Holding Network TV News Accountable for the Perpetuation of African American Stereotypes

Author: Jennifer Melone
Graduation Year: 2003
Advisor: Diana Owen
Reader: Stephen Farnsworth
Date: 07 March 2006
Link to Thesis: JenMelone.pdf

Racism was not vanquished by the civil rights movement. The abolition of legal racism does not automatically create racial equality (1), and nowhere is this more apparent than in network television news. Despite the absence of legal racism, African American stereotypes are still very much a part of the public consciousness. This is, at least partially, a result of sustained exposure to media messages from TV news which reinforces these myths. The overwhelming majority of African American images on television news consist of suspected criminals, homeless beggars, welfare queens, ghetto-dwelling gang members, or drug addicts (2).

Certainly, the United States has progressed a long way from slavery and Jim Crow, but racism was merely tempered, not eradicated with civil rights legislation. As Arthur Spears states, racism ?is institutionalized into the fabric of all American institutions (3).? Cornell West agrees that ?overt forms of discrimination have been attacked and forced to become more covert?yet the legacy of white supremacy lingers (4).?

Despite successful African American politicians and celebrities, the structural position of blacks in America has changed little (5), and public policy continues to regard African Americans as ?a ?problem people??rather than as fellow American citizens with problems (6).? Dating back to the Johnson administration, the ?conceptual groundwork? of public policy has been designed to ?change ?them,? not ?us (7).?? Below the surface of legal equality is an undercurrent of prejudice stemming from misunderstanding concerning African Americans.

Television, particularly television news, perpetuates this ignorance. Criticism of television?s treatment of African Americans is common, however, the loudest criticism lately focuses on the lack of positive representations in TV entertainment. For example, in 1999, the NAACP called the networks? fall lineups an ?outrage? for their lack of minority characters in leading roles (8). The racial landscape of fictional TV entertainment is an important problem to address, however entertainment is not TV?s most immediate problem because of the powerful influence of the news media.

If television is to be a valuable tool for discussions of race, TV news must be reconfigured first. Fictional entertainment, for all of its abilities to appear as a reflection of society, is still fiction. The news is offered as an accurate reflection of the events and social problems facing the nation. For this reason it is imperative that TV news be overhauled.

Television is used neither solely as a medium of entertainment, nor exclusively as a medium of news consumption. As a result, it makes sense to study both to grasp the challenges facing the struggle to reform TV?s attitude towards minority groups. Attention is continually focused on entertainment?s shortcomings, thus the broader question for research is, by what means, if any, is it possible for fictional television programs to mitigate the negative portrayal of African Americans in television news? This, however, will not be the main focus of this study. Instead, I will examine the less-studied area of news by asking in what manner are African Americans portrayed by television news and how do these portrayals affect public opinions of African Americans as a group?

To examine the nature of African American representation in TV news, I have chosen to use network TV news coverage of welfare from 1991-1996. The case of welfare (and welfare reform) represents a larger pattern of news coverage of African Americans, especially of race-coded topics such as poverty, crime, and drugs. The years 1991-1996 were when welfare was most predominantly on the news, as Congress debated reform that would culminate in the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996. Each chapter of this thesis will offer evidence that television news exerts a dangerous influence over public opinion because of its inability, or unwillingness, to progress beyond placing blacks in stereotypical positions in its stories.

When a topic as powerfully stereotyped as welfare is persistently in the news, it is naïve to believe that the presence of black characters on fictional TV shows will single-handedly debunk public prejudice. Based on my research, I will conclude that the one-dimensional images of African Americans perpetuated by television news not only maintain, but create dangerous stereotypes. These are in turn believed to be true of the entire race (as evidenced by public opinion). The sheer volume of news coverage and the power those images have over the minds of the American public leaves little doubt that any discussion of reinventing television as a racially positive medium must first confront network TV news.


1.Steinberg, Stephen. ?The Liberal Retreat from Race During the Post-Civil Rights Era.? The House That Race Built. Ed. Wahneema Lubiano. New York: Vintage Books, 1998. 13-47. 16. 2.Gilens, Martin. Why Americans Hate Welfare: Race, Media, and the Politics of Antipoverty Policy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999. 113. 3.Spears, Arthur. Race and Ideology: Language, Symbolism, and Popular Culture. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1999. 11. 4.West, Cornel. Race Matters. 2nd ed. New York: Vintage Books, 2001. xiv-xv. 5.Spears, Arthur. Race and Ideology: Language, Symbolism, and Popular Culture. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1999. 227. 6.West, Cornel. Race Matters. 2nd ed. New York: Vintage Books, 2001. 5. 7.Steinberg, Stephen. ?The Liberal Retreat from Race During the Post-Civil Rights Era.? The House That Race Built. Ed. Wahneema Lubiano. New York: Vintage Books, 1998. 13-47. 23. 8.Ryan, Joel. E! Online News. 12 July 1999. < http://www.eonline.com/News/Items/Pf/0,1527,5033,00.html> Accessed 9 November 2002.