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The Cleveland Gazette was established in the midst of the major civil rights setbacks of the late 19th century. Although Cleveland, Ohio, provided a racially liberal climate, the Gazette revealed incidents of discrimination against Blacks and demanded that the incidents be corrected. As the Gazette reflected and commented on interracial behavior, it not only exemplified the Black press's role as a barometer for race relations, but also the importance of racial equality in a democratic society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay examines the print strategies of Britain's first Black editor, S. J. Celestine Edwards (1857?–1894), during his tenure at the antiracist journal, Fraternity. I show how Edwards capitalized on "scissors-and-paste" methods to articulate connections between minoritizing processes in British colonies and the US, thus formulating a theory of Anglo-Saxonism as a power relation reproduced across empires. Via the pages of Fraternity, Edwards reassembled this inter-imperial formation as an antiracist one, relying on reprints from the African American and British colonial press. Building on Caroline Bressey, I argue that Edwards extended the journal's function as a "relay station" for the colonial and African American press to his readers, whom he charged with memorizing and ventriloquizing Fraternity, and hailed as walking, talking issues of his paper. His directives to recirculate already reprinted texts inducted readers into an imagined community whose membership refracted across multiple publications rather than centered on one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The disappearance of three civil rights workers on the eve of Mississippi's Freedom Summer captivated the world. Hordes of re- porters rushed into the rural community of Philadelphia, Mississippi, to cover the search for James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael "Mickey" Schwerner. As reporters poured in, the community closed ranks and eventually came to see itself as the victim in the situation. This article explores how the local papers, the weekly Neshoba Democrat and the daily Meridian Star, covered the search for the missing men and finally, the gruesome discovery of their bodies. Throughout the 44-day search for the men, these newspapers supported the supposition that their disappearance was part of a hoax staged by civil rights organizations to gain publicity for the movement. By using loaded wording in articles and headlines, omitting and failing to acknowledge available information, reporting the demagoguery of state's politicians, and simply ignoring their own intuition, these papers and their reporters helped elevate the notion of a hoax among their readers. Ultimately, these newspapers failed in their social obligation to report a fair and balanced account of the story and exacerbated the situation causing further violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors deploy Marxist theory—and Gramscian hegemonic theory in particular—to investigate the subtleties of racial "othering" in the media representations of African Americans in a putatively postracial America. The paper's objects of inquiry are an opinion article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the reaction it instigated in the Atlanta Black Star. We argue that the contestations of signification between the dominant narrative about African Americans in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the rhetorical pushback it actuated in the alternative Atlanta Black Star both reproduce and legitimate dominant media framing by highlighting the alterity of subordinate ethnic groups and providing a site for contestation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Awareness of policy issues and determinations of their causes affect levels of support for government intervention, and media framing plays an important role, reflecting and shaping public understanding. In the contemporary United States, racial and ethnic health disparities persist, yet knowledge of disparities and support for recent health care policy measures vary significantly by race. This article utilizes a qualitative interpretive approach to examine mainstream and Black presses' framing of causes and solutions to racial and ethnic health disparities. Analysis is conducted on papers in New York, Philadelphia, and Washington DC between 2009–2011 in the context of the passage of the Affordable Care Act and significant national level actions to address health disparities. The analysis shows that the two genres demonstrate overlapping but distinct patterns, made apparent by attention to features of the framing context. Causal attributions were most often present and systemic in both genres, although mainstream coverage was more likely to convey health disparities' causes as tentative, unfolding, and with less detail. Coverage of solutions varied, with the Affordable Care Act and its likely impact on health disparities given greater attention in African-American newspapers. In some significant respects, then, mainstream and Black press audiences can be said to be receiving rather different senses of health disparities' origins and solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This