There have been many articles and news segments comparing the lack of policing at the capitol riots of January 6th with the outsized show of force that Black Lives Matter protesters faced in the same city. It is clear that those that peacefully stood against white supremacy were brutally shut down, while those that committed insurrection in the name of white supremacy were free to return to their homes. Subsequently, many of the rioters were arrested and will, hopefully, face justice for their crimes. However, the discrepancy in response shows that white supremacist terrorists are treated better by the police than innocent black men and women. What is more troubling is how the media has always committed this same unfair treatment.
Time and again, newspaper headlines emphasize surprisingly positive qualities of violent white terrorists and mass shooters, while vilifying black victims of violence caused by the police. When presented with this pattern, one cannot help but wonder why. Is it simply the case of journalists looking for a different angle on their stories? Or is it something more nefarious? Do journalists identify more with white terrorists than they do with any black man or woman? Or do they feel their readers do? To answer this question, it is useful to look at two other groups that the media treats differently: protestors and those that police them.
Coverage of the police is often couched in terms that distract or uses syntax that obfuscates. Passive voice is so commonly used with the police that you might not have noticed in the italicized text above. The passive voice, a stylistic no-no in most English writing, is when what should be the direct object is used as the subject. For example, consider the difference between “John hit Steve in the face” and “Steve was hit in the face by John.” The difference here may seem small but it is significant. With the first sentence, it is clear that John did something wrong. He hit Steve, after all. With the second sentence, doubt creeps into your mind. Was it an accident? Did Steve do something wrong? Perhaps, one might argue, the reader identifies with Steve, the victim, more in the second sentence. That, too, suggests that John is the afterthought in the sentence. John could be dropped entirely and the sentence still has meaning. It is a less direct, and therefore less informative, sentence. Journalism is meant to inform above all else.
The subject of a sentence has agency, the object does not. Journalists know this. Police often make arrests, take down criminals, or do other heroic acts in headlines but seldom seem to be fully accountable for the mistakes they make or the laws they break. In this news story, despite detaining a Black reporter for asking obvious questions about police using overly violent tactics, the police don’t even appear in the headline. Imagine how you would understand the situation better and read the article differently if the headline read “Dover Police Tackle and Detain Dover Post Reporter.” You would certainly want to know why they did that.
The reason for this is simple. The media, especially local papers, rely on police departments for reports and information on news stories. If a reporter or paper runs a negative story on a police department, that department is less likely to help that newspaper or reporter out. Headlines are easily searchable and scannable. Likewise, newspapers have a financial interest in cooperating with systems of white supremacy, albeit in subtle ways.
Kyle Rittenhouse, a 17-year-old who drove across state lines illegally armed with a semi-automatic rifle and allegedly killed two people and injured a third in Kenosha on August 25th, was similarly treated graciously by the media. Given Rittenhouse’s connection to and vocal support of the police it is fairly reasonable to connect the media’s friendly treatment of police, even those that have committed murder, with the empathetic treatment of violent white criminals. Violence is never the issue. When a white supremacists, like Rittenhouse, commits violence in defense of the state it is deemed tragically noble but when a white person commits violence for political or personal reasons, we are concerned with how and why a “normal” person can deviate so drastically from the norm. If such people can be discarded (they are poor, mentally ill, or otherwise marginalized), they will be. If not, their behavior will have to be reconciled by crafting a narrative to align with that of our society.
The events of January 6th and the media coverage represent an anomaly. White supremacists literally need to commit insurrection to be portrayed negatively by the media. Even now, there are stories coming out about the humanity of these insurrectionists and terrorists. This same kindness is not extended to BLM protesters, black victims of police violence, or anti-fascist protesters. This points to the inherent illegality of Black Americans in the popular consciousness. Our modern police force was built to police labor. The Fugitive Slave Act institutionalized slave catchers who later enforced Jim Crow combined with strike-breaking organizations like the Pinkertons to form our modern conception of police. When White Americans threaten the status quo, they are viewed as criminal, whereas Black Americans simply need to exist in order to be viewed that way. The police exist to uphold order, not to be moral agents for change. The media, too, is not meant to be the arbiter of morality. The media simply reflects who we are, as we are. We can change what the media reports by changing who we are.
It is important to understand the media not as a cabal of scheming narrative pushers (at least not most of the media), but an aggregate of rational human beings with their own biases and financial needs. We have the power to shift the consciousness of our media. First, we must be literate and critical consumers of media. Be aware when you read something in the passive voice and recognize that it serves a purpose. Think critically about what that purpose is and do not allow those around you to be uncritical of it.
Second, we must hold the journalists accountable for what they write and say. Insist that they cover the stories that they should or if you have an event have them cover it. Contribute financially to local news sources by subscribing and listening, and send letters to the editor when you see something that is not right. Below is a list of local media organizations that you might wish to support:
https://www.delawarepublic.org/
https://www.newarkpostonline.com/
https://www.delawareonline.com/news/crime/
https://www.wdel.com/news/
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