THE REACTION
"How Black Lives Matter is Killing Americans" - Fox News
"Is the Black Lives Matter movement racist?" - CNN
"Dr. Ben Carson blasts Black Lives Matter movement in op-ed" - Fox News
"Do all lives matter or only black ones?" - Fox News
The media plays an incredibly important role in shaping the public perception of current events, especially their in creation of a first impression. By using rhetoric like “violent”, the media can easily convey a negative connotation towards whatever topic they are discussing. Headlines are meant to catch eyes, and powerful words like those mentioned above are more apt to gain the attention of media consumers than tamer titles.
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As Black Lives Matter activism spread and grew throughout different American cities, the presence of both media and police similarly increased. The grand majority of the people attending the protests were there to use their collective voices to promote the idea of racial equality, while the more minimal examples violence made the headlines.
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By highlighting the small moments of riot-like behaviour at Black Live Matter protests, the media presented the movement with a negative connotation while minimizing the essential ideals and goals of the protest.
Issues in Media Coverage of BLM Activism
When the Black Lives Matter movement grew, the power of their voices lessened. The growth in the movements’ size coincided with a subsequent rise in police force involvement and media coverage. The media coverage tended to sway from amplifying the intended goals of the protestors, and instead deflected the attention towards some of the riot-like behaviour in sects of the larger group. At its most basic level, Black Lives Matter was and still is trying to promote racial equality but the media minimized their voices by negatively portraying the activists and violent and chaotic rioters.
By changing the focus of the consumers to the movement itself as opposed to what the movement was about, media outlets were able to bring up talking points that really had no place in Black Lives Matter discussion. Instead of talking about how black lives in America had been marginalized and impeded forever, media like Fox News argued about black people should really focus their attention on black on black crime and how some black people in America are holding their race back. By discussing around the Black Lives Matter movement like this, media outlets discourage and subdue the true intents behind the protesting.
