‘We’re Always Being Treated to the Worst’ : Violence-Torn Communities Say They Still Await Media’s Coverage of Social Issues

In the live images of destruction and rage of Los Angeles’ deadly civil unrest that flickered across his television last year, Johnnie Cochran Jr. saw hope.

Cochran, a prominent African-American attorney, hoped that the communities torn apart in the disturbance following the Simi Valley trial would rebuild and heal. But he also hoped that the violence would serve as a wake-up call for the local broadcast media to probe into the deeper sociological issues underlying the violence--the poverty, the unemployment, the racial tensions, the hopelessness and despair.

“I thought for sure that now the message had gotten through, that the media had better start paying attention to what was really happening in those communities, instead of just rushing down there when there is a drug bust or drive-by shooting,” he said.

News directors at several local television and radio stations seemed to be on the same wavelength as Cochran. Some agreed that they had paid too much attention to violence-oriented breaking news and not enough to exploring the conditions that led to last year’s disturbance. Many vowed to change their priorities and devote more time to more positive and analytical stories on the various communities.

So Cochran and other community leaders watched their televisions, turned on their radios and waited. But as the first anniversary of the unrest approaches this week, they say they are still waiting.

Almost all of them have come to the same conclusion: The post-revolution is not being televised or broadcast.

Numerous civic leaders, community activists, educators and prominent business-people from the African-American, Asian-American and Latino communities believe that local television and radio have largely broken their promise to provide more insightful, balanced coverage of urban minority communities in the year since the Los Angeles riots.

“The focus of the broadcast media’s coverage has remained narrow and negative,” said Cochran, who is representing trucker Reginald O. Denny in the upcoming trial of the three African-American men accused of beating Denny and several other people at the riot flash point of Florence and Normandie.

“With the exception of a few examples, we’re always being treated to the worst of the African-American community when we look at television news or listen to the radio,” he said.

Other Latino and Asian-American leaders say they also feel the local broadcast media have ignored their communities. For the most part, they said, television and radio have continued to emphasize the more superficial and sensationalistic aspects of life in those areas. The media have also consistently failed or declined to cover stories dealing with positive role models or improvements in those communities, they charged.

Stewart Kwoh, executive director of the Asian Pacific American Legal Center of Southern California, said, “I would have to give the broadcast media a mixed review. On the one hand, there has been more coverage of individuals who suffered as a result of the unrest or who were greatly affected by the unrest. But by and large, the depth of the coverage of Asian-American communities has not gotten deeper.”

This lack of balanced coverage by the broadcast media, the critics said, is contributing to the continuing alienation and polarization between those urban communities and predominantly Anglo suburbs.

Some broadcasters acknowledge shortcomings. But many news directors, anchors and station managers defend their coverage in the last year, saying they have provided a more comprehensive and balanced portrayal of life in ethnic communities--the problems and the joys. For every positive community-related story that leaders and educators say was missed, TV and radio employees can name an enterprise story on minorities that got on the air.

Pat Harvey, an anchor at KCAL-TV Channel 9, said of the criticism, “This is something I hear all the time. I go into church in the so-called black community; I do a lot of speaking engagements. Wherever I go, there always seems to be this thought that the media is to blame for the emphasis on the negative in the news.”

Harvey acknowledges that much of her job each night is delivering bad news. “But I know KCAL does a lot of positive stories,” she added. “Lots of our reporters have covered heartwarming stories on people who live in forgotten areas. But for some reason, those stories are not remembered. People remember a story about a robbery or drive-by shooting because crime is so overwhelming. . . . Bad news stays on people’s mind more.”

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Jeff Wald, news director at KCOP-TV Channel 13, said his station’s new “Real News” format has provided lengthy weekly segments on South-Central Los Angeles and other minority communities. KCRW-FM (89.9) General Manager Ruth Hirschmann pointed to the station’s daily “Which Way L.A?” program, which grew out of the aftermath of the riots. KABC-AM (790) General Manager George Green said that his talk-radio station had “shifted emphasis” and covers minority communities with dedication. News officials at KCBS-TV Channel 2 said they have established strong contacts in the various ethnic communities. And KNX-AM (1070) News Director Bob Sims said his station has been making concerted efforts to go into minority communities and broadcast “more voices from the grass roots.”

Indeed, Jose Rios, news director of KTTV-TV Channel 11, said there is so much news on minorities that other factions of Los Angeles are getting ignored.

“Sometimes I feel that it’s almost out of whack the other way,” Rios said. “When LAPD Police Chief Willie Williams went to Cal State Northridge for a town hall meeting a few weeks ago, it was the first time in a long time that we had heard from Anglo communities. Right now there’s too much focus on South-Central Los Angeles at the expense of other parts of the city.”

Other stations said they didn’t change their approach to minority communities at all.

“We did a good job of covering minority issues before the riot, and we’ve continued to follow that course and do the right thing,” said Warren Cereghino, news director of KTLA-TV Channel 5.

“We were dedicated to telling the story of these communities long before the riots,” said Reed Manville, president and general manager of KNBC-TV Channel 4.

“Being a public radio station, we have always seen as one of our major commitments expressing the diversity of the community,” said KPPC-FM (89.3) Program Director Larry Mantle, pointing to his issues-oriented, nightly call-in show, “Air Talk,” and to weekend shows focusing on the African-American, Mexican-American and Asian-American communities.

Still, the perception exists among community leaders that the news coverage of minorities leaves much to be desired.

