Rev. Jesse Jackson urges nation's newspaper editors to improve their depiction of Blacks in newspapers

Jet, Nov 13, 1995

Rev. Jesse Jackson recently criticized the nation's editors for their portrayal of Blacks in newspapers. He urged the editors to focus more attention on the positive instead of the negative actions of Blacks.

"The media is a factor in how we're seen. You cheapen our lives in the way you twist and spin stories," Jackson said in a speech to the Associated Press managing editors. "We're presented as less intelligent than we are, less hard-working than we are, less universal than we are and more violent," Jackson argued.

The founder and president of the National Rainbow Coalition continued by urging editors to help change the way Americans view race issues. He suggested they focus more attention on Black people "who work at their jobs every day, pay their bills, never commit crimes, coach their Little League, raise their children and attend church every Sunday."

One reason the media distorts the portrait of Black America is because things are seen from different perspectives, said Jackson. He used the O.J. Simpson trial to make his point saying it was "about ethnicity, really. It was about perspective and vantage point."

To further make his message, Jackson explained, "White America looks at the apple top down and sees it shiny and red and delicious. Black America looks at the apple from bottom up and sees worms and rot and decay. Same apple, different perspectives."

Bob McGruder, managing editor of the Detroit Free Press and the incoming president of Associated Press Managing Editors, agreed with Jackson that newspapers have portrayed Blacks poorly in the past but said they are now doing a better job.

There is a strong perception in the Black community that we spend too much emphasis on negative portrayals said McGruder, who is Black. "We have made a very strong effort... to be more sensitive, more balanced and fair," McGruder said.