Countering ‘The Narrative This Country Likes to Embrace About Black People’: An Analysis of African American Journalists’ Coverage of Black Communities and Their Use of Racial Frames

Abstract

Literature suggests more Black journalists in newsrooms may not simply be “the cure” for inaccurate news depictions of Black communities. This study asks how the professional and personal identities of African American journalists shape how they produce stories about Black communities, and how news values and routines embedded in the white racial frame, a white supremacist viewpoint, and its accompanying racial frames affect newsroom diversity efforts. Fifteen African American journalists were interviewed about their coverage of the Black community and their newsroom practices. The journalists’ articles they wrote about Black people were also analyzed in this study to provide more context. This study includes the experiences and reporting practices of African American journalists, as the white racial frame is typically used to subordinate Black people. Black people can use the frame to subordinate other Black people and people of color. Results from the study reveal the journalists used their personal identities to create counter-frames that included their own perspectives and experiences in the Black community. They used both their personal and professional identities to create multiframes, which include elements from white racial frames and counter-frames in their coverage of Black people. The study also revealed news values and routines negatively impacted Black coverage, as those values and routines required the journalists to omit their own perspectives and experiences as people who are a part of the Black community. This study suggests several implications for the journalism field, including the need to reconsider white news values and routines that obstruct accurate coverage of Black communities and discount African American journalists’ diverse viewpoints.