Media and Minorities

Creating an Inclusive Public Commons  51
monly held assumptions about which differences among people matter; why
they matter; and, as a result, what should be done to address inequities in
health, education, criminal justice, and other areas. Journalism, of course,
plays an important role in providing a forum for exchange of ideas and debate
about such critical concerns. Today, Jews are no longer the main focus of
debates about health voiced either in medical circles or the news media. But
immigrants still are. The headlines on American cable news and local television
over the past year have included:
“Ebola Fears Spark Backlash Against Latino Immigrants” — CNN;3
“Undocumented Immigrants Bringing Diseases Across Border?” — ABC15 (Arizona);4
“Immigration Crisis: Tuberculosis Spreading at (Immigrant) Camps” — Fox News;
and
“Border Patrol Union Claims Scabies ‘Outbreak’ Threatens Agents, Public” — Fox
News.5
These examples remind journalists, media scholars, and citizens alike that
it is our challenge to alert ourselves to repetition of commonly held but unfounded
assumptions. More importantly, we must recognize the ways in
which these assumptions limit journalists’ own understanding of the areas
they cover, and, in turn, that of the audiences they serve.
This article considers belief systems and structures in the news that have
created problems of accuracy and fair representation and some strategies to
change them. I write from the perspective of a journalist who covers scientific
and social issues, one who has long been involved in the effort to make news
coverage more inclusive.
3 Maria Santana, “Ebola Fears Spark Backlash Against Latino Immigrants,” CNN Politics,
12 October 2014, http://edition.cnn.com/2014/10/10/politics/ebola-fears-spark-backlashlatinos/.
4 Navideh Forghani, “Undocumented Immigrants Bringing Diseases Across Border?” ABC15,
9 June 2014, http://www.abc15.com/news/national/immigrants-bringing-diseases-acrossborder.
5 Todd Starnes, “Immigration Crisis: Tuberculosis Spreading at Camps,” Fox News, 7 July 2014,
at-camps.html; Judson Berger, “Border Patrol Union Claims Scabies ‘Outbreak’ Threatens
Agents, Public,” Fox News, 7 July 2014, http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/07/07/
border-patrol-union-claims-scabies-outbreak-threatens-agents-public/.
© 2016, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co. KG, Göttingen
ISBN Print: 9783525300886 — ISBN E-Book: 9783666300882