Harvard event spotlights vital role of narratives
The vital role of narratives was highlighted yesterday by an august panel in a Zoom conference titled, “Grassroots Advocacy and Media Portrayals of Race, Gender, and Protests,” sponsored by several Harvard University-affiliated organizations.

I discussed partisan media narratives in the coverage of the recent George Floyd protests. See chart below. My presentation concentrated on three prominent divergences in conservative vs. liberal media narratives that related to depiction of violence, the portrayal of police, and coverage of Antifa.

As I discussed violence, no one in the audience of 70 was surprised to learn that Fox News used the terms “riots” or “rioters” five times more than CNN, or that Fox discussed looting 25% more than CNN. I also illustrated how the “rioters or protester” narrative was displayed on newspaper front pages, the best of which (Kansas City Star, Minneapolis Star Tribune) spotlighted the 99% who were peacefully protesting, while the least responsible (Chicago Tribune, New York Post) sensationalized and spotlighted the violence.

I then presented a small study I recently conducted that looked at narratives about police in the media. I searched four news outlets, two conservative and two liberal, for the terms “police brutality” and “police systemic racism.” Unsurprisingly, the term “police brutality” was used much more by liberal media (292 combined mentions between May 25 and June 2 in the New York Times and Washington Post Blogs vs. 37 mentions during the same period at washingtonTimes.com and the Wall St. Journal). As for “police systemic racism,” the study showed 70 combined mentions in the New York Times and Washington Post Blogs, vs. just 13 combined mentions at washingtontimes.com and the Wall St. Journal.

My presentation then discussed Antifa, Fox News’ favorite fantasy. Two different studies showed Fox playing up Antifa (six times more mentions than on CNN, for example), while exaggerating the purported threat. In reality, I said, the FBI found no evidence that Antifa had anything to do with the violence that accompanied some of the recent protests.

Once I laid out the partisan media narratives, I offered peace journalism as a way to improve this coverage, including reporting counternarratives that show different perspectives on protesters and the police; reporting on “them” with respect and empathy; and giving peacemakers a more prominent voice.

Co-panelist New York Times best-selling author (“All Souls: A Family Story from Southie”) and Northeastern University lecturer Michael Patrick Macdonald also emphasized the importance of narratives. He spoke about the importance and role of personal narratives in healing and the struggle for social justice. Macdonald believes social movements are best led by victims and through, at least at the outset, peer support networks. He said, “Movements begin with the telling of stories” and helping people to reclaim their own stories. Certainly, this reflects peace journalism’s call to give a voice to the voiceless, and to tell counternarratives about marginalized groups.

Social activist Vincent Bish, former operations director for Slack for Good and Obama administration appointee, talked about media stigma, or narratives, about those who have been incarcerated, and the importance of changing that narrative—offering a counternarrative, in PJ parlance. His Slack for Good initiative works to place formerly incarcerated persons in tech jobs by combating “social redlining” that denies  opportunities to those who have been imprisoned. One lesson Bish has learned as an activist is that “no one side is unequivocally good.” This is a valuable lesson, I believe, for journalists, especially those who engage in reflexive hyper-partisanship.

Rachel Brown Pittman, president of the United Nations Association of the U.S., spoke about her group’s grassroots advocacy in encouraging U.S. support and leadership for the United Nations. She said UNAUSA encourages its members to be “vocal and visible” in the media, and to blog, write op-eds, and otherwise actively engage on social media. As peace journalists, Pittman’s presentation should encourage journalists to reflect on offering counternarratives that illuminate the scope and efficacy of the UN, as opposed to the typical media narratives that feature only UN dysfunction.

The event was sponsored by Harvard University Kennedy School Women in Power Conference and Harvard’s UNAUSA and Students vs. Pandemic groups.

A letter to Fox News on their George Floyd coverage

Dear Fox News:

Your coverage of the unrest following the murder of George Floyd has crossed the line from your usual polemical, partisan, irresponsible “journalism” into inflammatory disinformation that could potentially incite violence. 

To paraphrase the take down of another demagogue (Joseph McCarthy) whom you would have no doubt supported: Fox News, have you no sense of decency?

One example of your indecency is your distorted, mendacious reporting and commentary about Antifa, a tiny anti-fascist protest movement (it’s too loosely constituted to even be called an organization) that has sometimes had violent encounters with right wingers and neo-Nazis.

