The Bad News About The News By Robert G. Kaiser Summary

The American news media is an extremely important “engine of American democracy” (Kaiser). Its role of informing the public is the foundation for our form of self-governance, and with that the influence that it has over the American people is paramount. In his essay “The Bad News About the News,” Robert G. Kaiser argues the importance of bi-partisan news outlets and the dismal impacts of the “[recent] rise of the fragmented news media,” however, this phenomenon may not be as recent as Kaiser believes. In what he refers to as the “golden era in journalism,” he writes of news anchors like Cronkite, Chancellor, Tom Brokaw, Dan Rather, and Peter Jennings as “gatekeepers” of the media; however, much of the issues that Kaiser claims “unified American

society” are on the subject of national security and international affairs- there may be less success on the subject of national affairs. In “The Dangerous Myth of the ‘Missing Black Father,’” Mychal Denzel Smith discusses society’s perception of an apparent lack of responsible fathers in the African American community, as framed by the media. He explains how the media’s focus on the lack of fathers in black households may have more severe impacts on black children than the father himself. Though designed to be a mode of civil liberty, our mass media has proven itself to be an oppressor to some groups through its dictation and perpetuation of one-sided stories.
Kaiser, in large part, blames the shift in news on those reporting it.

He writes, “For nearly four decades after World War II, mainstream journalism was notably non-ideological” (Kaiser). He identifies this as the key to unifying American society; however, each of the reporters that he praises for this feat, for their “boldness” and for their sense of journalistic “responsibility” share something in common: they’re all white (Kaiser). The unity that he refers to was more of a perceived unity, the lack of representation of blacks in his examples shed light on the partisan reporting that was being consumed by the public. These reports shared similar thinking- “thinking [that] goes like this: the high rates of poverty and incarceration and low levels of educational achievement in black communities can be traced in part to the high number of black babies born out of wedlock and subsequently raised in single-mother households. If black men just showed up in the homes of their children- acted like men instead of boys- black families and communities would fortify themselves and our long-held problems would simply wither away” (Smith). This is the story that the “small and also remarkably homogeneous” universe of news providers perpetuate (Kaiser). Those that feed us the news come from nuclear families and socio-economic situations that make it easy to look to the black community and blame the father for its numerous issues. What these stories and statistics do not take into account

are the depressed wages, chronic unemployment, discriminatory hiring practices, the history of mass incarceration, housing segregation and inequality in educational opportunities (Smith).
The chastization of black fathers is not only the fault of those reporting the news, but how the news is being reported and consumed is an issue as well. News is presently so tailored to the individual and predetermined beliefs, that it allows readers to develop opinions that are increasingly distant from the center, and the truth. “The Internet promotes fragmentation by encouraging the development of like-minded communities. The news media are fragmenting just as American society is fragmenting-by class, by region, by religious inclination, by generation, by ethnic identity, by politics and more” (Kaiser). The news that once offered a mere appearance of unity, no longer offers the appearance of unity but has become another source of division. As the news sources and reports have become increasingly ideological, “politicians and commentators now seem perfectly happy inventing their own reality when it suits their political or ideological purposes” (Kaiser). This makes it far easier to ignore the confounding variables that contribute to the struggle of the black community- blaming the father not only takes the responsibility off of the politicians to solve a national crisis, but it provides a scapegoat for the issue as well. “By focusing on the supposed absence of black fathers, we allow ourselves to pretend this oppression is not real, while also further scapegoating black men for America’s societal ills” (Smith). To claim that familial structures other than the traditional nuclear family are wrong is also an assertion that none other than a father is capable of properly raising a child, while simultaneously teaching the children of these altered households that their lives are somehow wrong as well (Smith). As the children of these households are taught that their upbringing is wrong and inferior, behavioral issues and deficiencies in school are not surprising, nor is the poverty of women-led households unexpected, as a single income is not economically feasible to support a household in this country, compounded by the fact that the work of women is valued less by our economy as well (Smith).
There is clear bias within today’s media, and possibly previously praised media outlets as well.

Kaiser admits, “a herd mentality too often prevailed.” This has been at the cost of the black community, with constant and consistent criticism of the African American familial structure. That is not to say the African American community is blameless; there are many improvements to be made within the community, and it would be to the benefit of the black community to look inward and reflect. However, many inequalities continue to plague American society and the media has a role in perpetuating them. The news media has a history of succumbing to national anxieties, such as the AIDS epidemic and the 9/11 attacks, and in today’s divided America the media continues to drive division between races through the style in which stories on missing black fathers are reported (Kaiser). The media has proven so convincing that even prominent African American figures have submitted to the storyline, by means of either a desire to gain the approval of groups that favor the myth or genuine neglect of the facts of the whole story. This was shown when President Obama himself chided the black community in a speech delivered on Father’s Day at a church on Chicago’s South Side (Smith). Holding black fathers accountable is important and necessary, however, not at the expense of the black child. President Obama had no problem publicly condemning black fathers for “acting like boys instead of men,” but

he did not address that “even with the presence of fathers in the home, the persistently high black male unemployment rate would do little to close the existing and increasing racial wealth gap” (Smith). Responsible fatherhood can only contribute so much to a society suffering institutionalized oppression (Smith). “For black children, the presence of fathers would not alter racist drug laws, prosecutorial protection of police officers who kill, mass school closures or the poisoning of their water” (Smith). However, that is what our media communicates. That is what people want to believe, that is what is easiest and most convenient to believe. The institution that was formed with such fervor and determination by our founding fathers to provide, defend and protect “the lifeblood of a free, democratic society” has proven to do just the opposite for black males (Kaiser). The media has become a very large determinant of what society deems acceptable, and, yes, it displays our civilization and displays for us what we as a society may have already deemed acceptable; however, it wields great power, and with it it also exaggerates norms in our society and creates a narrative that proves beneficial to some, and detrimental to others. The perpetuation and dramatization of the ‘missing black father’ in our mass media and its impacts on black children impedes the African American community’s ability to enjoy the free, democratic society that journalism was designed to protect.