He’s Educated Media, Jackson Says

The Rev. Jesse Jackson said Monday that the predominantly white news media were “bound by their own culture” in reporting and interpreting his historic presidential campaign but added that he has seen “an evolution in the media’s consciousness and its maturity.”

Jackson, questioned during a radio news conference about whether a media racial bias has crippled his campaign, said he could not estimate its impact.

However, he took credit for “educating many members of the media. Some have made better grades than others.”

“I’ve taken the media to the low places. I’ve taken them to the ghettos, the barrios, the reservations,” Jackson said. “The media people covering my campaign know more of America than their publishers do, than their editors do, and, therefore, their job will be to educate their bosses.”

He called on news organizations to be more aggressive in hiring and promoting women and minority members.

In particular, he said, they must be advanced into decision-making positions, where they are participating in “the meetings about what story is going to be covered, what the slants are. There must be a multicultural presence in that room to have a multicultural result.”