Antifa is your favorite bogeyman. A study shows that from May 27 to June 10, “Fox News programs have mentioned Antifa more than 325 times, per TVEyes. Fox Business: 173+ times. Antifa has come up 67+ times on CNN and 88+ times on MSNBC.”

The truth is that Antifa poses little or no threat. According to the Washington Post, when the group tried to gather nationally, they topped out at a few hundred. On CNN, Historian Mark Bray, who has studied the leftist groups, agreed. He said, "You can see that when these groups in major cities mobilize, they don't get more than a couple hundred people…”

In addition, Antifa had nothing to do with the violence during the recent protests. The FBI found “no evidence that the American militant anti-fascist movement Antifa was involved in violence that erupted during national protests over the death of George Floyd.” Further, a Reuters “examination of federal court records related to the charges and social media posts by some of the suspects and interviews with defense lawyers and prosecutors found mostly disorganized acts of violence by people who have few obvious connections to Antifa or other left-wing groups.” Reuters looked at federal charging documents related to the protests and found “no violent acts are alleged at all” that are attributed to Antifa.

When you weren’t scaring your viewers with a false Antifa narrative, you frightened them with distorted reporting and commentary that emphasized violence over legitimate, peaceful protests and the legitimate reasons behind those protests. A GDELT study  (chart, right) showed that Fox reports used the terms “riots” or “rioters” five times more than CNN, and your reports discussed looting 25% more than CNN. And yes, you discussed Antifa six times more than on CNN.

The result is that your deliberately distorted and demonstrably false narratives have created an atmosphere of irrational fear, a fertile ground into which seeds of disinformation have been planted on social media. Thanks to Fox and fake social media posts, terrified gun-toting small town residents in the Western U.S. have gathered to defend themselves against an Antifa invasion –an invasion, of course, that never came, and will never come. (See recent, excellent articles in the New York Times and Buzzfeed. This is the alt right’s “waiting for the Great Pumpkin” moment, the difference being that Charlie Brown and his friends weren’t armed with AK-47’s. If Fox had reported the truth about Antifa, perhaps the good citizens of small town Montana, Oregon, and Idaho wouldn’t have been so quick to take up arms and contemplate violence.

Fox News, you can and must be better. Start with more honest coverage that does less pandering and more informing. Take my advice from Peace Journalism Principles and Practices, and report on “them” (the “other side”) fairly, respectfully, and with empathy; and report about the invisible causes and effects of the unrest, and not just the visible violence. You must report contextually in a way that reflects that 99% of the protesters were peaceful. Also, report counter-narratives that provide a different perspective on the protesters, the police, and the community (this means avoiding stereotypes like all cops are brutal or all protesters are violent thugs); and report with reconciliation in mind--discuss how healing can occur and what needs to happen for it to begin.

Fox, if you don’t get better, it’s inevitable that you and your allies spreading social media disinformation are going to eventually have blood on your hands, since it’s inevitable that one of your deluded viewers hopped up on Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson wades into a crowd of protesters and starts using the assault weapons you love so much.

Steven Youngblood, concerned viewer

New grant will fund media literacy and PJ project

I'm thrilled to announce that I have won a Citizen Diplomacy Action Fund Rapid Response award from the U.S. Department of State. The $9300 award will fund a project titled, “Media Literacy for Students: Lessons from Covid-19.”

The project will take place in the greater Kansas City area. It will utilize virtual seminars and projects to educate and inform students about our society’s information challenges as illustrated by disinformation about Covid-19 and other current issues. The project’s activities will be grounded in the principles of effective media literacy training (including media content analysis and critical thinking); and informed by the fundamentals of peace journalism, which seeks, among other things, to debunk propaganda, reject ‘us vs. them’ constructs, give a voice to the voiceless, and facilitate societal discussions about solutions.

The first virtual seminars will be held in September 2020, followed by the creation of a student-produced magazine and podcast discussing and analyzing media. The project will culminate with a Zoom media literacy summit in January, 2021.

Student participants in the project will hail from Center Middle School, Center High School, Johnson County Community College, and Park University. As part of the project, Center Middle and High School students will receive tablets and digital subscriptions to the Kansas City Star.

