• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, September 27, 2023

Newsrooms have their work cut out for them if they hope to present totally fair coverage of Black Americans.  

Among Black readers, 63% say news about Black people is often more negative than it is about other groups. Moreover, 57% feel the news only covers certain segments within Black communities, according to Black Americans’ Experience With News, a study released this week by Pew Research Center. 

In addition, 50% say important information is often missing from stories, and 43% say coverage largely stereotypes Black people.  

And Black Americans do not have high hopes that things will get better. While 40% say improvement is somewhat likely, 38% feel it is not too/not very likely.  

Do not think these views are influenced by politics: While 59% of Democrats (or those who lean that way) say coverage is often negative, 55% agree with that on the Republican side. 

Similarly, 50% of Democrats or leaners feel stories are often missing important information, and here they are slightly outvoted by Republican leaners: 53% think so.  

Forty-four percent in the Democratic column say coverage largely stereotypes Black people, and 46% of Republicans concur.  

What can be done about it? A solid 64% say educating all journalists about issues affecting Black Americans would be an effective way of improving coverage.  

They also believe coverage would be better if more Black people were used as sources (54%) and if more were hired as newsroom leaders (53%) and as journalists (44%). 

Among those surveyed, 44% say Black reporters do a better job than other journalists of covering race-related issues and also of understanding them. However, only 14% extend this to coverage of other topics. 

In addition, Black respondents say journalists should be an advocate for Black people (28%), personally engage with the people they cover (40%), understand the history of the issues in the story (55%), and cover all sides of the issues in the story (60%). 

Education levels are a factor in how people perceive the news: 68% of Black Americans with at least a bachelor’s degree say news they see or hear about Black people covers only certain segments of Black communities, compared to 49% of those with a high school diploma or less.

And 75% of those with the highest income level say coverage is more negative than it is about other groups, versus 57% of those in the lowest income group. 

Black Americans tend to get their news from these sources:

• Local news outlets — 41%
• National news outlets — 35% 
• Social media sites — 35% 
• Friends, family and acquaintances — 33%
• Political leaders and public officials — 14%
• Religious leaders — 13%

But the percentages are different when it comes to which outlets they trust: 

• Local news outlets — 48%
• National news outlets — 44%
• Social media sites — 18% 
• Friends, family and acquaintances — 35%
• Political leaders and public officials — 20% 
• Religious leaders — 27%

Pew Research Center surveyed 4,742 Black adults from Feb. 22 to March 5, 2023.