Discovery 43–4 domestic: domesticity 79; ideology 75; role of women 78; sphere 72, 74; slavery 171; violence 81–2; see also terrorism Duke 1 education 13, 15, 41, 54, 109, 127, 135; Critical Race Theory 138; journalism education 70, 192, 207–8, 217–18, 222; Latinx 132; Native American 179; women 78–9, 140 El Salvador 20 ethnic journalism 177–9 extremism 137, 201; Islamic 196; right-wing 22 fake news 22, 25–9, 111, 125, 167, 199 Facebook 12, 14, 27, 104, 176; see also social media false feminist death syndrome 83, 147; see also feminism family 72, 78, 83, 132–3, 148; see also domestic; motherhood fashion 72, 75 feminism 80–4; second-wave 77–8, 84; see also Feminist International Radio Endeavour; women, activists Feminist critical media theory 5, 38

Index

Feminist International Radio Endeavour (FIRE), Radio Internacional Feminista 4, 7, 111, 165, 189, 203–4, 217 Feminist media 97, 186 Feminist Standpoint Theory 95, 188, 221 femininity 77–8, 143, 148, 193; see also women, social norms Ferguson, MO see Brown, Michael flm 54, 126, 147, 179 Floyd, George 34, 129, 133, 137, 181 foreign policy 19, 109 Fort Hood 106 Fox News: bias 104; BLM 16; market 125–6, 130; Obamas 12; propaganda 25; right-wing 136, 139; the “squad” 19; viewers 105; see also Obama, Barack; Trump, Donald; pandemic framing, media practice of: general 102–7, 113, 127, 132–6, 148–9, 201; in alternative media 168–9, 205; BIPOC 178–9; in citizen journalism 202; episodic 174; in Feminist Refexive Model 206–8, 217; negative 200 frontier, U.S. see West, the U.S. Friedan, Betty 78–9; see also feminism gatekeeping 92, 100–2 gay see LGTBQ+ gender blindness 4, 146 God 14, 41, 45 Greeley, Horace 45 Guatemala: activists 190; women 190; war 189, 203, 206; guns 14, 105 Haiti 20, 202 Harris, Kamala 149 hate 15, 20, 138; hate speech 146, 177; hate crimes 14, 21–2, 137 healthcare 13, 15, 104, 135; see also Obama, Barack Hearst, William R. 60–1; publications 62 heterosexual 135, 166, 190, 194 Hollywood 39, 75; see also flm homeless 60, 171–2 homemaking 72, 74; see also domestic; women housing 13, 15, 20, 41

227

identity 11, 40, 89, 93, 138, 217, 221; ascribed 110, 196; avowed 196; corporate 91; cultural 50, 62, 111–12, 197; gender 139, 141, 145; identity politics 81; native 46; perceived 190; professional 195; religion 197; White 47, 166 immigrant 14, 17, 20, 28, 112; ethnic journalism 177–80; news stories 103, 106, 108, 134–6, 173; women 206; see also Bly, Nellie; identity, cultural; Japanese; Mexico; Obama, Barack; Trump, Donald; Virginia Tech; Fort Hood immigration 100, 132; activists 134, 136; anti-immigration 134; deportation 103, 206; policy 19, 28, 110; press coverage 103, 108, 111, 134–6, 180 Indian: history 45–7; media coverage 174, 180; reservations 45, 142, 173; stereotypes 45; Trail of Tears 17; see also indigenous; Native American; Standing Rock Indian Reservation indigenous 2, 4, 8, 17, 45, 132; see activists; ethnic journalism; Standing Rock Indian Reservation; Doctrine of Discovery; Feminist International Radio Endeavour; Indian; Guatemala; manifest destiny; Native American; women industrialization 74, 89, 96 interviewing, by reporters 110–13, 170–2, 189, 192–6, 200–1 inverted pyramid 89, 93, 168 Islam 110, 197 Islamaphobia 18, 27, 110, 196 Israel, Israeli 170 January 6, attack 22, 137 Japanese 60; anti-Japanese hysteria 61–2; internment 62–3; see also World War II Jewish 21; see also anti-semitic Jim Crow 53, 55, 58, 76 Just the facts reporting 93, 95, 97 Kaepernick, Colin 15, 20, 32 kidnapping 136, 171 King, Martin Luther 3, 13

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Knowledge, production of 129, 162, 190, 198, 204; women’s role 130 Ku Klux Klan 12, 59, 137 labor: division of 72; enslaved 52, 76–8; force 77; press 164; reform 56 Latinx 3, 10–11, 14, 21, 133–4, 178–9; and media 181 Latinx Critical Theory 96 Left, the 166, 169, 203 LGBTQ+ 131, 135–6, 138, 164; see also queer; gay lynching 55, 76 magazines 3, 62, 93; see also Ms. magazine Make America Great Again (MAGA) 17 Mainstream journalism 3, 38, 39, 92, 199, 215 Mainstream media 2–5, 7, 14, 20, 22–8; use 124–125; and feminist movement 80–84 Male privilege 38 manifest destiny 44, 47 Martin, Trayvon 48 masculinity 51, 76, 83; toxic 105 mass shooting 105–6 massacres 26, 105, 137, 189; see also Tulsa Massacre; mass shootings May, Theresa 19 media efects 102 media literacy 218, 220 media merger 42, 126 media trust 125 Merkel, Angela 19 #MeToo Movement 144–5 Mexico 19, 50, 108, 134; U.S.-Mexico border 136, 206 Michaelson, Miriam 70–1 Middle East 170 military 15, 171, 173; defeat 53; dictatorship 189, 190; weapons 16; patrols 28; US 63, 99, 134; violence 204–5 missing and murdered Indigenous women (MMIWG) 141–2, 180 Missing White Woman Syndrome 124, 141–2 misogyny 4, 105, 124, 145, 149, 188, 221

