How to Tastefully Use Racial and Ethnic Descriptions in News Stories

No one can argue that today's journalism perpetuates stereotypes. While it can be argued whether this partiality bends over to the left or right party, no one can dispute that some biases are directed from both liberals and conservatives against the so called "minorities".

In the back of anyone's mind, there are stereotypes and generalizations that influence own opinions about different races and ethnicities. Almost anyone has either said or been told a racist joke. The media often use racist jokes and ethnic characteristics to ridicule or tease certain ethnicities.

Racial stereotyping in the news has the catalytic power to drive changes in many areas of our culture. Often acquired circuitously from exposure to mass media, stereotypes are developed, toughened and certified by the public's limited experience with various groups as well as by the public's expectations concerning these groups. In other words, ignorance drives prejudice.

The role of journalists is to educate the public about cultural diversity. Stereotypes are oversimplified codes attributed to members of a group so as to give the audience a common understanding of inherent social implications associated with race, age, religion, gender, culture, sexual orientation and mental or physical disability.

Anyone who observes news media in the United Stateswill notice that many of the images of minorities such as African-Americans, Hispanics, Asian-Americans, American Indians, and others are shaped by the media. For instance, Mexicans are often referred to as "the sly Hispanic immigrant" and African Americans are considered to have the highest crime rate of all minorities. Asians are referred to as "yellows", while President Obama is referred to as the "first African American president of the United States".

Without a doubt, stereotyping does exist in journalism, but not as a result of journalists being racists. This is an unfair and rather naïve conclusion. In effect, racial stereotyping in the news is the combination of four key factors that relate to (1) the lack of ethnic diversity in the majority of newsrooms, (2) the lack of sensitivity or awareness of cultures other than white, middle-class, (3) the business requirements and professional values of the news media and (4) the expectations and biases of the public.

In the Presidential elections of 2008, the Democratic Party made an effort to level racial stereotyping by promoting the racial and gender diversity of its candidates: a white female, Hillary Rodham Clinton; an African American male, Barack Obama; and a Latino male, Bill Richardson. From day one, the media have promoted a two-person contest between a Female and a Non-White President.

To avoid racial stereotyping journalists need to know some basic value principles. In particular:

• By increasing their awareness of higher order concepts, journalists become more conscious about the gap between reality and fantasy.
• By exploring cultural diversity out on the streets, journalists talk to people and develop the ability to interpret events. In doing so, they get the real pulse of the society, in contrast to surveys that, no matter how sophisticated, they cannot replace real life.
• By becoming aware of the needs of their audience, journalists learn how to report in a manner as free of stereotypes as possible so as to function effectively in the society.
• By re-examining objectivity in reporting, journalists can produce critical analysis and questioning. By asking simple questions "How do you know that?" or "What do you base that on?" journalists can report through a better understanding of fact-related relationships.
• Breaking out of old paradigms enables journalists to produce more content-relevant stories avoiding stereotyping.

Journalism mirrors the culture of its era. Chasing non-whites and blaming them for anything that goes wrong in America is only part of a power game that is found at the center of the status quo in news media today.

What is needed is to increase ethnic diversity in the newsrooms so that expressions like "the sly Hispanic immigrant" or the "dishonest African American" cease to exist. Objective reporting should rely on a broad variety of ethnic cultures so as to avoid racial prejudices. This is the only way to move forward.