This assignment was very eye opening and surprising. The amount of racial slurs was surprising to me. There was also a difference in the way members of different ethnic groups referred to themselves and others, versus the way members of other groups did. For example, just like we talked about in class, the terms “African American”, and “Black” are really preferential. Another shocking thing to me was how underhandedly racist some reporters and witnesses can be. It was not in an obvious way, but more in a way that represents how commonly racist their everyday lives and communities are. It was usually not intentional, which just represents how behind the times the older generations can be and how blind they are to the racist comments and slurs they project every day.
I am very pleased with my selections of location to watch the news. My news cast was located in a smaller suburb of Dallas, Tx, but it also covered Dallas and state wide and country wide news which gave me a variety of crimes and coverage. I got to watch coverage over smaller, non violent crimes, all the way up to major government corruptions. When covering crimes over high profile whites, by white reporters, they related to their suspects race and tended to lean more towards a reason, or at least an understanding of the crime, in order to make it seem less severe than it really is. Conversely, when a white reporter covered a crime committed by a person of a different race, they used a more condescending and judgmental tone.
This was a very good experience for me and taught me to watch newscasts with a more critical eye.
Media is counting on you developing that critical eye.
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