Media "Blackout"

• In Event: Constructing Legitimacy and Criminality in the Media

Abstract

This paper examines the role the media has played in the institutionalization of the racist ideology of criminal black males. This paper will examine the path of institutional racism in the media from the Civil War until today, through content analysis of various media portrayals of black males. Through a content analysis of HBO’s “The Wire” episode “Slapstick” this paper will provide evidence of the social constructs and parameters applied to black males in American society, provided by the media. The media’s perception of the black male constructs and affirms the racist ideology of black males in society, by showing instances of black male criminality. Countless examples of black male criminality, and even the same story broadcasted on multiple media outlets, reaffirms to the audience the notion that black males are highly criminogenic. When “unfavorable” black males are encountered by the audience of the media, the narrative of the criminal black male is further reaffirmed. When the narrative is strongly affirmed, society begins to inherit the racist ideologies provided by the media. This paper will explain how once the narrative is institutionalized in society, it is then taken as the rule and not the exception and applied to the whole.

Author

• Cameron Brown, Eastern Kentucky University