Minnesota journalists admit they have a problem with bias and say they need more training to understand racial bias.
This bias has led to inaccuracies and a lack of representation of communities of color in news coverage, according to a survey of about 250 reporters, editors, producers
Just 20 percent of survey respondents said they believe Minnesota media outlets do a “good” or “excellent” job portraying indigenous people and people of color. Most rate the coverage as poor or fair, MPR News reported.
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Despite this, 80 percent of Minnesota journalists said they are at least “somewhat confident” that they can accurately report on the experiences and stories of people from racial or cultural groups different than their own.
“There’s kind of this contrast of media professionals thinking they might be doing OK, but overall they don’t think the field is doing great, and they’re reporting that they and others haven’t had much access to training on this topic of racial narratives in the media,” said Nicole MartinRogers, senior research manager at Wilder Research.
A majority of media professionals surveyed said people of color are not fairly represented by local news media. However, 95 percent said whites are generally represented fairly or in a positive light. Two-thirds said African-Americans are often presented in a negative light.
