NEWS DISTRUST AMONG BLACK AMERICANS IS A FIXABLE PROBLEM SUGGESTED CITATION

Abstract

American society today feels more divided than ever, particularly along racial lines. In this project, the Center for Media Engagement asked Black Americans how news organizations could better cover their communities to help bridge the divide between them and the media. We found that: • Journalists Aren't Trusted Storytellers Overall, our survey showed that Black Americans' trust in news is low, similar to most Americans' trust in news. Our interviews showed that Black Americans did trust journalists in general, but they did not necessarily trust journalists to cover Black communities. • Journalists Aren't Well Known in Black Communities Most participants had never met a journalist in their communities. They didn't know how to connect with journalists. • Coverage Isn't Complete Participants felt coverage of their communities lacked context and was one-sided and incomplete. • Expectations Don't Match Reality There was a stark disconnect between how Black Americans felt the media should cover their communities and how they felt the media actually do cover their communities. • Coverage and Representation Matter What really influenced whether Black Americans trust the news media was how well they felt the media covered their communities, and, to a lesser extent, how diverse they felt newsrooms were. Being a Democrat or liberal-leaning and older also were linked to greater media trust. Our interviews helped reveal six approaches journalists can take to help bridge the divide between the media and Black communities.

Full text

Danielle K. Kilgo, Tamar Wilner, Gina M. Masullo, and Lance Kyle Bennett
NEWS DISTRUST AMONG BLACK
AMERICANS IS A FIXABLE
PROBLEM
SUMMARY
American society today feels more divided than ever, particularly along racial lines. In this project,
the Center for Media Engagement asked Black Americans how news organizations could better
cover their communities to help bridge the divide between them and the media. We found that:
• Journalists Aren’t Trusted Storytellers
Overall, our survey showed that Black Americans’ trust in news is low, similar to most Americans’
trust in news. Our interviews showed that Black Americans did trust journalists in general, but
they did not necessarily trust journalists to cover Black communities.
• Journalists Aren’t Well Known in Black Communities
Most participants had never met a journalist in their communities. They didn’t know how to
connect with journalists.
• Coverage Isn’t Complete
Participants felt coverage of their communities lacked context and was one-sided and
incomplete.
• Expectations Don’t Match Reality
There was a stark disconnect between how Black Americans felt the media should cover their
communities and how they felt the media actually do cover their communities.
• Coverage and Representation Matter
What really inuenced whether Black Americans trust the news media was how well they felt
the media covered their communities, and, to a lesser extent, how diverse they felt newsrooms
were. Being a Democrat or liberal-leaning and older also were linked to greater media trust.
Our interviews helped reveal six approaches journalists can take to help bridge the divide between
the media and Black communities.
SUGGESTED CITATION:
Danielle K. Kilgo, Wilner, Tamar, Masullo, Gina M., and Bennett, Lance Kyle. (November, 2020).
News distrust among Black Americans is a xable problem. Center for Media Engagement. https://
mediaengagement.org/research/news-distrust-among-black-americans

NEWS DISTRUST AMONG BLACK AMERICANS IS A FIXABLE PROBLEM 2
THE PROBLEM
News coverage of the death of George Floyd at the hands of police in the summer of 2020 –
and the resulting protests – highlighted a decades-long problem with how Black Americans
are covered in the media.1 Floyd, a Black man, died after a white Minneapolis police ofcer
kneeled on his neck, pinning Floyd to the ground for nearly nine minutes.2 His death was just
one of hundreds of deaths of Black Americans caused by police in recent years.3 The cases
have raised concerns about police violence,4 the justice system, racism, and how the media
responds to this crisis.5
Headlines and front pages covering Floyd’s case and others like it have been critiqued for
their emphasis on sensationalism over substance and their focus on property damage
during protests, rather than on larger issues like racism in everyday life. Coverage of
Floyd’s case led to several walkouts from journalists claiming they were “sick and tired of
pretending things are ok.” Critiques of the media coverage of Black Americans are not new.
More than 50 years ago, the Kerner Commission warned against divisive news coverage
that did not accurately or adequately represent Black people6 and called for more diverse
newsrooms. But these problems remain.7
In this project, the Center for Media Engagement asked Black Americans how news
organizations could better cover their communities to help bridge the divide between them
and the media. This research, funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and
Democracy Fund, is part of our connective democracy initiative. Connective democracy
seeks to nd practical solutions to problems of divisiveness.
KEY FINDINGS
The following ndings stand out:
• Journalists Aren’t Trusted Storytellers
Overall, our survey showed that Black Americans’ trust in news is low, similar to most
Americans’ trust in news. Our interviews showed that Black Americans did trust
journalists in general, but they did not necessarily trust journalists to cover Black
communities.
• Journalists Aren’t Well Known in Black Communities
Most participants had never met a journalist in their communities. They didn’t know
how to connect with journalists.
• Coverage Isn’t Complete
Participants felt coverage of their communities lacked context and was one-sided
and incomplete.

