There is a sharp racial imbalance among election stories that make it to the front page of newspapers. A new study revealed that nearly all of said stories are written by whites.
The 4th Estate concluded from information tallied between Jan. 1 and Oct. 12 that despite the cultural breakdown of staff members at newspapers all over the country, whites appeared to have the final say. “We found no minority reporters for the San Francisco Chronicle writing front page election stories,” said Jonas Eno-Van Fleet, of 4th Estate. According to figures from the American Society of News Editors, minorities make up for more than 20 percent of the Chronicle’s staff.
At other papers, like the Miami Herald, more than a quarter of the staff are minorities, yet no front page election stories were written by Hispanic writers.
On the contrary, over at the Dallas Morning News, one-fifth of front page political stories were written by minorities, the highest percentage found during the study. Additionally, immigration stories are “least likely” to be written by minorities, David Graham of Washington D.C. newspaper, The Atlantic noted.
On a national level, only 12.3 percent of staff at daily newspapers are minorities, according to ASNE.
Of course, assuming that journalists at papers across the country abide by a code of ethics, the findings don’t flat out conclude that front page political news is biased. However, one can’t help but argue the notion when a paper like the New York Post—which has a reputation for being racist—is used as an example.
See the complete chart below.
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Photos: socialtimes.com/Poynter.org
