Systemic Racism In The Media
The Guardian recently apologised for using a photo of rapper, Kano, alongside an article when they intended to use one of Wiley. Should this be overlooked as just a “mistake” or is this evidence of systemic racism in the media?
With the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement in recent months, systemic racism has become somewhat of a buzzword, and rightfully so. Web searches for the topic peaked at an all-time high around the start of June, with an influx of people searching for the “meaning” and explanations. As a result of the greater awareness of biases ingrained within society, we’ve seen people across the world taking a stand - some with a genuine intention to change the system, and with others just riding the wave. As with anything, even the best intention doesn’t necessarily mean that actions taken are enough or even the right ones. The media, for example, have been called out on more than one occasion for addressing systemic racism in articles without first fixing their own structural failings.
So, let’s start with the basics – what exactly is systemic racism? It is defined as racism that exists on a mass scale but is so prevalent and deeply entrenched in society that it is perceived as “normal”. Most commonly, it’s spoken about in terms of education, criminal justice and healthcare, to name a few. But as “systemic” suggests, it is everywhere: it is the result of an outdated system designed to keep people of colour down and has a wide array of detrimental effects on BAME people - from lower pay to much more gravely, a higher risk of death. Demand from the BLM movement has led to increased media coverage of these effects and more.
In the case of the article in question, the piece was an opinion feature by columnist Owen Jones discussing the issues of racism on social media following an anti-Semitic Twitter rant by British rapper Wiley. It was a thoughtful and insightful piece urging social media to do more. Quite ironically, and at no fault of Owen Jones, the photo posted alongside the article of another British black rapper, Kano, undermined his message. The Guardian received a stream of backlash from the public and from Kano himself for having his photo associated with content that was defamatory.
As an isolated incident, this could be overlooked as a genuine mistake made, albeit with poor timing. But back in June, a similar thing happened with the BBC. They posted an article with English rugby player Ellis Genge discussing the toppling of the Colston statue in Bristol. Alongside this came another wrong photo of Lewis Ludlum rather than Genge. In response to this, Genge tweeted that this had “must have been the 15th time in less than a year” that the two had been mixed up.
It's certainly a blurry line to determine whether these incidents are genuine mistakes or something else. Human error exists everywhere, and it would be unfair to forget that. But equally, with topics that are not only sensitive, but also in the public eye, these kinds of mistakes are going to be subject to greater scrutiny. It’s not the first time of mistaken identity in a newspaper (quite famously, Johan Cruyff in print), and I’m sure it won’t be the last. But with the ever expanding digital landscape, taking accountability remains important.
In the age of information overload, with greater accessibility to news sources than ever before, the role of the media has changed. As recent as 30 years ago, the news was basically the holy grail of information, but an increasingly digital world has caused a seismic shift in what the news offers. It’s sad to admit, but Ofcom reported that 49% of people get their news from Social Media. And it only makes sense. We now have more information than we could ever want right at our fingertips, and attention spans are falling, so absorbing bite-sized chunks of information whilst scrolling is a pretty efficient way to stay informed. The issue with this is that what you see on Facebook is just a headline and a picture and few will click through to read the actual article. Meaning that clickbait titles or incorrect images are going to have an impact on what the public see and believe. Despite their changing role, news publications are still seen as a source of truth which is why responsibility and understanding structural flaws is so important.
With all of this, the same message rings true: news publications need to make a conscious effort to tackle their white-bias and the systemic racism that exists within them. Racial diversity in the media is in a dire state; the media workforce is 94% white and many publications have no black journalists in high-level positions. There have been efforts to diversify, with schemes, training and pledges, but we need to look at whether this is enough. It seems that more needs to be done collaboratively and with intention and awareness. Otherwise the industry will not change and attempts to cover racial issues will just be overshadowed by the inherent systemic racism that is part of media.
Written by Yasmeen Frasso
Yasmeen is a Londoner working in digital marketing, trying to write in her free time. She studied Psychology at university with an interest in forensic and the psychology of religion. You'll usually find her with coffee in hand, pining over cute cat videos.