misogyny, in journalism 6–7, 139, 166, 215, 218 misogyny, social media 177 misogyny, Trump 19 misogyny, mass shootings 105 motherhood 55, 74, 78–9, 83, 135, 143; grandmother 148, 172 Ms. magazine 79, 97; see also Steinem, Gloria MSNBC 19, 125 multicultural journalism 215, 218–19 murder 14, 48, 54, 124, 178; see also missing and murdered indigenous women Muslim 14, 19, 106, 110, 196–7; antiMuslim 24, 28; women 110 National Public Radio (NPR) 10 National Organization for Women 79, 82 Native Americans 17, 41, 43–5, 62, 174, 176; stereotypes 39, 46, 63; women 46; press 174, 179; tribes 45–8, 173; see also Indian NBC news 80, 130, 143–4 Negro: “good negro” myth 50–1, 63; stereotype 63; see South, the U.S; civil war, U.S. neoliberalism 126, 147, 196 Nazi 106, 122; neo-Nazi 21, 137 New York Times 21, 24–6, 44, 59 news: as commodity 42; hard 72, 101, 109; soft 72, 101 news industry 2–3, 90, 128, 140, 149, 215 news values 43, 99–101, 123, 162, 166, 169 newspapers 20, 38, 50, 74–8, 90, 124–8; African American 178; alternative 7; circulation 74, 124; history of 43–8, 50–6, 59; revenue 42, 215; subscription 25; women 72, 81–2; see also ethnic media; the South, U.S.; Tulsa Massacre newsworthiness 99–101 newsworthiness, defnition of 3, 90 NoDAPL Protests see Standing Rock Indian Reservation Obama, Barack: as Black man 12; immigration 20; Obamacare 104; presidency 10–12, 15, 148–9; crying

Index

148; Trump 18, 28; see also birther myth Obama, Michelle 12; see also Obama, Barack objectivity 24, 90, 99, 101, 111, 131; history of 92–8, 131, 198; in alternative media 167–9, 180, 182; in Feminist Refexive Model 190, 220 Ocasio–Cortez, Alexandria 19; see also the Squad Olympics 142–4; see also athletes Other, the 2, 60, 70, 76, 108, 113, 166, 196 Palestinian 106, 170, 203 pandemic 25, 28, 99, 125, 127, 215; COVID-19 14–19, 21, 28, 62; racial discrimination 14–15, 108, 20–1; see also anti-Asian; Trump, Donald U.S. Paralympics 21 Parks, Rosa 55–7 patriarchy 3, 10, 39, 166, 218, 221; see also White patriarchy patriarchy, in American history 63 patriarchy, and knowledge 130, 132 patriarchy, in media 29, 42, 90, 124, 139, 162 patriotism, patriot 21–2, 47, 59, 77, 144 pedagogy, journalism 217–18 person-on-the-street interviewing 108, 135, 171 police 22, 109, 131; brutality 15, 20, 124, 137, 175–176, 205; custody 133; discrimination 195; see also Floyd, George; Brown, Michael positionality 132, 171, 176, 190; see identity; interviews; sources positivism 40–1; see also scientifc method Pressley, Ayanna S. 19; see also the Squad privilege 5–6, 221; White privilege 3–4, 6, 10–11, 41, 84, 104–5, 111, 124, 133, 145, 176, 207; male privilege 3–4, 41, 139, 146, 176 professionalism, journalism profession 90–92; 124

229

propaganda 53–4, 62, 78, 92; see also Trump, Donald; fake news; Fox News; World War I; World War II property: laws 41; rights 51; damage or loss 59, 60, 131, 133; ownership 74 prosperity gospel 45; see also settlers Protestant 43, 45 queer 84; see also LGTBQ+ racial justice 11, 16, 55–6, 129, 138, 178 radio 10, 17, 77, 126, 140, 179; see also Feminist International Radio Endeavour; Fox News rape 1, 46, 51, 52, 54–5, 57, 85, 107, 131, 142, 145, 189, 205; rapist 51, 55, 107 Tlaib, Rashid 19; see also the Squad reconstruction 53–5, 178 refexivity see critical refexivity Republican 17, 22, 26, 97, 99, 167, 180; lawmakers 11, 19, 125, 136 right-wing 19, 126; media 24–5, 50, 105, 130, 134–6, 166–7; lawmakers 138; perspectives 22, 139, 161, 165, 216 riots 16, 58, 60, 173, 175 science 17, 27, 98, 125; anti-science 99; see also positivism; scientifc method scientifc method 40, 92; see also positivism; science settlers 43–4, 45–6, 48 sex 75, 84, 144; crime 146; fend 107; sexy 146; slavery 171; work 142 sexism 112, 130, 147–9, 190–2, 194, 196; fake news 27; journalism 96, 143, 164, 170, 180; in media 6, 18, 201, 207, 208; social media 177; Trump 19; women of color 84, 144 sexual assault 1, 2, 76, 107, 130, 141, 142, 144–145, 189; media coverage 145; misconduct 131; violence 107, 109, 124, 141–2, 144–5, 171, 203 see also rape sexual discrimination 79, 146 sexual harassment 78, 82, 84, 140, 144–45

