NCJ Number
163005
Date Published
1995
Length
18 pages
Annotation
This chapter examines ethnic sensitivity in media portrayals of race relations.
Abstract
The author recounts three cases from the news and discusses how race and ethnic issues were portrayed in ways that reinforced ethnic bias and displayed a lack of ethnic sensitivity. Specific examples are reproduced to show how lack of ethnic sensitivity and sometimes even overt ethnocentrism play a part in the discussion of race and ethnic issues in the press. The main topic discussed in this chapter is the so-called 1991 Halifax race riot, with articles drawn largely from local papers. Race was highlighted in the papers as at the root of the problem, in a variety of ways, including racism in bars and racism among the police. The shifting accounts of what happened emphasize the idea that interpretation is central to the understanding of an event. The underlying theme is that racial and ethnic messages are unaffected by distance and that, even in national papers, ethnic bias can be reproduced. It is important to look at how the media portray the world because to a great extent one's knowledge of the world is extralocal, known only through the news. Notes