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“Should Minnesota’s mainstream media be to the left of Jim Crow?” (photo: Lloyd Marcus)
2012 is shaping up to be an exciting year in politics for Black Minnesotans and other ethnic groups who have decided enough is enough. Trying to get the local mainstream media to report on this news is harder than putting a sick-pin in their ass with a jackhammer, (a reference to “up-tight). What’s the problem? Why is it that local mainstream media backpedals when it comes to Black and other minority candidates running for office? I’m not saying they have to support any of them – but getting great stories and good news is about being creative and inclusive, don’t you think?
by Donald W.R. Allen, II – Editor in Chief/The Independent Business News Network
Minneapolis, MN. (IBNN/Political Opinion/August 6, 2012)…So now we know. The Hennepin County Board of Commissioners hasn’t had a person of color on the board for 160 years, since it began. We never heard that “fact” on the local news…. Why?
Minnesota’s public radio giant Minnesota Public Radio has bypassed the coverage and on-air reporting of many Black, Asian, Somali and Latino candidates running for office in a way the local Black male elected officials are ignoring the strong Black women running for offices that could make the difference in creating a fair playing field for everyone. I guess when it comes to MPR my point is their “Public Insight” programming is more of a misguided attempt to only broadcast news that fits MPR, which in some cases (almost all), don’t include people of color.
The ad-hoc organization, African Americans (and Friends) Against Mainstream Media have come out with their quarterly ratings of local television, radio and newspaper outlets in the Twin Cities. The biggest gainers this quarter were WCCO-TV with a solid B+ from their midday interview with actor/director Robert Townsend and KSTP-TV with another B+ for their coverage and broadcast of the same event. The Star Tribune remains a D- minus for their continued connection with the City of Minneapolis and only reporting half-the-story. The St. Paul Pioneer Press remains a solid A+. Local television stations like FOX 9 News who has one of the best morning shows in town seems to be slipping a little with a grade of B- for the lack of political coverage on local minority ethnic candidates. KARE 11 just doesn’t care. The NBC affiliate is so White and out of touch AAAMM have not ranked them this quarter. We really have to talk with NBC about their relationship with Olympic gymnasts and monkey commercials. (That’s a different story…read here.)
When it’s all said and done, all of Minnesota’s mainstream media outlets could do a better job of covering local Black and minority candidates running for office.