230

Index

sexualities 84, 110, 166, 195; orientation 85, 138–9, 143 sharing the power of the microphone 7, 191–95, 208, 216 shootings, shooter, see mass shootings Sioux see Standing Rock Indian Reservation slavery 40–1, 44–5, 48–55, 58, 142, 178; enslaved labor 76; see also South, the U.S. social construction of reality 63, 99 social media 27, 84, 104–5, 125–6, 142–5, 176–7; indigenous people 173, 179; public sphere 200–1 women and 148; see also Black Lives Matter; Facebook; X; Twitter; citizen journalism South, the U.S. 48, 50–1, 53–5, 57; newspapers 54, 63; plantations 48–49, 52; women 53; see also slavery South, the global 162–3 sports 46, 79, 143–45 Squad, the 19; see also Ocasio–Cortez, Alexandria; Pressley, Ayanna S.; Tlalib, Rashid Standing Rock Indian Reservation 173 Stanford 1 Steinem, Gloria 79 storytelling 13, 193, 200–2 sufrage: Black 55; women’s 56, 164, 80–1, 83–4 take the knee see Kaepernick, Colin telegraph 42, 93 television 7, 13, 17, 101, 124, 130, 152, 179 terrorism 12, 19, 106, 110, 196; domestic 58 Till, Emmett 48, 178 transparency, of the press 92, 94, 190, 216 Trump, Donald: administration 19, 26; election 11; BLM 17; social media 17, 22; misogyny 17; Obama 18; leadership style 18–20; racism 20–1, 136; disablism 21; White supremacy 22–1; and White nationalism 136; and journalists 23–6; and feminism 144; media 125–6; see also fake news

the Trump Efect 28 Tulsa Massacre 58–60 Twitter 22–4, 27, 104, 129, 144, 176 Victim, victimization 1–5, 103, 107, 137–8, 141–2, 178, 203; blaming 205, 207; see also Floyd, George; lynching; mass shootings; Muslim; sexual assault; sexual violence; Wells, Ida B. Virginia Tech 106 virus 14, 20, 25, 28, 99; see also pandemic voice, in reporting 39, 97, 107, 191, 200–02, 220–222 vote, voting 12, 41, 54, 180–1; and journalism 82; women 74, 76 Warren, Elizabeth 17 Washington Post 18, 25, 130, 139, 145 Wells, Ida B. 55–7 West, the American 44–6, 60; west coast 61–2; wild west 39, 45; women 47–8; see also cowboys; see also indigenous; manifest destiny; Native Americans; Indian; Standing Rock Indian Reservation West, the 60; western society 41, 48 Wilson, Joe 11 White nationalism 10, 18, 129, 136 White patriarchy 176–7, 180, 182, 191 “White racial frame” 104, 124 White rage 136–7 White supremacy 3–6; U.S. presidents 17, 29; master narrative 39, 53; journalism 42, 60, 63, 90, 136–7; Black women 76; masculinity 105; production of knowledge 130, 136–7; racism 169, 177; Feminist Collaborative Model 207 womanhood, norms 47–8 women: see also agency; domestic; Feminist Standpoint Theory; Feminist International Radio Endeavour; immigrant; misogyny; motherhood; sexual assault; social media

Index

women, activists 170, 173 women, of color 48; see also Asian; Black women; indigenous; knowledge; Latinx; Missing White Woman Syndrome; Muslim; Native American; Palestinian; Tulsa Massacre women, in journalism 26, 70–6, 91, 106–9, 111, 129–30, 139–40, 202; as sources 132, 135, 192–4, 198, 201, 206–7; threats against 138; see also Bly, Nellie women, in news coverage 124–25, 131, 136, 141 women, in politics 147–149 women, as research subjects 41 women, and slavery 51–7

231

women, stereotypes 47, 75; see also Black women; Warren, Elizabeth; women, in journalism women, and war 171 women, White 45, 47, 50–1, 75–9; see also the South, U.S. women, in work force 47, 77 women’s pages 71–2, 74–5 World War I 40, 92 World War II 61, 63, 77 X: see Twitter xenophobia 14, 20, 60 yellow journalism 42, 60, 71, 91 yellow peril 60, 62; see also Chinese; anti-Asian