NEWS DISTRUST AMONG BLACK AMERICANS IS A FIXABLE PROBLEM 3
• Expectations Don’t Match Reality
There was a stark disconnect between how Black Americans felt the media should
cover their communities and how they felt the media actually do cover their
communities.
• Coverage and Representation Matter
What really inuenced whether Black Americans trust the news media was how well
they felt the media covered their communities, and, to a lesser extent, how diverse
they felt newsrooms were. Being a Democrat or liberal-leaning and older also were
linked to greater media trust.
IMPLICATIONS FOR NEWSROOMS
Our interviews helped reveal the following six approaches journalists can take to help bridge
the divide between the media and Black communities:
1. Find “Black Joy”
Intentionally cover positive stories about Black people and communities, rather than
focusing coverage on police brutality or protests.
2. Provide a More Complete Story
Develop more sources in Black communities and tell stories that include their points
of view, rather than overly rely on ofcial government sources.
3. Diversify Blackness
Don’t treat one neighborhood or community as “Black people.” Instead, realize that
Black people live throughout your coverage area and that their needs and beliefs are
not all the same.
4. Explore Your Own Unconscious Biases
Think about the decisions you make about what stories to cover and how you cover
those stories, even if it makes you uncomfortable.
5. Hire Black Journalists
Make a real commitment to hiring diverse staff at all levels.
6. Connect with Black Communities
Build trust by nding ways to make connections in Black communities before big
news happens. Consider getting involved in local causes or community events.

NEWS DISTRUST AMONG BLACK AMERICANS IS A FIXABLE PROBLEM 4
FULL FINDINGS
We surveyed 1,052 Black Americans and then interviewed 27 of them at length.
Participants are described using their chosen pseudonym. Our ndings focus on two main
areas: “What’s Wrong?” and “How Do We Fix It?”
What’s Wrong?
Across the survey and interviews, Black Americans identied the following four main issues
regarding their perceptions of the news media.
Journalists Aren’t Trusted Storytellers
In the survey, Black Americans rated low trust in media, with an average score of 3.2 on
a 1 to 7 scale with 7 indicating higher trust.8 When they were asked to answer an open-
ended question about media trust, their answers were related to media bias or biased
news 467 times. The interviews provided more nuance about this nding. Participants
seemed to trust journalists in general, but that trust was weaker when it came to covering
Black communities. “For the local news, I kind of trust them. … [But] they’re so quick to post
negative stories about minorities,” said Sarah, 36, of Louisiana.
Others noted they thought bias might be intentional. For example, Palla, 34, of Pennsylvania,
said: “There’s some journalists in particular who have their own agenda, and they don’t,
they’re not as impartial as they should be. … I think, you know, there’s certain people out
there that I think are getting some kind of nancial benet from how they report, and that
just disgusts me.”
Journalists Aren’t Well Known in Black Communities
Most participants had never met a journalist in their communities and didn’t know any
journalists who work in their communities. They also didn’t know how to connect with
journalists or understand how journalists specically reach out to and connect with
communities. People also felt that local newsrooms lacked diversity.
Coverage Isn’t Complete
Many participants felt coverage of their communities lacked context and was one-sided
and incomplete. For example, they perceived that news coverage presented Black Lives
Matter protests as overwhelmingly violent even though the protests were largely peaceful.9
“They have been showing protestors as overly violent, when in actuality, it’s the police that’s
actually starting to [aggravate] issues between them,” said Kole, 18, of Georgia.

