Gearing Up for the 2012 Presidential Race: News Coverage About African American Voters in the New York Times

摘要

This study assessed the inclusiveness of New York Times coverage prior to the 2012 presidential election as it relates to the lived experiences of African American voters. The study specifically asked, does the newspaper include substantive information about African American voters, the most pressing social justice concerns facing Black communities, and African American voices? The sampled news discourse is compared to the defining issues for the 21st century identified by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP): racial disparity, economic disparity, health care disparity, education disparity, voter empowerment, and criminal justice. Findings reveal a paucity of coverage about African American voters in 2011. Although most of the articles discussed at least one social justice issue, when the scant coverage is considered, it becomes clear that the attention these issues received was severely lacking. African American voice was also seriously underrepresented.