Tagged: negative black attitudes

“A 2014 Sentencing Project report points to media as a source of racial perceptions and misconceptions about crime in the United States, specifically suggesting that stereotypical expectations of journalists and producers, i.e., implicit bias, shape media narratives: A study of television news found that black crime suspects were presented in more threatening contexts than whites: ‘Black suspects were disproportionately shown in mug shots and in cases where the victim was a stranger. Black and Latino suspects were also more often presented in a nonindividualized way than whites—by being left unnamed—and were more likely to be shown as threatening—by being depicted in physical custody of police. Blacks and Hispanics were also more likely to be treated aggressively by police officers on reality-based TV shows, including America’s Most Wanted and Cops. Mass media are therefore a major contributor to Americans’ misconceptions about crime, with journalists and producers apparently acting based on their own or expectations of their audiences’ stereotypes about crime.'”

Source: Kirsten West Savali. “Throw Away the Script: How Media Bias Is Killing Black America.” The Root. June 2, 2015. http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2015/06/how_media_bias_is_killing_black_america.html.