NEWS DISTRUST AMONG BLACK AMERICANS IS A FIXABLE PROBLEM 5
Expectations Don’t Match Reality
In survey responses, Black Americans indicated a strong preference for the media taking
on the role of helping the public understand racial injustice and breaking down barriers
between people, as well as covering protests like Black Lives Matter. But they did not see
the media as actually doing a very good job of this. There was a stark disconnect between
Black Americans’ expectations – how they felt the media should cover their communities
– compared with their evaluations – how they believed the media actually does cover their
communities.10
Disconnect Between Expectations and Evaluations of Media Coverage of Black Communities
Data from the Center for Media Engagement
Notes: Participants rated their expectations about media coverage – how they felt the media should cover Black
communities – on a 1 to 7 scale with a higher number meaning more agreement that particular topics should be
part of the coverage. Then they rated another set of similar statements about their evaluations that assessed
how adequately and accurately they felt the media do cover these topics. The average scores for expectations
of how the media should cover Black communities compared with evaluations of how the media actually do
cover Black communities were signicantly different at p < .001.

NEWS DISTRUST AMONG BLACK AMERICANS IS A FIXABLE PROBLEM 6
How Do We Fix It?
Coverage and Representation Matter
To understand more fully what might improve Black Americans’ trust in news, we examined
what attitudes made it more likely that people would trust the media. In the survey, we
considered “expectations of how the media should cover Black communities,” “evaluations
of how the media actually does cover Black communities,” “perceptions of newsroom
diversity,”11 and “general perceptions of the treatment of Black people in American
society.”12 Statistical analyses showed the following results from the survey:
• The more people perceived that the media did a good job of covering Black
communities and the more they perceived that newsrooms are diverse, the more
likely they were to trust the media. Coverage perceptions mattered more than
perceptions that newsrooms are diverse.13
• Participants who identify as Democrats or liberal-leaning or who are older also were
more likely the trust the media.
• “General perceptions of the treatment of Black people in American society” and
“how the media should cover Black communities” were not related to media trust
perceptions.
Strategies for Journalists
In the interviews, our participants offered six main strategies that news outlets could take
to bridge divides with Black Americans, as described below.
Find
“
Black Joy”
Participants suggested intentionally covering positive stories about Black people and
communities, not focusing coverage on police brutality or protests. “I’d like to see like a
counter-balance of ‘Here’s a really positive thing that’s happening in the community,’ or like,
‘Here’s a way that you can help today.’ I don’t know, just a balance in between the awful and
the kind of more upbeat,” explained Lucy, 21, of California.
Provide a More Complete Story
Participants yearned for journalists to develop more sources in Black communities and to
tell stories that include these voices even if they conict with what police or other ofcials
are saying. All too often, participants felt they weren’t getting the whole story. “I really think
that [media] contribute to racism when they won’t tell the whole story, you know? If I was
to see Black Lives Matter anything concerning them … the media gives me 90% of them
knocking in the windows and things of that nature. ... I always feel like I’m missing the rest of
the story,” said Abigail, 52, of New York.

NEWS DISTRUST AMONG BLACK AMERICANS IS A FIXABLE PROBLEM 7
Diversify Blackness
Participants wanted journalists to realize that Black people live throughout a community,
not just in specic neighborhoods, and that they have varied experiences and beliefs. It’s
also important for journalists to report on variations within Black thinking about solutions to
problems and to push against seeing Black people as all the same by allowing various Black
voices in news coverage. “I guess for me personally, it’s being aware that we’re not all the
same. … We’re just as diverse economically and socially as every other group in the country,”
said Mark, 31, of Florida.
They also wanted journalists to understand that Black people fall into intersecting social
groups, based on income, education, geographic location, etc., that may make their
experiences different from each other. Journalists should take that into account when
diversifying coverage to make it more relatable. Explaining this point, Croft, 25, of Missouri
said, “Rural, poor people and black people actually have a lot in common, but the media likes
to act like they just have completely separate problems that aren’t related.”
Explore Your Own Unconscious Biases
Participants recommended that reporters and editors think about their own unconscious
biases by exploring ideas or questions that might make them uncomfortable as they
consider what stories to cover and how to cover them. Then journalists should include
those narratives in their coverage. Queen, 60, of New York, said that one way journalists can
combat racism is by “making decent white people feel uncomfortable. That’s the thing that’s
going to spark some kind of debate and possible change.”
Hire Black Reporters
With calls for the diversication of newsrooms beginning as early as the 1960s, this solution
is not new or unique. However, studies show newsrooms are still dominated by white men,
particularly in management, so more work is needed.14 Participants said this lack of diversity
needs to change. “Hire more black reporters, writers, and management from top to bottom
level,” said Quincy, 26, of California.
Connect with Black Communities
Most participants didn’t know journalists in their communities or know how to go about
contacting a reporter. To address this concern, journalists could get more involved in local
causes or community events that may help connect them to Black communities. “I think
the easiest way [journalists can bridge racial divides] is to just spend more time or be more
comfortable around other minority groups,” said Mark, 31, of Florida. “I know for a fact I
wouldn’t be nearly as comfortable around white people if I didn’t spend my whole life being
around them.”

