New Media Same As Old Media (With A Few Exceptions)

    Huffpost is entering into a deal with AOL. The Daily Beast has a deal to work with Newsweek. New media is settling into cozy relationship with the corporate world. Against this backdrop we have newly released books by two women of color who tell of the objective racism they faced in their careers in mainstream media.

    Soledad O'Brien in "The Next Big Story." and Carole Simpson in "NewsLady" tell similar stories of hostility and racism that they faced from colleagues in newsrooms in the United States. I link the observation of corporate relationships between new media and the opposition that O'Brien and Simpson faced because to me this is a continuation of a theme. Minority voices still have a large hurdle to cross in the new media just as they did in the old media. One can often count minority front page articles on the HuffPost and Daily Beast on one hand. I'm not calling the lack of diversity racist, but it may suggest a lack of outreach identical to that found in old media newsrooms.

    When the Daily Beast gave its award for the 20 smartest people of 2010, we find Bill and Melinda Gates, Steve Jobs, John Stewart, Julian Assange, Michelle Rhee, Christopher Hitchens, etc. The lone African-American was Kanye West! Nobody was in the decision room to question the selection of West as the Black representative for the list.

    As newspapers and magazine are laying off reporters and closing bureaus, the number of minority voices at these institutions are shrinking. When we look at the range of diversity at new media sites we also find a dearth of voices of color. The result is that when a high achieving black female student goes missing, there is no national coverage. It was not important to old media or new media.

    Roland Martin (of John Stewart ascot fame) pointed out the lack of diversity while discussing the Huffpost/AOL venture on The Tom Joyner Morning Show, a radio program. Tom Joyner, the host of the radio program on which Martin appeared this morning noted that he (Joyner) did not expect majority media companies to delve into issues that impact minority communities. Joyner has his own news site, Black America Web, which features a host of writers who focus on a Black perspective on issues.

    It should be noted that Black America Web carries, Gregory Kane, Black conservative op-ed writer for the Baltimore Sun among it's ranks. Another African-American themed webite, the Root, also provides a Black perspective on the issues. Lenny McAllister, who founded the Hip-Hop Republican website, is a frequent contributor. There is an attempt to have a wide range of minority voices.

    Tom Joyner speaks for many when he says that we cannot expect the new corporate media to do the job that the old corporate media wasn't doing. Some may feel that news is just news and that race should not matter, but I beg to differ. News-oriented websites have arisen focusing on issues from a Liberal or LGBT viewpoint. Ethnic minority websites are simply filling a void.

    Comments

    well, 55 years ago i was watching John Cameron Swazee smoking camels while giving a 15 minute run down of the daily news with a hat that said: Smoke Camels.

    With that introduction to the news I have a perspective that is no doubt skewed.

    I mean the developments over the decades with regard to 'the news' are incredible.

    I see it all as propaganda issued by the corps for the corps and of the corps, but if one supplements the viewing of cable news with a little web research, I learn a lot.

    But I see minorities on a regular basis throughout the day on cable news. I see a lot of women. That was not the case decades ago.

    There is regular reporting from Cairo lately featuring one man; an African American and he is doing one hell of a job and is interviewed on the hour per satellite.

    I see African-Americans, Asians, Jews, Arabs, Indians (although nary a Native American), Persians, and other groups being represented.

    Now I have not read the entire file of the people you are reporting today and I am damn sure that in the offices there are behaviors that would be considered against the law.

    I have read about some real problems at FOX involving civil suits.

    Then there is the problem associated with non disclosure clauses in the employment contracts.

    I am not disputing what you are saying, I am only commenting as a viewer, an older viewer and there are few presentations on the telly that reflect the real population here in American than cable news.


    I view the media differently. Name the anchors of a nightly cable news network. Can you name any minority anchor. It's the nigghtly shows that are the big draw for cable news.

    I find it interestingg that two minority women write books about their experiences that are literally mirror images.

    The point about Kanye West being the only "smart" African-American in the list, reflects a lack of diversity. The person below was readily able to come up with a noted astromomer who would have been a better example than an entertainer.

    I view what happens in MSM as identical to the situation that the NFL facedyears ago. There werefew Black head coaches because ownership had virtually no repeated  contact with coaches of color. When the NFL required that teams interview Black coaches, low  and  behold qualified people were found. Within a short period of time, we had Black head coaches competing in the super bowl.

    When minorities get placed  in decision making positions, I think we'll see a broader coverage of the news. It may even make  the news when a Black female goes missing.


    It may even make  the news when a Black female goes missing.

    Only if she's wealthy.


    This Black female has been missing for some time now.

    From NC, she was visiting relatives here in Baltimore.


    Her story is only the tip of the iceberg. There are many events that occur I the African-American community that go unnoticed. With few minorities in decision making positions, those stories are likely not even brought up during discussions of what should get a headline on news.

    I think that a significant number of news consumers in minority communities do not look to MSM for information about their communities. I would love to know how Muslims in America feel about the events in Tunesia and Egypt.

    Because minority communities are not seen on a regular basis, it is easy for them to be demonized. If all I see of Muslims in America is when a terrorist attack is being planned, I lose sight of the law-abiding Muslims in the country.

    The slice of America represented by MSM is very narrow


    So, does that mean that Kanye West is smarter than, for example, Neil deGrasse Tyson? That's wrong on so many fronts…


    It means that much of MSM has no clue about the activities of a host of African-Americans involved in medicine and technology.

    It's equivalent to promoting Sammy Davis Jr  in the 1950s-1960s as one ofthe smartest people, while overlooking a distinguished chemist like Percy Julian or a lawyer like Turgood Marshall.


    It's disgusting that there are no minority prime time anchors after all this time.  I'm hearing more and more about The Grio lately, but I would love to see someone like Melissa Harris Perry with her own show.  She would be great.  And it's well past time.

     


     Lenny McAllister did not start nor is he the founder of HipHopRepublican.com. The founder of the site is Richard Ivory.

    New York Times interview with the Founder http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/09/nyregion/09repubblog.html


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