Unfair, unbalanced and the overabundance of negative reporting about the black community has often been a complaint among many. There is concern that not only does such reporting paint an inaccurate portrait of a particular ethnic group, but it also sets a dangerous pattern.
Images shown by the media play a role in influencing attitudes toward blacks. Many in the community believe that the over-use of negative images has resulted in a lack of confidence when it comes to entrusting outsiders to tell the black community's story.
So the question becomes: Are black journalists the only ones capable of accurately and fairly reporting on the black community? Or is the black reporter caught in a Catch-22, stuck between getting it right for his or community and being professionally pigeon holed? If they cover only the black community, they run the danger of becoming known as a reporter who can only cover black stories. If they cover only the mainstream stories, they'd be entrusting someone else to tell the black community's story.
Should their loyalties be to their media outlets or to their communities? There are lots of questions and just as many answers. Many find themselves walking a tightrope.
To get a clearer picture of just what black broadcasters are faced with on a daily basis, the L.A. Watts Times went straight to the source, asking local black broadcasters these questions:
As an insider, what is your perspective on how the media covers the black community? Have you attempted to contribute toward covering the black community?
BEVERLY WHITE (NBC4 anchor/reporter) — "I can only speak for the electronic media, which I believe adequately covers the black community but can do much more. The industry should employ more black people (in front of and behind the camera) and encourage diversity in sourcing and in story selection.
"The responsibility to cover our community without fear or favor must never rest solely with black reporters. I pitch ideas and handle all manner of assignments. My non-black counterparts should do the same. Anyone who knows my work knows I try to cover the black community every way I can — with contacts who enhance my storytelling beyond race and sports, or entertainment and crime. I keep an eye out for distinct voices from mudslides to market issues, violence to Valentine's Day. I strive to include people who look like me because it deepens my reporting and often helps defy stereotypes, one sound bite at a time. I see that as my mission as an African American journalist."
TONY COX (NPR "News and Notes" host) — "How the media covers the black community depends on which media you're referring to. The mainstream press doesn't cover the black community at all. It looks for stories of general interest, and if those happen to involve black folks in particular, then chances are you'll see something written or broadcast.
"And even that depends on what market your outlet is in and how large the black audience is. The black press covers the black community all the time. They just don't have the resources to cover it as effectively as is sometimes warranted. And because the black press has to compete for advertising dollars, like all media, their story selection is often dictated by what sells and will generate the most revenue. That's when even the black press becomes more selective about what it does and doesn't cover. In the end, the black community suffers either way."
CHRIS SCHAUBLE (NBC4 anchor) — "The media does a poor and shallow job of covering the African American community (myself included). However, it's due mostly to a lack of resources that all newsrooms face, as opposed to a willful disregard. As TV newsrooms shift to the concept of photojournalists (reporters carrying their own cameras while also presenting the story), there will be more of us beating the street. I think there will be more room for the individual newsperson to influence coverage ... more stories, yes the positive ones, will get told.
"I find that while I cannot always influence news coverage, I can make sure the African American community knows it has my support. I emcee countless events within the black community and only say no when it conflicts with another engagement (or when my wife tells me to slow it down)."
MARC BROWN (ABC7 anchor) — "Having grown up in Los Angeles, I have watched the evolution of the news media's coverage of the African American community. It used to be fairly one-dimensional and primarily negative. It no longer is. I feel very good about how ABC7, in particular, covers the black community. We try to cover African Americans, as we do every other community in Los Angeles, with fairness, sensitivity and across a broad spectrum.
"We're able to do it because we have a very diverse staff both in front of and behind the camera. Some of the stories I've covered over the last few months include the Eso Won Bookstore and its struggle to survive, an African American funeral director in South L.A. who handles victims of gang violence, and the inauguration of Barack Obama. These stories, while of special significance to African Americans, I believe are important to everyone."
BOBBY HOWE (KTYM radio - public affairs director) — "Black press should give equal time to the good done by blacks and less to the not-so-good... I am on air 10-15 times a week, and I present the 'Other Side of War' and 'Conversations with the Community.' There is always the good, the bad and the ugly. I make sure I talk to the good being done in our community, but if I must report on the ugly, I make sure I have some solutions to the bad news."
Darlene Donloe is a writer for the L.A. Watts Times.
Story photo by LA Beez
Photos of interviewees from www.nbclosangeles.com (Beverly White, Chris Schaule), www.npr.org (Tony Cox), abclocal.go.com/kabc/ (Marc Brown), and Richard M. Brodsky Foundation (Bobby Howe)
LOS ANGELES PREMIERE of award-winning civil rights film
2009 HOLLYWOOD FILM FESTIVAL
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE --- Neshoba, the award-winning documentary that finally tells the true story behind the “Mississippi Burning” murders, will screen at this year’s Hollywood Film Festival, Saturday, October 24th at 3:00 P.M. at the ArcLight Cinema. Neshoba is directed by Micki Dickoff and Tony Pagano. Filmmakers will attend the premiere.
“I’m thrilled Neshoba is screening in the Hollywood Film Festival at the ArcLight Cinema,” says Dickoff, who lives in Los Angeles. “My AIDS drama, Mother, Mother, premiered at the Cinerama Dome in 1989. 20 years later, it’s an honor to come back here with Neshoba. Both films are stories about reconciliation and healing; both films were labors of love.”
Dickoff, an Emmy award-winning filmmaker and social activist, was haunted by the slayings of civil rights workers James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner, kids only a few years older than she was at the time, who were murdered for doing the right thing during the famed minority voter registration drives in Mississippi in what became known as Freedom Summer.
“In 1964, the Klansmen bragged about what they did. I was offended by the lack of truth and justice in the case,” Dickoff explains. “When Ben Chaney called me about making a film about his brother's murder, I jumped at the chance.”
Teaming with Pagano, an award-winning director of photography, they began shooting on the 40th anniversary of the killings in Neshoba County, Mississippi where the three civil rights workers were slain in 1964. Pagano makes his feature directorial debut on Neshoba.
“When Micki introduced me to Andrew Goodman’s mother Carolyn, I knew I needed to tell this story,” says Pagano. “Micki’s passion for the truth and Carolyn’s passion for justice were doubly inspiring.”
Through intimate interviews with the families of all three victims, candid interviews with black and white Neshoba County citizens still divided about the meaning of justice 40 years later, and exclusive first-time interviews with 80-year-old preacher Edgar Ray Killen, the mastermind of the killings, the film explores whether the prosecution of one unrepentant Klansman constitutes justice and whether healing and reconciliation are possible without telling the unvarnished truth.
“With the election of Barack Obama in 2008 -- unthinkable 40 years ago – our film serves as a current reminder of how far we’ve come in race relations and how far we need to go,” says Dickoff.
NESHOBA won Best Documentary at the Boston Film Festival, Indie Memphis Film Festival and Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival; Best Political Documentary and Best Directors at the New York Independent Film Festival; Best Mississippi Film at the Oxford Film Festival; Special Jury Award at WorldFest Houston; and, the Audience Award at the Albuquerque Film Festival.
For ticket information: www.hollywoodfilmfestival.com
Film website: www.neshobafilm.com
Filmmaker contact: ProBono3@aol.com