FAQ 69 - Media Bias

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) The media uses pictures of blacks more often than whites to illustrate stories about poverty even though most of the nation's poor are white, a Yale University study found. National news magazines, including Time, Newsweek and U.S. News and World Report, pictured blacks 62 percent of the time in stories on poverty, though statistics show only 29 percent of Americans below the poverty line are black, according to the study by Martin Gilens, an assistant professor of political science. The divide was even greater for evening television news, with blacks representing the poor 65 percent of the time, said Gilens, who examined five years' worth of magazine articles and national TV newscasts.

The representations perpetuate stereotypes about race and fuel discontent among whites about the welfare system, he said. ``Part of the problem is news professionals to some degree share the same misperceptions that the public does,'' he said. ``The people who are choosing the photographs sort of misunderstand the social realities.'' In addition, national news outlets do most of their reporting in urban areas, while poor whites tend to be concentrated in rural communities, said Steve Geimann, president of the Society of Professional Journalists.

According to census figures, only 32 percent of the poor in the 10 largest cities are black, Gilens said, though in places of extreme poverty © areas where at least 40 percent of residents are poor © they make up more than 60 percent.