Pew Research has just released an interesting study on how people view the media. These are some of the findings of the study as it relates to Black Americans and news media.
From Richard Prince’s Journal-isms:
African Americans’ lack of confidence in the news media has risen more than that of whites since the election of President Obama, according to a survey by the Pew Research Center that also shows “the public’s assessment of the accuracy of news stories is now at its lowest level in more than two decades of Pew Research surveys.”
“We know that African Americans express more negative views of news organizations generally on a # of issues (accuracy, fairness) and that they are much more [likely] than whites to see coverage of Obama as too critical,” Pew Associate Director Carroll Doherty told Journal-isms via e-mail.
“We asked that question on a separate survey in august: 53% of african Americans said news orgs were being too critical of Obama compared with 17% of whites. It’s reasonable to infer that at least some of the rise in negative attitudes among African Americans since 07 is related to the belief that Obama has not been treated fairly. This seems to be the case among democrats generally.”
In the latest survey, released Sunday, the number of non-Hispanic blacks who found stories often inaccurate rose 21 percent, from 47 percent in 2007 to 68 percent in 2009. For non-Hispanic whites, it rose 8 percent, from 54 percent in 2007 to 62 percent in 2009.
I wonder if this study has included the fact that ANY criticism of Obama these days is automatically being equated to racism? Probably not.
Not too long ago, a friend of mine (an avid Obama supporter) asked a very basic question: “How to we accurately measure the success of President Obama?” This was a very simple question with a very simple answer: You judge him in the same way all past Presidents have been judged. Look at what they promised and compare it to what they are doing now.” “For example,” I continued, “he said that unemployment would not exceed 8% with the stimulus. The real numbers say that we are at 16% (you gotta include the folks who simply stopped looking). The real question is ‘will he be judged just like any other President, or will we constantly give him a pass because he’s our first ‘brutha in Chief’?” The Black left raised pure hell when unemployment under Bush went up. Currently, Black unemployment is HIGHER than it ever was under Bush and now we hear virtual silence–minus the occasional “But Bush started it” cat calls.
I’ve seen more of my fair share of my people (who I love dearly) who don’t know a thing about politics automatically conclude that people like Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, etc. are pure bred racists and people like Larry Elder, Armstrong Williams, and all other Black conservatives are the epitome of the expression “sell out”. I’m not talking about the political junkie dweebs out here in cyberspace. I’m talking about everyday folk you see at the barbershop, supermarket, playground, etc. The only thing these people know about the commentators I just mentioned is that they are against Obama. That’s it. We saw the same thing during the Reagan and Bush years: criticize them and you will be in someone’s cross hairs.
To tell you the truth, for many Obama represents the one time in history that Black folks can prove to Whites that we are just as good as they are. So we are not about to open the floor up to too much criticism. So again, this is why I want Pew Research to define “criticism”.
Defining Criticism
by Duane on September 15th, 2009 at 1:53 pmPew Research has just released an interesting study on how people view the media. These are some of the findings of the study as it relates to Black Americans and news media.
From Richard Prince’s Journal-isms:
I wonder if this study has included the fact that ANY criticism of Obama these days is automatically being equated to racism? Probably not.
Not too long ago, a friend of mine (an avid Obama supporter) asked a very basic question: “How to we accurately measure the success of President Obama?” This was a very simple question with a very simple answer: You judge him in the same way all past Presidents have been judged. Look at what they promised and compare it to what they are doing now.” “For example,” I continued, “he said that unemployment would not exceed 8% with the stimulus. The real numbers say that we are at 16% (you gotta include the folks who simply stopped looking). The real question is ‘will he be judged just like any other President, or will we constantly give him a pass because he’s our first ‘brutha in Chief’?” The Black left raised pure hell when unemployment under Bush went up. Currently, Black unemployment is HIGHER than it ever was under Bush and now we hear virtual silence–minus the occasional “But Bush started it” cat calls.
I’ve seen more of my fair share of my people (who I love dearly) who don’t know a thing about politics automatically conclude that people like Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, etc. are pure bred racists and people like Larry Elder, Armstrong Williams, and all other Black conservatives are the epitome of the expression “sell out”. I’m not talking about the political junkie dweebs out here in cyberspace. I’m talking about everyday folk you see at the barbershop, supermarket, playground, etc. The only thing these people know about the commentators I just mentioned is that they are against Obama. That’s it. We saw the same thing during the Reagan and Bush years: criticize them and you will be in someone’s cross hairs.
To tell you the truth, for many Obama represents the one time in history that Black folks can prove to Whites that we are just as good as they are. So we are not about to open the floor up to too much criticism. So again, this is why I want Pew Research to define “criticism”.