Following the celebration of the Martin Luther King holiday, the Manship School of Mass Communication’s Reilly Center for Media and Public Affairs joined the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education and Louisiana Public Broadcasting for a roundtable discussion Saturday concerning racism in today’s media.
The seminar titled “Whose Life Matters: The Coverage of Race in America,” took place at the Old State Capitol in downtown Baton Rouge and featured many activities that would promote discussion on racial issues in the media.
Jack Hamilton, dean of the Manship School of Mass Communication, and Arlene Morgan, associate dean of the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, opened the seminar by encouraging the participants to “speak to each other rather than shout past each other.”
The highlight of the day was the Fred Friendly roleplaying activity in which panelists from all forms of media were given a racially charged story that had to be covered.
Up for discussion was an African-American man opening up a new movie theater in a small town where he grew up.
The African-American businessman, portrayed by Ronald Mason Jr., also happened to have an adopted caucasian daughter.
The conflict at hand was whether the daughter’s relationship to the family should be highlighted in the primarily business-related story.
Because the panelists represented both print and broasdcast journalism, the responses to the situation were varied as to whether the story should involve a picture of the daughter, which could spark interest as to her relationship to Mr. Mason.
The caucasian daughter, played by Tiger TV’s station manager Lisanne Alack, felt that because it was a business story it should not matter that she is white.
The panelists had to give their opinions as to what course of action should be taken.
“I wouldn’t want my newspaper to create racial conflict where there isn’t any,” said Jim Amoss, editor of New Orleans’ Times-Picayune. “If there isn’t a situation there, then why create a problem?”
The racially-charged story then moved into a broader discussion of how racism affects the media.
Many of the panelists said it is hard to report on race because so many of the people in the community talk in a code language.
“When [a member of the community] said that they don’t want small businesses to suffer, they may be thinking that they don’t want urban teenagers hanging around their stores,” said Lori Dorfman, director of Berkeley Media Studies.
After the discussion, the delegates who attended the conference took place in smaller breakout sessions to further the dialogue on the subject of race in journalism.
“This kind of activity is all about thoughtful dialogue between professionals,” said Adrienne Moore, director of the Reilly Center for Media and Public Affairs. “This needs to be talked about. It’s important that we not only talk about it but get true experience with it.”
The program will air in March on Louisiana Public Broadcasting Network.