The media squirmed when it should have reported

The Jena 6 case is a modern day example of how the national media failed in its social responsibilities. According to the American Journalism Review, (Feb/Mar 2008) it started in August 2006 with a black student asking if he could sit under a tree frequented by mostly white students. Nooses were then found hanging from the tree. Students were suspended, but black parents felt they should have been expelled. In November a main building of the school was demolished after a fire was set by someone hoping to destroy records of bad grades, but it added to the racial tensions and was reported by various media that it was connected.

In December 2006 black students beat up a while student and were charged with conspiracy to commit murder. Marches and prayer services and rallies were held from December 2006 through May 2007. In June, one of the six black students was convicted of reduced charges. The remaining five also had their charges reduced to battery. In August 2007, Rev. Al Sharpton visited Jena; Martin Luther King III joined him. In September 2008, an estimated 20,000 people from around the nation hold peaceful rallies.

While two local papers covered the story religiously, and the AP first reported the story in early September 2006, the national papers did not pick up the story until May 20, 2007. CNN didn’t report on the story until June 25, 2008. It wasn’t until August when Rev. Al Sharpton visits that the Washington Post finally starts reporting and the other major news outlets don’t start reporting until September 15, 2008, a full year after the story started.

In its critique of how mainstream media botched the story, Raquel Christie illuminates several systemic issues surrounding today’s media. The criticisms start with the reluctance of major news outlets to cover racial issues because they are not easy. They can’t be covered with a quick and easy just the facts, inverted pyramid reporting. They require time and context, something the media isn’t willing to invest in. The lack of racial diversity in the newsroom is another symptom of the problem. “Journalism is still too white,” remarks Alice Bonner, a University of Maryland journalism professor and former Washington Post journalist.

Part of the problem was the silence of public officials; from the school board to the prosecuting attorney, the lack of “official” perspectives limited balanced reporting. Because of this, the media wound up relying on one person’s version of things: Alan Bean, co-founder and executive director of a grassroots organization designed to create scandals surrounding questionable prosecutions. But even he didn’t start trying to get the message out until April 2007.

But the media is accused of taking the easy way out, using other people’s work, not investigating from a clean slate without supposition, opinions and conclusions. The national media when it did hit, reported erroneously, inconsistently and incomplete reporting leaving out contextual facts (such as why there was an all-white jury). They are also accused of treating the story in a stereotypical manner of racial tensions.

Should it have been a national story or was this local? It is national because race relation problems are the source of much of today’s domestic conflicts, are consistently reported by the black press and conveniently ignored by the white press.

It’s no wonder the public doesn’t trust the media anymore. Mainstream media, to remain relevant, has to do a better job. That will require investments in people and time, things the corporate media offices loathe granting. And it requires a commitment to report on even the issues that make us squirm with shame.