Police murders of Black Americans, and the resulting protests, are once more at the forefront of the news cycle. The focus constitutes an important opportunity, but journalists who don’t have a nuanced understanding of our country’s systemic, state-sponsored violence against Black people wrongly report the latest police crimes as a symptom of the Trump regime.
On this week’s Kicker, Danielle Belton, editor in chief of The Root, and Alexandria Neason, staff writer at CJR, speak with Kyle Pope, our editor and publisher, about the history of protest in America, how coverage of the latest murders ties in to the covid-19 pandemic, and why this is not just a story about Trump’s attempts to incite violence.
SHOW NOTES
Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and covering Black deaths, Alexandria Neason, CJR
Injustice, Virality, and Mourning in Minneapolis: How the press is covering the death of George Floyd, Jon Allsop, CJR
