Jena 6

This week I decided to blog about news coverage of the Jena 6, because it a topic that hits pretty close to home. My maternal grandparents live in Jena, Louisiana. I've been visiting them there for the last several years. I'd never noticed that there was racism existing in that community until now. Thinking back, I've only seen very few black people in that town. The majority that I know of are white and elderly. That could contribute to the racial bias. Old people tend to be more stuck in their ways and less accepting than young. However, I still don't believe that the town is an evil center for hatred. Al Sharpton was quoted in the news this week saying something along the lines of there being a need to eliminate all the Jena's in the south. That this isn't an isolated case. That may be true, but I think the town is getting a harsher look than merited. The news coverage says that the whole incident was started by a few white students hanging nooses on a tree that black students had sat under the day before. Those students were suspended. Some articles make it seem like the white student getting beat was a reply to the nooses being put up, but in reality there was three months in between. The nooses may have heightened tension in the school, but that's about it. The reality of the situation is that six students jumped one and beat the hell out of him. I don't think color should even be an issue. Its been turned into an issue by the fact that there were nooses in a tree a few months earlier. That problem was dealt with! I think the media is playing this whole thing up. The public is going for it, too. There was a rally in Jena yesterday. My grandparents told me that there were 12,000 people there marching in a town of 3,000. They were allowing 5 tour buses in the town every 12 minutes and there were buses as far as the eye can see. This shows what a huge affect the media has on thinking. A racial spin was put on a story and there was a huge reaction.

First Week Assignment

I get news at least once a day. Yahoo! is my main news source. It is organized very well and I have it customized to show me news updates on my e-mail home page. Most of the time I check top news stories on a national level, as well as odd and entertainment news. There is also a local section which I check to see what is happening in my city. My secondary news source is my cell phone. Its portable and the news is very easy to access, so when I am just standing around I flip it open and log on. I use my cell phone mainly to look at breaking news or weather reports. I probably spend around an hour a day total reading the news.

I haven't formed much of an opinion about race, sexuality, etc. in the media yet. I have noticed that women tend to be used in a sexual context in almost everything in an attempt to gain more of an audience, but that is about it.