NEWS DISTRUST AMONG BLACK AMERICANS IS A FIXABLE PROBLEM 8
METHODOLOGY
This project was funded by Knight Foundation and Democracy Fund as part of the
connective democracy project. We recruited 1,05215 participants through CloudResearch,
which draws participants from Amazon Mechanical Turk. Participants had to identify as
Black Americans,16 be at least 18 years old, and reside in the United States. This is neither
a representative nor a randomly selected sample, but we specically sought out a cross-
section of Black Americans.
Participants were asked open-ended and close-ended questions about their general
impressions of what it’s like to be a Black American, their media and news use, and their
perceptions of how the news media covers Black Americans. All participants were invited
to be interviewed, and 531 indicated a willingness to do so. Participants who agreed to be
interviewed were randomly selected to be invited to interviews, although efforts were made
to balance gender, income, and education categories in those invitations. A total of 257
were invited to be interviewed, and of those, 27 went through with the interview process.
The survey and interviews took place from August 1 to 31, 2020.
Interviews were conducted via Zoom and each lasted about 45 minutes. They were
recorded and professionally transcribed. During interviews, participants elaborated on
their perceptions of life as Black Americans and media coverage of Black communities. We
looked for commonalities in their observations. A computer program was used to help sort
through interview transcripts to aid in analysis.

NEWS DISTRUST AMONG BLACK AMERICANS IS A FIXABLE PROBLEM 9
Participant Demographics
Survey
n
= 1,052
Interview
n = 27
Gender
Female 57.9% 16
Male 41.4 11
Other 0.7 0
Age
18 to 29 33.9 9
30 to 49 53.2 13
50 to 64 11.0 2
65 and older 1.9 3
Education
High school or less 10.8 1
Some college/Associate’s degree 43.2 12
Bachelor’s degree or more 46.1 14
Household Income
Less than $30,000 25.1 7
$30,000 to $49,999 27.0 8
$50,000 to $74,999 23.7 2
$75,000 or more 24.1 10
Political Beliefs
Democrat/Lean Democrat 65.3 22
Republican/Lean Republican 11.6 0
Neither or unknown 23.1 5
Data from the Center for Media Engagement

