Black Lives Matter protests erupted on May 29 after the death of George Floyd and although many protests have been peaceful, there have been instances of riots. Clarke Central High School Class of 2020 graduate Saran Sesay believes the media has shed biased light on those riots. Illustration by Frances Thrasher
In recent days and weeks, inaccurate reporting and coverage of Black Lives Matter protests have become relentlessly in limiting the impact of the Black Lives Matter movement. Nightly news channels are filled with images of violent protests and looting. CNN and Fox News replay videos of rioters being arrested while police cars burn in the distance.
Quotes by Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. litter Facebook feeds, chastising young protesters for not following the path of nonviolence left by the civil rights icon. All of this has removed attention from the issue at hand and has been used to question the validity of the Black Lives Matter Movement.
America has always had a problem with seeing reality.
Our history books are distorted to tell the story of a democracy built on the principle that “all men are created equal.” Conveniently, these books forget to tell the parts of American history that totally go against that principle. The plight of the Native American people is completely ignored, and the history of American slavery is lightly touched but still, somehow treated as if it is inconsequential.
The misrepresentation of Black history creates an ignorance about Black struggles in America, so when issues like police brutality come up, a lot of times Black people are ignored and misunderstood. According to Pew Research Center, from July 12 2013 to March 31 2016 the hashtag Black Lives Matter was trending on Twitter. These issues are treated as if they do not exist and aside from a few trending hashtags and a weekend of reporting, everything goes back to normal.
America returns to a blissful ignorance about the experience of the other side, and the effects of systemic racism.
This past week has forced Americans out of their false sense of reality to see the injustices that still fester throughout the country. The Black Lives Matter movement has become stronger than ever before, and the support is international spanning from Europe to Asia, to South America and Australia according to a New York Times article; however, there has been an intense amount of negative coverage.
“This past week has forced Americans out of their false sense of reality to see the injustices that still fester throughout the country.”
This negative coverage dominated all types of media. Firstly, there was the criticism of rioting. On the first night of riots in Minneapolis, images of burning cars and buildings captivated the country. Photos of rioters clashing with police in fields of smoke and tear gas were plastered everywhere everyone could see. The news took these images and ran with them.
The rioters were judged as criminals and thugs from the start. Using the words of King, the effectiveness of these protests were put into question. These outlets focused on everything except the why. Why did people feel the need to riot? Their anger was portrayed as unjustified and irrational. This same biased coverage was used against looters. Looters’ intentions were called into question. News anchors ranted on air about looters taking advantage and distracting viewers from the true message of the movement.
Even the President joined in on Twitter to criticize the violence.
I can’t stand back & watch this happen to a great American City, Minneapolis. A total lack of leadership. Either the very weak Radical Left Mayor, Jacob Frey, get his act together and bring the City under control, or I will send in the National Guard & get the job done right…..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 29, 2020
The focus strayed away from the issue, which was police brutality, to the argument about the correct way to protest. Again and again, the media has compared current protest to the past Civil Rights movement protest in the 1950s’.
They ignored the sources of anger and the exhaustion in the hearts of many people apart of this movement. The catalyst of the issue was ignored and instead, the focus turned to criticize the protester’s actions, effectively delegitimizing the anger and the outrage that had finally come to the surface.
“The catalyst of the issue was ignored and instead, the focus turned to criticize the protester’s actions, effectively delegitimizing the anger and the outrage that had finally come to the surface.”
The job of the media is to tell all sides of the issue. That job has always been important because the news is usually one of the few ways to get honest information about what is happening in one’s community.
The media articulates the different perspectives of the issue. That means their job isn’t to just show the peaceful protest during the day but to show the riots and the looting at night. Without displaying the full story, they have not done their job. Along with that, the media needs ratings and people are more attracted to images of violence than peaceful protest. The media is largely just doing their job; however, they are failing to report those sides without the influence of bias.
The violence that has occurred is a result of exhaustion in the hearts of many African Americans. The anger is specifically strong because many people feel unheard. The deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor are not an isolated issue, but an effect of a systemic issue that remains unsolved. The portrayal of this anger as irrational and distracting by the media continues the legacy of America ignoring Black struggles and silencing Black voices.
The focus on the violence over peace creates an incomplete image of what is truly happening. A huge majority of protests were nonviolent and mirrored the protests seen during the Civil Rights Movement. The lack of coverage given to the peaceful side of protests is again giving an incomplete and biased perspective of what’s occurring. Without a complete idea of what is happening, it is more likely for Americans to question the legitimacy of the protests and criticize the actions of protesters. The criticism only perpetuates the issues at hand because there are fewer allies to join in the struggle.
The media could be more of an aid than a barrier in bridging American understanding of injustices against the Black community. It starts with giving a complete perspective and fair reporting. Complete perspective means changing the focus from action based negative reporting to community positive reporting. Community positive reporting focuses on the aspiration of community members and not just the struggles. Reporting in this manner would allow outside groups to get a better understanding of the issues in other communities that need fixing and what the goal is in these communities. Basing it on this would create more well-informed allies throughout the country and force Americans that for many years have been ignorant to issues outside of their communities to become educated and empathetic.
“The media could be more of an aid than a barrier in bridging American understanding of injustices against the Black community.”
Along with that, there should be a bigger focus on the cause of protests, not the reaction. Protests are done to bring awareness and force institutional change, but without a complete understanding of the reason for outrage it is a lot harder to solve these issues. Focusing on the cause helps people make judgments not simply based on emotions but based on knowledge.
Media is charged with a very hard, but important job to tell the whole truth about these protests. Biased coverage could have a catastrophic effect on the effectiveness of these protests to truly effectuate change, so it is on the media to be fair and thorough.
