America’s racial and ethnic diversity was on full display at the National Mall on Sunday. What was also apparent that day was the lack of diversity in newsrooms.
In the hours upon hours of broadcast and cable news coverage of the health reform debate on Sunday, most English-language outlets appeared to find it a heavy lift to include any substantive reporting on the major immigration reform march on Sunday.
The easy excuse is the healthcare reform debate and vote. And indeed, this was a top story. But the throngs of people descending on the nation's capital was no blip on the screen.
The rally ran from Seventh to 12th streets in Washington D.C., where thousands of people from California to Nebraska to New Jersey converged. Latino students from El Puente Leadership Centers and Academy to African American students from Howard University participated in the march. They stood alongside workers and religious leaders from the southwest to northeast, and people of all backgrounds, from Polish to Korean immigrants to native born Americans.
The march was a loud reminder of the commitments made by the Democratic Party to reforming immigration. With prominent civil rights leaders visible, it was also a clear statement against the divide and conquer tactics that the anti-immigrant lobby has attempted to use on immigrants and African Americans.
Immigration does not simply affect the lives of immigrants and Latinos—it is a national issue. But which stories get play and to what degree is a result of who is making decisions in newsrooms.
In the United States, Blacks, Hispanics, Asian Americans and Native Americans represent 33 percent of the population. But their representation in newsrooms was at 13.41 percent last year, according to the American Society of Newspaper Editors.
The National Association of Hispanic Journalists studies how Latino-related issues are portrayed in the media and typically finds dismal results. In its most recent report on network television news, the organization states “…the nation’s news media have historically failed to ensure that their newsrooms, as well as news coverage, reflect the communities they serve.”
The Internet is supposed to be the big democratizing platform. But based on recent studies, the Maynard Institute on diversity in journalism believes that similar or worse trends around the under-representation of people of color are also reflected in online news media.
There is no question that a movement for immigration reform is in full effect. But it appears that this same movement has to hold English-language media accountable for trying to ignore and downsize a major civil and human rights issue.
America’s racial and ethnic diversity was on full display at the National Mall on Sunday. What was also apparent that day was the lack of diversity in newsrooms.
In the hours upon hours of broadcast and cable news coverage of the health reform debate on Sunday, most English-language outlets appeared to find it a heavy lift to include any substantive reporting on the major immigration reform march on Sunday.
The easy excuse is the healthcare reform debate and vote. And indeed, this was a top story. But the throngs of people descending on the nation's capital was no blip on the screen.
The rally ran from Seventh to 12th streets in Washington D.C., where thousands of people from California to Nebraska to New Jersey converged. Latino students from El Puente Leadership Centers and Academy to African American students from Howard University participated in the march. They stood alongside workers and religious leaders from the southwest to northeast, and people of all backgrounds, from Polish to Korean immigrants to native born Americans.
The march was a loud reminder of the commitments made by the Democratic Party to reforming immigration. With prominent civil rights leaders visible, it was also a clear statement against the divide and conquer tactics that the anti-immigrant lobby has attempted to use on immigrants and African Americans.
Immigration does not simply affect the lives of immigrants and Latinos—it is a national issue. But which stories get play and to what degree is a result of who is making decisions in newsrooms.
In the United States, Blacks, Hispanics, Asian Americans and Native Americans represent 33 percent of the population. But their representation in newsrooms was at 13.41 percent last year, according to the American Society of Newspaper Editors.