NEWS DISTRUST AMONG BLACK AMERICANS IS A FIXABLE PROBLEM 10
ENDNOTES
1 Campbell, C., LeDu, K., Jenkins, C. D., & Brown, R. A. (2012). Race and news: Critical perspectives. Routledge.
2 Montemayor, S., & Xiong, C. (2020, June 4). Four red Minneapolis police ocers charged, booked in killing of George Floyd.
Star Tribune. https://www.startribune.com/four-red-minneapolis-ocers-booked-charged-in-killing-of-george-oyd/570984872/
3 Fatal force: Police shootings database. (2020). e Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/investigations/
police-shootings-database/
4 Davis, A. J. (2017). Policing the Black man: Arrest, prosecution, and imprisonment. Pantheon.
5 Kilgo, D. K., & Harlow, S. (2019). Protests, media coverage, and a hierarchy of social struggle.e International Journal of Press/
Politics,24(4), 508-530. https://doi.org/10.1177/1940161219853517
6 Lamb, Y. R., & Byerly, C. M. (2019). Kerner @ 50 looking forward; looking back. Howard Journal of Communications, 30(4),
317–331. https://doi.org/10.1080/10646175.2019.1627959
7 Grieco, E. (2018, November 2). Newsrooms employees are less diverse than U.S. workers overall. Pew Research Center. https://
www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/11/02/newsroom-employees-are-less-diverse-than-u-s-workers-overall/
8 “Media trust” was measured by having participants rate their level of agreement or disagreement on a 1 to 7 scale with 7 being
more agreement regarding whether the following words or phrases describe the news media: “fair,” “biased,” “accurate,” “tells the
whole story,” and “separates fact from ction.” Answers for “biased” were reverse scored so a higher number indicated less bias,
and then all ve items were averaged together into a composite score [M = 3.2, SD = 1.2, Cronbach’s α = 0.87].
9 A report released in September 2020 by the Armed Conict Local & Event Data project [ACLED] found that of the 10,600
protests in the United States from May 24 to August 22, 95% were peaceful. Well over 80% of the total protests were related to
either Black Lives Matter or COVID-19, the report said. ACLED is a non-prot disaggregated data collection, analysis, and
crisis mapping project. https://acleddata.com/acleddatanew/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/ACLED_USDataReview_Sum2020_
SeptWebPDF_HiRes.pdf
10 To gure out what statements best measured these concepts, we initially conducted a principal component analysis (PCA) with
promax rotation using a scree plot test to determine what items loaded together as separate concepts. at analysis suggested three
factors, two of which are described here. “Expectations of how the media should cover Black communities” was measured with
ratings on a 1(strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree) scale to three statements that were then averaged together regarding what the
news media should do. ese were: “Should play a role in helping people understand racial injustice issues,” “Should play a role in
breaking down barriers between people of dierent races,” and “Cover protests of racial injustice, such as the recent Black Lives
Matter protests,” [M = 5.5, SD = 1.3, Cronbach’s α = 0.84]. “Evaluations of how the media actually do cover Black communities”
was measured with ratings on a 1(strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree) scale regarding what the news media actually do, using
the following statements: “Do a good job at breaking down barriers between people of dierent races,” “Do a good job covering
protests of racial injustice, such as the recent Black Lives Matter protests,” and “Do a good job helping people understand racial
injustice issues.” In addition, participants rated on a 1 (very inaccurately) to 7 (very accurately) scale the following: “How accurately
do the media portray black communities,” “How accurately do the media portray my community,” “How accurately do the media
portray other communities of color,” and “How accurately do the media portray my personal interests.” All seven items were
averaged together [M = 3.3, SD = 1.3, Cronbach’s α = 0.89]. A paired t test showed that the mean for “How should the media cover
Black communities” was signicantly higher than the mean for “How does the media cover Black communities,” [t (1,051) = 40.71,
p < .001].
11 Based on the PCA explained above, “perception of newsroom diversity” did not load on any of the three factors, so it was
measured as a single item by having people rate on a 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree) scale their feelings about one
statement: “Newsrooms are diverse” [M = 3.7, SD = 1.6].
12 is was measured using the third factor in the PCA explained above. “General perceptions of the treatment of Black people in
American society” was measured on a 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree) scale in regard to two statements: “Black people
have equal rights to white Americans” [M = 3.0, SD = 1.9] and “All things considered, it is good to be a Black person in the United
States” [M = 4.0, SD = 1.7 ]. While the PCA analysis showed these two statements loaded together as one factor, a Spearman-
Brown test showed they were unreliable if averaged together, so they were kept as single items.
13 is was tested using ordinary least squares (OLS) regression with “media trust” as the dependent variable, R²= 0.52,
AdjustedR2= 0.51,F= 86.02,p< .001. “How does the media cover Black communities”(β = 0.64, p < .001), “perception of
newsroom diversity” (β = 0.09, p = .001), identifying as a Democrat or being liberal-leaning (β = 0.10, p < .001), and being older (β
= 0.08, p = .001) all were signicantly related to media trust. No other signicant relationships were found.

NEWS DISTRUST AMONG BLACK AMERICANS IS A FIXABLE PROBLEM 11
14 Grieco, 2018.
15 A total of 1,123 survey responses were received, but data from 71 were not used because participants appeared to take the survey
more than once (n = 21); did not indicate they were 18 or older (n = 10); did not indicate they were Black or African American (n
= 7); used an invalid, duplicate, or no mTurk ID (n = 16), and did not nish most of the survey (n = 17).
16 Participants were asked “Would you describe any part of your racial or ethnic identity as Black or African American?” and only
those who selected “yes” were eligible to continue with the survey.