(AP Photo/Steven Senne)
Virtual Lecture from Professor McCaffrey: April 14, 2020
When I talk in class about the role of diversity in journalism, I usually caution that this is a subject that not just important for one day’s lecture but all the time. If you look at the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics, and examine the fine print under the principle, “Seek Truth and Report It,” you will find the following: “Boldly tell the story of the diversity and magnitude of the human experience. Seek sources whose voices we seldom hear” and “Avoid stereotyping. Journalists should examine the ways their values and experiences may shape their reporting.”
This advice is particularly important when covering a global pandemic that has generated such fear. Here’s a story from the Poynter Institute about the tendency for people to scapegoat others in such situations.
For those of you interested in a little bit more about how psychologists view this phenomenon, here’s a link to a Psychology Today primer on terror management theory. As the article states, the theory is largely influenced by Ernest Becker, author of “The Denial of Death,” another of those proverbial great books of the 20th century. In its list of the developers of the theory, Psychology Today references Tom Pyszczynski, a social psychologist I studied under as a graduate student. Tom shared with us the results of an array of experimental studies that revealed that when people get frightened they tend to scapegoat those who are different from than themselves.
The challenge for journalists, as always, is to avoid perpetuating stereotypes. Here’s an article about that in the Columbia Journalism Review.
Sometimes the job of journalists is to expose that stereotyping, but also to be careful to not advance those stereotypes in the process. Here’s a link to such a story by the New York Times out of Florida:
This story from Politico delves into the politics behind giving a name to the virus.
Finally, research involving innumerable topics typically seeks to consider a variety of demographic factors. So, not surprisingly, epidemiologists are doing so as well in their search for insights concerning the coronavirus. Journalists need to tell these stories when they are important, while at the same time being mindful of ethical codes concerning fairness in reporting. Here are links to pieces that fall into those categories.
Outcry Over Racial Data Grows as Virus Slams Black Americans by The Associated Press
C.D.C Releases Early Demographic Snapshot of Worst Coronavirus Cases by David Waldstein
The Brother Killer by Charles M. Blow