Local News Extra Credito

I spent spring break in Springfield, MO, visiting my boyfriend who attends Drury University. Springfield is Missouri’s third largest city; with over 400,000 people and five universities there is NOT a lot to do there. Drury is in the heart of what my boyfriend coined, the ‘slum’ of Springfield. During the day there were homeless people sleeping on benches and children playing games in the school’s computer lab. Thus, I feel I must also preface by stating that Springfield’s population consists of an overwhelming white majority. Wikipedia states it to be 91.69%, to be exact.

While watching the local news in Springfield, I did not see a single reporter, news anchor or journalist of color. Not a single one. While there seemed almost an equal ratio of female to male, I couldn’t get past my shock of seeing the continuous array of white faces reporting the news to me.

Despite the large proportion of whites in Springfield, a majority of the crime covered the ‘ethnics’ on the streets. The most shocking news story I viewed was regarding gang text messages. Apparently, mass texts were received in the area warning of a potential Wal-mart shoot up. (Interestingly, I received one of those texts, myself, from a friend that lives in OKC.) The anchor provided voice-over of video showing young men walking around, high-fiving each other and smiling. The men were black and Hispanic and wore, what I suppose Springfield would consider, ‘gangster’ clothing. Surprisingly, none of the men were interviewed or were identified; yet the news story led the audience to believe the men seen were the offenders.

There were several robberies in Springfield throughout my visit, but my boyfriend assured me that they were all commonplace. The news station, in my opinion, did not represent diverse interests, nor did it portray the population accurately.

Overall, the news in Springfield discussed black robberies, black murder of a white woman, Hispanic drug violations and shoplifting, a black female’s mail fraud and one white crime. Very interesting.

News and the Media

There are six major media conglomerates that control most forms of media in the world. They consist of: Disney, News Corp, Time Warner, Viacom, Vivendi and Sony Corp. These media firms and the big wigs that run them determine the news and set the agenda within it.

The public needs a media that specifically represents different interests because, believe it or not, people are different! When only one of Chicago’s 100 news stations is owned by a person of color diversity cannot be achieved. The newsroom has to reach parity with the local community, meaning there must be an equal number of minorities in the newsroom to represent the minorities in the community.

Living in a white world with white walls and white floors can get dirty really fast. The best way to prevent that is to create an environment that allows for growth and change, without the unnecessary scrubbing to keep everything ‘white,’ if you will.

Diverse interests should be of interest to everyone, because we do not live in an undeviating world. The world is constantly evolving and changing to include people and issues of importance that pertain to the public. All news is my news. For instance, women’s issues relate to me, no matter the color of the woman afflicted, because I am female. Thus, the media should not neglect an ethnic story in order to focus on a more ‘white’ situation.

I’m not sure what can be done to increase the media’s interest in diverse topics and concerns. When only a select few control what the public views, a change can only be made when the masses lay grievance. The FCC has the ultimate power to regulate and censor content they feel is unnecessary. A public vote to alter the contingencies of that power would be the best way to change it.

The war in Iraq was initially reported with great fervor. The physical atrocities seen in New York captured a story that was real for the entire nation. As the years went by, however, and the war continued, the American people quickly forgot the grip the Middle East still held over the country. Once the red warnings of terror on every news station slipped into yellow and then green they soon erased themselves from our memories. We forgot that we still had soldiers fighting a war in the name of freedom and our country.

When thousands gathered across the nation to protest the war, their information was not shared. The New York Times didn’t even post an article when hundreds of thousands marched through Times Square. What does that suggest about the rights of public interest?

When students at Jena High School hung nooses around trees, intimidating black students, the nation was not made aware. Gay marriage has been a slow and tedious fight, but because we live in Oklahoma we cannot flip on the news and learn about it. The irony about both of these situations is that they both apply to everyone, whether you agree with the occurrence or not. Educating people has only positive affects.



The media, however, made positive leaps during the Civil Rights Movement. The press might have not always been positive, but any press is good press. Similar to events during the abolitionist movement, civil rights were widely discussed and brought to the table as important issues of political value. Politicians and the public shared an opinion that something must be done about the lack of civil liberties available for black people.

In order to set the news agenda, diversity must be discussed with importance. Black issues, Hispanic issues and Asian issues all relate to white issues. When discrimination occurs, it is the people’s duty to protect because we all live in the same world and we all have common goals of happiness.

In relation to the war, I believe the press failed miserably in providing the public with valid information. The president and his staff did not set a clear agenda, and it is the media’s job to point that out and let the public know, ‘hey, they aren’t doing their job!’