The Media, Public Perception, And Policy Decisions: An Analysis Of Two Racially Different Newsrooms’ Coverage Of BLM And DACA

In this study, I looked into the cycle between the media, the public, and policy decisions. The media influences the public’s perception, which then influences their support for policies. I studied how racial and ethnic diversity in newsrooms affects the coverage of blacks in rhetoric about the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement and Hispanic/Latino immigrants in rhetoric about Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). I utilized an online survey with established social science scales to measure perceived racism. I employed this survey with the Tampa Bay Times (Times), a predominately White newsroom, and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC), a more ethnically and racially diverse newsroom. I also conducted a textual analysis on a sample of articles from each publication written nine months before Donald Trump was elected president to three months after his first State of the Union (SOTU) address. The purpose of the textual analysis was to identify any differences in word choice, frames, and other factors present in the journalists’ coverage of BLM and DACA. Using these methods, I found that the ethnicity of journalists does influence coverage of blacks and Hispanic/Latino immigrants, that journalists cover DACA more sympathetically and ethically than BLM, and that specialized reporting leads to better media representation of these two groups.