essay examines the editorial positions of Thélismon Bouchereau and Frederick Douglass on abolition and Black uplift to explore a transnational, bilingual discussion of Black freedom in the Atlantic world. It surveys reporting in Haitian and U.S. newspapers, including La République and Douglass' Monthly to argue that Black editorship of newspapers in Haiti and the United States provided a cohesive intraracial perspective of nineteenth-century Blackness and of the shared Black struggle for the abolition of slavery and for the uplift of free Black people across the Atlantic world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives. We explored the relationship between tobacco companies and the Black press, which plays an important role in conveying information and opinions to Black communities. Methods. In this archival case study, we analyzed data from internal tobacco industry documents and archives of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), the trade association of the Black press. Results. In exchange for advertising dollars and other support, the tobacco industry expected and received support from Black newspapers for tobacco industry policy positions. Beginning in the 1990s, resistance from within the Black community and reduced advertising budgets created counterpressures. The tobacco industry, however, continued to sustain NNPA support. Conclusions. The quid pro quo between tobacco companies and the Black press violated journalistic standards and represented an unequal trade. Although numerous factors explain today's tobacco-related health disparities, the Black press's service to tobacco companies is problematic because of the trust that the community placed in such media. Understanding the relationship between the tobacco industry and the NNPA provides insight into strategies that the tobacco industry may use in other communities and countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Utilizing critical race theory, we can better understand the role that the American legal system and newspapers played in their efforts to maintain the racial status quo prior to the civil rights movement of the 1960s. At the intersection of race, journalism, and libel law, we see a rich vein of case law spawned from newspapers erroneously identifying white people as black. Such racial misidentification prompted a series of libel suits from 1900 to 1957 before the US Supreme Court placed libel law under First Amendment protection in New York Times v. Sullivan. Jim Crow had long been secure in southern newspapers and some errors in racial identification were inevitable. Before Sullivan, it could indeed be libelous when newspapers falsely identified white people as black. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2019, the HBO limited television series Watchmen aired to critical acclaim. A contemporary extension of the world established by the 1986-87 Watchmen comic, viewers and commentators alike have viewed the show as a critical commentary on racial politics in the United States. Using Nexis Uni's News Database, we conducted an inductive qualitative content analysis of 31 news articles written by mainstream television critics and/or writers about the show. Across reviews, three primary themes emerged—White supremacy, revisionist history (specifically pertaining to the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921), and the power of masks. The role of critics/writers in engaging audiences with themes about race is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Across cultures, darker skin tone is associated with lower social status. We propose that Black politicians are subject to skin tone biases in US newspapers, with hostile biases resulting in them being portrayed as more dark‐skinned. We hypothesized that such biases occur as a function of negative racial attitudes. We contrast this with an ingroup bias hypothesis, according to which partisans denigrate Black politicians of the other side, but not their own side. The present research evaluated skin tone biases toward President Barack Obama, a Democrat, and Dr. Ben Carson, a Republican, in US newspapers. We collected published photographs of President Obama during his first term in office (n = 3781 from 34 newspapers) as well as for Dr. Carson during his 2015–2016 presidential run (n = 1049 from 53 newspapers) from high‐circulation newspapers, which had endorsed Democratic or Republican presidential candidates. Blind coders rated the darkness of Obama's and Carson's skin tone. Multilevel modeling revealed that Democratic‐leaning newspapers portrayed both Obama and Carson as lighter than Republican‐leaning newspapers. Findings did not support a partisan ingroup bias. We conclude that Black politicians of either party are subject to a skin tone bias, where Republican‐leaning newspapers portray them with darker skin tones, regardless of whether they are a Democrat or a Republican. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the Rocking P Gazette newspaper that covers Professor Howard Palmer, who has written of cases of discrimination against most non-Anglo groups in Alberta and in particular against Black and Chinese people. It also mentions that historians have provided very damning evidence of racism toward Indigenous communities.

