Three ways white supremacy shows up in news and how creators can fight against it

Maya Srikrishnan
Maya Srikrishnan is a researcher for News Creator Corps.

Creators often use reporting from news outlets as a source – and it’s often credible. But much news reporting, like most American institutions, continues to have bias and white supremacy baked into it. Some of the most important things content creators do when sharing the news are helping their audiences make sense of it, explaining what the news may mean to people not included in the traditional narrative and even raising questions about reporting. 

Journalist Janai Norman laid out three ways white supremacy shows up in the news in a recent Instagram video and we’ve identified some ways creators can identify and challenge those narratives when they see them. 

Number 1 – “white people” and “people of color”

“Do you see how those alone centers whiteness?” Norman said. “It puts white as the neutral, so stories about the white experience become ‘the news.’ But if it’s someone not white, how often is race mentioned? And then it’s not just the news, it’s a story about race.”

This also leaves out specifics about many groups’ experiences who are not white. 

Anytime you spot race in news, Norman said, flip it and ask yourself if the story would be covered the same. 

Number 2 – treating “Black” as a monolith – nah, what kind of Black?

“A Black American in Chicago, a Nigerian immigrant in Brooklyn, and a Jamaican family in Miami all have different Black experiences, but coverage often negates the nuance,” Norman said. “White communities rarely get flattened to the one-dimensional caricature of themselves – we distinguish Irish from Italian, Polish from Appalachian. We distinguish Cuban American from Mexican American, and we should know Chinese is not Japanese is not Vietnamese.”

Notice when groups get the particularity, Norman said. “And when you see ‘Black,’ ask yourself which Black community? From where? Whose voice is represented and who gets to speak for everyone?”

Number 3 – Framing: sympathy for white violence, suspicion of Black victims

“Study after study has found a pattern in how traditional news coverage handles perpetrators and victims depending on race,” Norman points out. “When a white person commits violence, we hear about their ‘troubled past,’ their promising future, we stigmatize ‘mental health’ all in the name of searching for an explanation to preserve their innocence. But when a black person is the victim, we see unflattering photos, searching for a criminal record, mention of alcohol or substance use in coverage that’s often searching for reasons to explain why what happened did. The black or brown person who suffered often gets scrutinized, while the white person who causes harm gets humanized in news coverage.”

Be mindful of the framing when consuming news content, Norman said, and ask yourself, “Who gets the benefit of the doubt, and who has to earn it?”

You can see this in action in many of Norman’s videos, including this one where she analyzes the reporting done on Nolan Wells. 

News Creator Corps has gathered some additional resources and strategies creators can use to challenge white supremacy in news coverage in their content when they’re discussing events and issues in the news with their audiences. 

  1. Use Black journalists as sources. The Root, Capital B News and Word in Black are some Black-led national outlets. Depending on where you live, you may also be able to find local Black press, like Baltimore Beat, The Kansas City Defender and New York Amsterdam News. There are also Black independent journalists like Karen Attiah, who was fired from the Washington Post for voicing her thoughts on Charlie Kirk after his assassination, and now has her own Substack or you can follow Norman on Instagram. There may also be Black journalists at news outlets you already read, like Errin Haines at The 19th*.
    • Compare how these journalists cover the same events and issues as white journalists and pay attention to what they write about that you don’t see in other media outlets. You can even discuss the differences you see in your content and bring your audience along on your journey to challenge white supremacist media coverage. Speaking with your audience about media literacy can make a big difference in improving their information diet.  
    • Make a point to use Black experts for interviews in your own content or background research. News Creator Corps has partnerships with organizations like SciLine and The Conversation that can help connect you with Black scientists and academics.
  2. Notice stories you don’t hear much about. Consider talking about stories that don’t get wider circulation, like lynchings or the blackouts in northwest Indiana. Ask if white communities were impacted in the same way, and whether the story would be covered the same or differently. 
  1. Be cautious in how you frame news you share. Say what you actually think rather than just reposting with no added perspective, and don’t feel obligated to be “neutral” when a news outlet clearly is showing bias or leaving out important context. If your focus is on sharing the information with your audience and not pointing out the issues with the reporting, you can green screen the source and use more accurate and less biased language with when relaying the facts:
    • Name people and places specifically instead of letting a headline or story’s vague language stand to provide additional context. For example, don’t mimic when a news outlet uses terms like “lone wolf” or “domestic terrorist” when describing perpetrators of mass shootings, as those terms are loaded with racial bias and have had consequences on responses to mass shootings.
    • Point out loaded word choices directly in your videos and caption. 
    • Add context mainstream headlines often strip out, like historical background, who benefits from a policy and whose voices are missing from the piece. 
    • Note who is quoted and flag when the pattern skews by race, like if a news outlet constantly uses white experts when covering issues that disproportionately impact Black people.
    • Use resources like the National Association of Black Journalists style guide to minimize your own use of potentially harmful language when describing news events. 
  2. Slow down before resharing viral framing. A lot of distorted narratives that promote white supremacy spread when they are shared fast and unchallenged. Choose to share information after doing research to see what additional context is needed or what narratives in the news about an event or issue need to be challenged. 
  3. Familiarize yourself with disaggregated data that can get more specific about different experiences within the umbrella term “Black” and where you can find primary source records about Black Americans and their history. Here are some resources that may be helpful:

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