Case Situation:
Sarah Jeong, who is the south Korean-born journalist, raised in the United States, used the hashtag “#CancelWhitePeople” and complained about “white people marking up the internet with their opinions like dogs pissing on fire hydrants.” In August 2018, Jeong was hired by The New York Times to join its editorial board as lead writer. Critics from the audience characterized her tweets about being racist. On the other hand, Jeong apologized for the comments, and she said these tweets mean to satirize online harassment toward her as asian female. ( Cobb, 2018)
The New York Times made a statement about the online criticism toward Jeong. It had already reviewed her social media before hiring her, and the Times considered it did not condone her posts.
Analysis:
The apology statement from Sarah Jeong said: ” As a woman of color on the internet, I have faced torrents of online hate, often along this vein: Shut the fuck up you dog eating gook.” ” While it was intended as satire, I deeply regret that I mimicked the language of my harassers.” (Cobb, 2018) However, Jeong’s satire defense is not acceptable for the public. Her language is still a form of satire that evolving prejudice.The dangerous of unexamined prejudice is a bigger problem in newsrooms than outright racism. Nowadays media shape our understanding of the world and it has a long-lasting impact on our society. It is important for the mainstream journalists avoid the stereotypes they accumulated over the lifetime and never examined. As a journalist with thousands of followers on line, Jeong’s words were reckless and hurtful. There is a very clear boundary between a racist and someone just with some unexamined prejudice, in this way, it is hard to define Jeong as a completely racist, but this case reflects some newsroom members have problems for racial and cultural understanding, and lose some sort of fairness and accuracy in reporting.
Apart from the ethical imperative, ” diversity” matters because it means reaching more readers. “It is important for the newsroom have diverse stuff members. People are comfortable around these topics, you get a better outcome.”(Stewart,2015) Unfortunately, the United States Journalism industry met the problem that “minority populations are losing”. In this case, the New York Times chose Sarah Jeong is due to her exceptional education background and proficient working experience. Nevertheless, there is only few asian females plays indispensable role in United States Newsroom industry. Jeong received many harassments due to her color, gender and other factors. For the future newsroom organizations, it is important to have different types of sources and find different members who got different stories to tell. The educational programs placing students of color in newsrooms, providing them with training, guidance and mentorship is essential for the country. ( Lowery, 2015)
Conclusion:
Media diversity is not simply progressive ideal. It is a journalistic imperative for any outlet devoted to fairness and accuracy in the news coverage.( Lowery,2015) Journalists should not only keep responsibly of avoiding bias voices on the mainstream news coverage and social media, but also notice the importance of fairness and accuracy. Moreover, the United States newsroom organizations also should expand the diversity in hiring different members and have a comprehensive coverage.
Reference:
Stewart Alicia W.2015 Why Diversity Matters. Nieman Reports. Retrieved from http://web.a.ebscohost.com.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/ehost/detail/detail?vid=4&sid=0b200c44-561d-4d88-8327-c90e44b06dc1%40sdc-v-sessmgr04&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#AN=103722003&db=ufh
Lowery W. 2015 Real Change, Not Empty Claims. Building a Better Newsroom Retrievedfromhttp://web.b.ebscohost.com.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=6&sid=d64a4312-8475-40b8-b9e0-aefdec88061c%40pdc-v-sessmgr03
Cobb. J 2018 Sarah Jeong and The Question of ” Context” The New Yorker Retrieved from https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/sarah-jeong-and-the-question-of-context