Beside myself, other project trainers include Lewis Diuguid, journalist and multicultural education consultant in Kansas City; and Allan Leonard, journalist and fact-checking expert based in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

This funding opportunity is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State and implemented by Partners of the Americas in partnership with the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Alumni of U.S. government-funded exchanges are eligible to apply for Citizen Diplomacy Action Fund Rapid Response grants. Youngblood could apply as a two-time J. William Fulbright scholar (Moldova 2001; Azerbaijan 2007).

For more on the Rapid Response program, see https://www.partners.net/citizen-diplomacy-action-fund-us-alumni 

I want to better educate myself about race, Black Lives Matter

Received from a Park University student of mine several days ago...

Dear Professor Youngblood: 

There is a lot of information floating around on social media about the Black Lives Matters movement and about police brutality. I feel strongly that this is a problem in America but I don’t feel like I know enough to be fully aware of it or how to speak out to help my African American friends. I was wondering if you knew of any news sources or articles from both sides that I could read to better educate myself that would be much appreciated. 

Sincerely, Alyssa

 

Dear Alyssa:

Thank you for your insightful, thoughtful question. I’ll do my best to answer it, with the help of some writers and researchers who have much more expertise on this subject than I. Please follow the links I’ve provided, and analyze the information yourself.

 

Like you, I am still learning.

 

Whether we’re talking about policing, housing, health care, education, or a hundred other domains, what we really should be discussing is systemic racism—policies and practices embedded in societal structures that favor or disadvantage one group. I’ve found a great, Four minute video that explains systemic racism in a way that even I can understand. 

The most revealing article about systemic racism I’ve read is “The Case for Reparations” by Ta- Nehisi Coates, who anchors his argument around housing discrimination. Specifically, Coates draws on a mountain of facts that discuss redlining and how African Americans were and continue to be relegated to “less desirable” neighborhoods. Even today, studies show that racist practices called racial steering by realty companies mean that blacks aren’t even shown properties in “white neighborhoods.” (For details, see Newsday article, and Academic Study). Until the mid-1960’s, government housing loans were systematically denied to African Americans, while mortgage lenders have also traditionally discriminated against African Americans (Coates).

 

Systemic, racist housing discrimination has led to a litany of other problems for black majority communities. Property tax- supported schools in African American areas receive less funding since the houses in these neighborhoods are less valuable. (NPR article) These schools, then, struggle to offer competitive teacher salaries and extracurricular activities compared to their suburban counterparts. Students attending urban schools, who often live in poverty, are less likely to attend and succeed in college. Employment discrimination exacerbates the situation. Poverty is concentrated in inner cities, though it has recently spread as well to smaller towns. Not surprisingly, black unemployment is consistently twice as high as white unemployment. Where schools are poor, jobs are scarce, and poverty is prevalent, crime flourishes. As has been well publicized in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder, entrenched racism is manifest in discriminatory treatment of African Americans in the criminal justice system. 

 

Not everyone believes these facts. 

 

Skeptics are quick to fall back on “what-about-isms.” For example, in response to Black Lives Matter,  we hear in traditional and social media, “what about white lives?” According to their website, Black Lives Matter's mission is “to eradicate white supremacy and build local power to intervene in violence inflicted on black communities by the state and vigilantes,” not to discriminate against any other group. Just because you believe black lives matter doesn’t mean that you think other lives aren't important, too. Why the zero-sum thinking? Incidentally, there is a movement called “White Lives Matter” that is, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, "a racist response to the civil rights movement Black Lives Matter. (It) is a neo-Nazi group that is growing into a movement as more and more white supremacist groups take up its slogans and tactics." 

Another “what about” pops up on Fox News after every police shooting and asks, “what about black on black crime?” Of course, this is a problem, but so is, for example, affordable child care. But what do these have to do with police brutality? Nothing. When discussing racist policing, bringing up black crime or any other subject for that matter is simply a distraction that diverts us from the real issue of systemic racism. At any rate, this black on black crime argument is a red herring, since a report from the Bureau of Justice Statistics found that most violence occurs “between victims and offenders of the same race, regardless of race.” So, most black crime is perpetrated against other blacks, while most white crime victims are also white, a fact conveniently omitted by the conservative press. 

