The Cycle of the News

For every controversial crime, someone is going to make a ridiculous accusation or an absurdly inappropriate statement that will only exacerbate the problems that society is dealing with. With the case of Trayvon Martin, Geraldo Rivera said, “I think the hoodie is as much responsible for [his] death as George Zimmerman was.” Though an item of clothing should not be the topic of conversation regarding the death of a young teenager, and though Rivera’s insensitive statement should have never been said, he hinted at an important point (intentionally or unintentionally) regarding the selective nature of modern news broadcasting. The reasoning for stereotypes such as these existing in today’s society is not because of the article of clothing itself; it is because of the filtering done by news teams that funnel these stories to the public.

We have read several studies that vividly show the problems of the news when it comes to race-related controversies and criminal activity. The study conducted by Franklin D. Gilliam (University of California, Los Angeles) and Shanto Iyengar (Stanford University) found that 70% of participants recalled the suspect of a violent crime as black (13% recalled the suspect as white and 17% could not recall the suspect’s race). Something as simple as recalling the race of a possible perpetrator already sees polarized numbers in the statistical findings. This all begins with the news – the main reason that much of these stereotypes exist.

The news works in a very cyclical manner. When one incident occurs, anything that follows a similar pattern will be broadcasted to the masses. This creates a trend in the news stories, thus, establishing stereotypes among the citizens; then it repeats over and over again. When a stereotype is created, it is difficult to get the masses to change their perception of that particular race. Unfortunately, the news has focused on stories relating to the "African American in the hoodie" and it has become recognized by parts of society. While I do not think it is at all justified to say what Rivera said, in his defense, his view seems to be suggesting that society should not play into widely recognized stereotypes in order to avoid conflict. If the news displays an overused stereotype in a story, it is prompting people to think that particular stereotype is true – even when it is not remotely close to the truth. If the news insists on promoting this stereotype, people begin thinking with that mindset because that is all that is being told to them. Sadly, that is the world that we live in. There are now deadly consequences for non-criminal activity due to poor judgment by members of society.