“Comparatively speaking, the broadcast media has done a better job in terms of quantity, but not quality,” said Danny Bakewell, president of the Brotherhood Crusade.

John Mack, president of the Los Angeles Urban League, said, “For people living outside this community who watch the evening news, all they see is a bunch of shooting and killing. . . . I don’t pretend that all is good news in these communities, or (that) it should be nothing but happy news. But there continues to be this preoccupation with violence and crime among news directors who are caught up in the ratings game.”

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Many community leaders said television and radio journalists were largely responsible for creating a citywide atmosphere of fear during the last several weeks in their coverage of preparations for another bout of possible civil revolt following the announcement of the verdicts in the federal trial of the four officers who beat Rodney King.

“The hysterical, frenzied approach to a possible riot showed how the media sees these minority communities,” said Joe Hicks, leader of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Southern California. “The media stressed military preparedness plans. There were endless streams of sidebars on weaponry.”

To be fair, not all the assessment by community leaders was negative.

Mack said KNX-AM’s and KJLH-FM’s (102.3) news coverage of the communities has been responsible and extensive during the past year: “KJLH is what all radio should be about--outstanding journalism. KNX is all over the city, and just doesn’t show up when there are bad times, or when there’s a shooting.”

Cochran said he felt Linda Alvarez of KNBC-TV and Larry McCormick of KTLA-TV showed depth in covering the Latino and African-American communities.

Sherrie Mazingo, the head of the broadcast journalism department at the University of Southern California who also specializes in the portrayal of minorities in the media, said she was generally pleased with KCAL-TV’s approach: “They have brought some perspective and depth in doing stories about South-Central Los Angeles that have analyzed the disturbance of last year, and what’s happened since then.”

But those are the exceptions.

“There’s never any reporting done on minority entrepreneurs or on the good role models,” complained Esther Renteria, chairwoman of the National Hispanic Media Coalition. “Reporters don’t have the contacts. They’re missing the stories that would mean a lot to the people of Los Angeles.”

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One of the main criticisms some leaders had with the broadcast media is the reliance on convenient or inappropriate spokespersons for the community.

Cochran pointed to the continual media exposure of the Rev. Cecil Murray of the First African Methodist Episcopal Church: “Whenever the media want to find out about the community, they go to First AME every time. Rev. Murray is an excellent minister and First AME is a fine church, but there are also plenty of other fine ministers and churches in our community.”

Asked Carl Dickerson, past president of the Black Business Assn.: “Why does the press give so much attention to talking to gang members? Their impact on the community is unproportionate to the good that happens here. When Ted Koppel of ‘Nightline’ came here after the riot, he talked to gang members. What about the unsung and unappreciated leaders in the community?”

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Broadcasters respond that some of the criticism directed at them stems from a misunderstanding of what constitutes news, and from the fact that no one can see and hear what every station reports on every newscast.

For instance, Renteria and other Latino leaders claimed that one potential minority role model that television and radio appear to have overlooked is Ellen Ochoa, the first Latina astronaut who earlier this month used the Discovery shuttle’s 50-foot robot arm to grab a satellite with solar data.

But Jane Velez-Mitchell, an anchor at KCAL-TV, said she had done three stories focusing on Ochoa. National Public Radio also did a feature on Ochoa.

KNX-AM news director Sims said that while his station does look for stories delving into the issues that played a role in the riots, the very nature of news gathering necessitates a focus on the negative.

“It’s more often the negative stories that become news simply because they’re the departure from the norm,” Sims said. “I don’t know that we do any more positive stories out of Beverly Hills than we do out of Compton.”

KFI-AM (640) news director Mark Austin-Thomas thinks that often the real criticism is directed at television news’ sensationalistic portrayal of events, but that radio gets included in the blanket indictments of the media.

“When people say they don’t like the media, one of the main things they complain about is being stereotyped,” said Austin-Thomas. “And yet they’re doing the same to us. They lump us all together. What you see on ABC News or read in Newsweek or see on KABC Channel 7 are all different. They lump our station together with ‘Hard Copy’ and ‘A Current Affair.’ ”

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Nevertheless, several news officials said they agreed with community leaders’ general perceptions of a lack of positive coverage.

“If you look at the news market as a whole, I think what they’re saying is true,” said KCOP-TV’s Wald. “The news business in general is reactive in nature.”

Howard Neal, general manager of KFI-AM, counted his talk-radio station among those that could do better in covering minority affairs.

“I don’t think there’s been any real commitment to change since the riots,” said Neal. “It’s very evident that there are no new minority voices (as talk show hosts) on the air. I believe the commitment should be there and I think all of us general-market stations are very exposed on this issue.”

Warren Olney, host of KCRW-FM’s “Which Way L.A.” and a veteran Los Angeles reporter, downplayed the impact his program may have had in providing a more in-depth portrait of minority communities.

“I don’t think we’ve done as good a job as is possible, though we have certainly tried. And we have done more than has been done,” Olney said. “I think there certainly is a new awareness that the city is much more diverse than it ever was, but I still don’t think we cover it very well in general terms. For example, what are the politics of the new immigrant groups? We don’t hear much about that.”

In the wake of the verdicts in the Rodney G. King beating case and the relative racial calm in the city, images of ethnic communities by the broadcast media will take on even more significance, community leaders said.

“Concentrating on negative news and not looking at the positive increases the level of tension and divisiveness all over Los Angeles,” Cochran said. “There are so many different elements in this city, the media should really be accentuating things that bring us together. Otherwise, the long-range effect of what we all see will tear us apart.”