One other spurious opposing argument/distraction regards Antifa, an anti-fascist protest movement (it’s too loosely constituted to even be called an organization) that has sometimes had violent encounters with neo-Nazis. Antifa is a favorite Fox News bogeyman. During these protests, a study shows that Fox News mentioned Antifa six times more than CNN, even though, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, “The FBI has found no evidence that the American militant anti-fascist movement Antifa was involved in violence that erupted during national protests over the death of George Floyd.”

 

Coverage of recent unrest has generally emphasized violence (the 1%) over legitimate, peaceful protests (the 99%). See my blog below for details. The previously mentioned study showed that Fox has used the terms “riots” or “rioters” five times more than CNN, while Fox has discussed looting 25% more than CNN. 

 

In summary, Alyssa, I hope I’ve provided you some food for thought. I know you wanted “both sides,” but I honestly can’t see another side to systemic racism. Those who defend the status quo and distract with “what-about-isms” are enabling this racism, in my view. As I said, I’m still learning, and look forward to hearing your thoughts as well.

 

Stay safe,

Professor Youngblood

Responsible coverage highlights the peaceful 99%
During a press conference Sunday night, Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas bristled when asked if the sporadic violence seen during KC’s anti-police brutality, pro social justice protests was a “distraction.” He said the headlines Monday wouldn’t be about discussions about how to re-imagine policing, or about the thousands of peaceful protesters who gathered on the Plaza Sunday afternoon. Instead, Lucas predicted the headlines today would be all about the violence—a “few dozen people surrounded by crowds who wanted to cause chaos in our city.”

Was Mayor Lucas right?

When it comes to Monday’s Kansas City Star, it looks like Lucas, no doubt to his relief, was incorrect. The front page did not take the bait that proved irresistible for other media outlets. There were no screaming headlines highlighting riots and looting and pictures of broken windows and burned out cars. Instead, the Star responsibly and correctly displayed a photo of peaceful protesters along with a headline that said, “Kansas City curfew ordered Sunday as protests mount.”

As for other newspapers across the country, Lucas appears to be partially correct. Some chose to highlight the violence or looting rather than peaceful voices. Some examples:
Arizona Republic-Curfew, emergency declared; and 12 arrests, millions in damage after looting
Los Angeles Times-Looters rampage across region
Miami Herald -Anger boils over again

However, many others took a more responsible path on today’s front pages. These include:
Washington Post-US at precipice as demonstrations intensify
Atlanta Journal Constitution-Another day of unease
New York Times-Twin crisis and surging anger convulse US
Fort Worth Star Telegraph-Area protests against police brutality continue for third day

Local television news was up a mix of responsible and sensational coverage.

KC’s TV stations did some exemplary reporting under difficult circumstances, especially KSHB-TV, which conducted several revealing interviews with thoughtful protesters about the importance of making their voices heard. One African American woman told KSHB she was marching for her 17-year old son, and didn’t want him to “become a hashtag.” Still, too much local TV over the weekend consisted of frantic, “jump-from-reporter-to-reporter” coverage that ignored the fact that a much larger group peacefully protested during the day on Saturday and Sunday. Images of these daytime peaceful rallies should’ve  been interspersed with the “tense standoff” live coverage in the evenings to provide valuable context for viewers.

In my textbook Peace Journalism Principles and Practices, I produced a short list of how journalists can cover civic unrest more responsibly. These include:
1.Report on “them” (the “other side”) fairly, respectfully, and with empathy.
2.  Report about the invisible causes and effects of the unrest.
3. Use precise and objective language.
4.  Report proactively to facilitate dialogues before violence occurs.
5. Report counter-narratives that provide a different perspective on the protesters, the police, and the community.
6. Report with reconciliation in mind.
7. Give voice to peacemakers on all sides during and after the unrest. The moving, viral video of Minneapolis rapper Killer Mike appealing for justice is a perfect example of this.

Media have an especially large responsibility in times of crisis and civic unrest, a fact underscored by the mayor at his Sunday night press conference. Let’s hope all media take Lucas’ advice, and not lose sight of the much larger transcendent issues of racial and social justice. 

Worst coverage Award
We have a clear winner: The New York Post. Especially noteworthy is the Satan-like depiction of the guy in the cop car. We expect irresponsible and inflammatory for the Post, yet this front page may be a new low, even for them.