Black Stereotypes in the Media. Are black people lazy, violent and dumb?

Have you ever noticed that in many newscast, the journalist will choose the most uneducated (no disrespect), bad spoken black person to use for their story?  It seems as though the media creates a damaging stereotype that depicts blacks as lazy, violent and dumb. The sad thing is that black people have been portrayed as being negative for decades and it seems like it will continue for decades more. Some news station are guilty of reinforcing stereotypes of black people.

 As an intern at CCN TV6 and working out in the field, I can tell you that journalist will interview a few people and choose the one that THEY feel will capture the audience's attention, even if it means putting a fool on air. Many times black people are unfairly and unrealistically portrayed on television and it gives the audience a perception that black people are a dumb race.


Case # 1: On July 28th, 2010, North Alabama WAFF-48 news reported that local police are searching for a man who broke into a home then got into bed with one Kelly Dodson. She woke up to find the intruder on her bed. Kelly's brother Antoine Dodson rushed to her room after hearing his sister scream and after a brief struggle the intruder escaped through a window. Antoine said the suspect left behind his shirt and fingerprints.

Due to the mannerism of her brother, the media quickly turned the story into comedy ignoring the issue of a girl claiming she was sexually assaulted.

Here's a look at the report as well as the remix for his comments. He became an instant internet sensation and was able to buy a house with the money he received from all the publicity. He may have moved one step closer to living the American dream, but in the minds of the public he remains an ignorant black man.

Case # 2: On the morning of April 7th, 2012, a three alarm fire broke out at an Oklahoma City apartment complex, The local station KFOR News Channel was among the first to arrive on the scene and interview one of the displaced residents Sweet Brown. In the interview Sweet Brown uttered "aint nobody got time for that" which became one of the more memorable lines in the reporting. Again her mannerism left a lot on the mind of the audience.
Here's a look at the report.

The two cases above made them overnight internet sensations and even landed them either advertisement deals or on prominent talk shows.

I will leave you with a quote that i find rather interesting from Larry Davis, Dean of School of Social Work in a discussion about the damaging psychological effects that negative media have on African males.

" One of the most important things any group of people can do is to control the image of themselves"