The New York Post: The Right Wing Propaganda Machine
The New York Post, a popular daily newspaper in the United States, is known for its conservative political views and its coverage of news with a hardnosed right-leaning bias. This bias can and has been damaging to Black people in several ways. First, the New York Post's political bias can result in the publication of stories that reinforce negative stereotypes about Black people. For example, the picture above showcases two different instances with similar outcomes. 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was murdered, but the New York Post thought his having "weed in his system" was an important part of the story, while 25-year-old Connor Sturgeon, who killed 5 individuals before being rightfully gunned down by police has had the blanket of "CTE' and "Mental Illness" covering for him. This type of coverage can fuel racist attitudes and discrimination against Black people.
Overall, the New York Post's political bias can contribute to a culture of racism and discrimination that harms Black people. It is important for media outlets to strive for balance and accuracy in their reporting, and to be mindful of their coverage's impact on marginalized communities. But from what we've seen, the New York Post doesn't care to do any of that.
Source:
https://www.allsides.com/news-source/new-york-post
I agree with your post! The media is horribly biased. Even left leaning networks like CNN coverage about the Louisville shooter was lenient to him and mentioned the shooter had mental health challenges and depression. Same way the Nashville shooter was covered. The shooter was facing mental struggles as well. When incidents like these happen I hate to see them always blame mental health. I feel like the media is setting a precedent of giving a pass to those struggling with mental health problems to commit atrocities.
ReplyDeleteI guess I will give a counter argument since this post seemed to also have a strong bias when talking about the bias. Its an entire different question to ask if the media should cover details of autopsies that paint the victim in a negative light but still remain factual. The New York Post also has covered Trayvon Martin's stories in a positive light (See below) so its not really the case that its biased in one direction which directs us back to the original question of should any 'negative 'bias be added by media. The Louisville shooter as more details come out of the manifesto seems to show the primary cause of this incident was solely because of mental health as he wanted to show how easy it was to commit shootings with mental health problems/access to firearms.
ReplyDeleteThe positive: https://nypost.com/2022/02/26/trayvon-martins-mom-nyc-leaders-gather-on-10th-anniversary-of-death/
https://nypost.com/2017/05/05/trayvon-martin-to-receive-degree-posthumously/
https://nypost.com/2012/04/12/trayvon-martin/#1
Right wing media does hurt African Americans. Fox News can be included in that as well. But let's stick to the New York Post, which you have blogged about. How stories are reported do affect how the public in general will react. The New York Post clearly has a bias. If the post did not have a bias, then they there would be no need to say Trayvon Martin had "weed" in his system. Why would this be relevant? George Zimmerman had no right to approach him regardless. As to the posts seemingly different reporting stance on Sturgeon, I see this quite frequently espeically with the gun debate. Minorities are made about to be criminals, but others are made out to be mentally ill. "If only they would of gotten help" attitude. Stereotyping is a big problem in mass media. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDelete