News Media

While, I was looking at tags of racism on twitter to write another blog post. I typed in a popular hashtag; #IfTheyGunnedMeDown. This twitter campaign was introduced after the death of Michael Brown, who was an unarmed African-American teenager shot by a white police officer; Darren Wilson. Also, this hash tag shows just how much the media makes different choices depending on race.

Many mainstream media news outlets used this photograph of Michael Brown. One news media outlet followed the photograph with the caption; “Police: Michael Brown Struggled with Officer before shooting” 

http://morallowground.com/wp-content/uploads/MIKE-BROWN-e1407822859248.jpg

\In comparison to white serial killer; James Eagen Holmes, who killed 12 people and wounded 70 people during a screening of ‘The dark knight rises’ in Colorado. CBS Denver, which is a local news media outlet in America, decided to use this photograph of Holmes:

http://denver.cbslocal.com/2012/07/21/theater-shooting-suspect-was-brilliant-science-student/

The headline to go alongside this photo and news story was; “Theatre shooting suspect was brilliant science student”. This photo and headline is so wrong as it gives us a sense of who he was before the mass murder, meanwhile, Brown is who is pulling a hand signal that somewhat looks associated with gang affiliation. from Holmes killed 12 people and wounded 70 people yet is perceived by the media in a positive light, yet news media outlets perceived Brown in a negative light even though he was the once who died and this is due to the colour of his skin. They used a rather incriminating photo of Brown but nice photograph of Holmes.  How is the right?? This is white privilege at it’s finest. I am apart of this white majority, however I completely disagree with how the media portrays ‘Black’ in a negative light and ‘white’ in a positive light in certain circumstances. It is wrong and must change immediately.

CBS Denver could have used this photo shown below of Holmes to show the insanity in what he did. But since, the media would not do this as they do not want a bad reputation for the white majority.  

http://image.syracuse.com/home/syr-media/width620/img/us-news/photo/2016/03/04/19876490-mmmain.jpg

Racism and white privilege witnessed in our media must end.