Commentary

Television as a Race Relations Barometer
The Gap between Represented and Representative

In January 2001, the editors of the Progressive magazine selected The Black Image in the White Mind (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), by Robert Entman and Andrew Rojecki, as one of the Best Books of 2000. David Sears of UCLA called it potentially "the most important book on race in the past three decades." Here are some comments from one of the authors about the book and the issues it explores.

Andy Rojecki, University of Illinois, Chicago

Living in a segregated society, white Americans learn about African Americans less through personal relationships than through the images the media show them. The Black Image in the White Mind offers a comprehensive look at the intricate racial patterns in the mass media and how they shape the ambivalent attitudes of Whites toward Blacks.

Using the media, and especially television, as barometers of race relations, Bob and I explored the treatment of African Americans on network and local news to uncover the messages sent about race by the entertainment industry-from prime-time dramas and sitcoms to commercials and Hollywood movies.

While we found very little in the media that intentionally promotes racism, we found even less that advances racial harmony. Our research revealed instead a subtle pattern of images that, while making room for Blacks, implies a racial hierarchy with Whites on top and promotes a sense of difference and conflict.

Commercials, for example, feature plenty of Black characters. But unlike Whites, they rarely speak to or touch one another. In prime time, the few Blacks who escape sitcom buffoonery rarely enjoy informal, friendly contact with White colleagues--perhaps reinforcing social distance in real life.

We have woven these observations in along with candid interviews of White Americans that make clear how these images of racial difference insinuate themselves into Whites' thinking. For example, only those Whites in the interview sample who did not hold any stereotyped notions about Blacks or those with Black relatives could see through the patterns and conventions of television imagery used by the majority of Whites to reinforce their fear or resentment of African Americans.

Despite its disturbing readings of television and film, our analyses and proposed policy guidelines offer hope that America's powerful mediated racial separation can be successfully bridged. Following are some highlights of our findings.

FEMALE MOVIE CHARACTERS
While Black actors are now more numerous in film, it's an open question as to how well they're being represented. In the top movies of 1996:

Network news tends to ghettoize Blacks. Increasingly, African Americans appear mostly in crime, sports and entertainment stories.

SOUND BITES ON NEWS
Rarely are Blacks shown making an important contribution to the serious business of the nation. Sampling network news shows:

REPRESENTATION NOT REPRESENTATIVE
Figures considered telegenic aren't always the most representative leaders. Some statistics from 1994:

The media sowed discord during the affirmative action debate of the 1990s despite the considerable common ground between Blacks and Whites. Reporters often predicted affirmative action would be one of the key issues in the 1996 election because of the so-called rage among Whites.

ANTI-AFFIRMATIVE ACTION
Percentages who —

Andy Rojecki is assistant professor of communication at the University of Illinois, Chicago. Here are details about his book with Bob Entman: 280 pages, 9.30 by 6.29 inches. $26 (Cloth). ISBN 0226210758.