The synonymy of Blackness with criminality is not a new phenomenon in America. Documented historical accounts have shown how myths, stereotypes, and racist ideologies led to discriminatory policies and court rulings that fueled racial violence in the post-Reconstruction era and have culminated in the exponential increase of Black male incarceration today. Misconceptions and prejudices manufactured and disseminated through various channels such as the media included references to a “brute” image of Black males. In the 21st century, this negative imagery of Black males has frequently utilized the negative connotation of the terminology “thug.” In recent years, law enforcement agencies have unreasonably used deadly force on Black males allegedly considered to be “suspects” or “persons of interest.” The exploitation of these often-targeted victims’ criminal records, physical appearances, or misperceived attributes has been used to justify their unlawful deaths. Despite the connection between disproportionate criminality and Black masculinity, little research has been done on how unarmed Black male victims, particularly but not exclusively at the hands of law enforcement, have been posthumously criminalized. This article investigates the historical criminalization of Black males and its connection to contemporary unarmed victims of law enforcement. Action research methodology in the data collection process is utilized to interpret how Black male victims are portrayed by traditional mass media, particularly through the use of language, in ways that marginalize and devictimize these individuals. This study also aims to elucidate a contemporary understanding of race relations, racism, and the plight of the Black male in a 21-century “postracial” America. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A survey of 499 Black, Asian, and White American college students assessed their endorsement of “mainstream” American values, uncovering a 6-factor values structure, with some notable significant differences between the races. As expected, White respondents' own personal value orientations most closely matched their assessments of mainstream American values, and stronger racial identity (from a social identity perspective) corresponded to an even closer match. A variety of media consumption measures correlated with personal/mainstream American values congruence, with greater media exposure predicting greater endorsement of mainstream values, but most relationships were eclipsed when controlling for demographics, race, and racial identity. Predictors that maintained under controls included music TV and sports programming exposure, pointing to the potential importance of such particular media forms in the process of value-based cultural assimilation and reinforcement. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study explores how Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr., were portrayed in the New York Times, Washington Post, and Boston Globe. Drawing on concepts of hegemony and racism, a textual analysis was conducted to examine coverage of each man. Through this framing, Malcolm X was labeled as a deviant while Martin Luther King, Jr., was embraced as a righteous leader. These characterizations reinforced hegemonic power structures while challenging the established “protest paradigm.” [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The current study presents a critical discussion on community responses to health disparity research and the need for utilizing pedagogical strategies to prepare students to understand and address health disparities in racialized contexts. Qualitative research methods were used to examine community responses to media stories on two health disparity research projects, and four themes emerged: naming health disparities is a tool for dividing, structural racism does not exist, naming of health disparities is a political act, and health disparities exist because of individual-level deficiencies. The implications for teaching students about racial health disparities are presented and discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Ethnic newspapers seek to provide local news not provided by other media, yet few studies have compared local health news in ethnic versus mainstream newspapers. Local health news in ethnic newspapers could decrease health disparities among ethnic communities who are at higher risk for certain chronic illnesses and diseases. Localized story elements could inform ethnic audiences and broaden the discussion about local health issues, shedding light on priorities of ethnic media in providing relevant health information to their communities. This research compares local health news in ethnic (Black/Hispanic) versus mainstream (large/daily) newspapers and examines 3 localized story elements: local sources, localized statistics, and localized information. Results from the content analysis showed no differences in localized health news coverage for ethnic versus mainstream newspapers except the number of local health news stories and health stories with localized health information were higher in Hispanic and lower in Black as compared to mainstream newspapers. Findings suggest that ethnic newspapers are missing an opportunity to provide local health news that would differentiate them from competitors, attract advertisers, and improve health knowledge of ethnic readers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author studied newspaper coverage of the last month of mayoral races in four cities that, for the first time, featured viable Black candidates. The study, spanning 23 years, finds that newspapers gave different treatment to the two racial candidate groups. Among other things, Black candidates received more positive coverage than expected-including more front-page, above-the-fold coverage. But the price for that coverage seemed to come in stories dealing with Black candidates' ethical qualities-a much stronger look than that given to White candidates. Although the issue of race seemed to gain mention over time, most stories still featured the traditional campaign-type coverage, with policy themes a fairly distant second. In terms of bias, although Black candidates received slightly more negative coverage, most stories about the elections were either positive, balanced, or neutral, indicating journalists may want to examine such coverage to determine whether an inordinate amount of control by the candidates' campaign staffs exists or whether news values and coverage routines inadequately or inappropriately cover such races. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]