Reflection 4: How Can We Write Differently?
The results from the recent Pew Research Center study regarding voters' attitudes about race and gender are particularly startling because we’d hope that watching the death of an innocent Black man at the knee of a police officer on television would awaken people to the reality of the perpetual racism in the United States and unite rather than widen the gap between partisan lines. However, the damage of the last four years has been too great and the country is even greater divided than it was in 2016.
I think this topic is not only important to the audience, but also to the journalist because at a time when Americans are more disconnected than ever before, and how many blame the news media for propagating such a division, what can a journalist do to help bridge the gap? It changes the way we approach reporting stories and reiterates the necessity of factual writing.
The 2016 election between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton was heated, and that’s the understatement of the year. Supporters of each candidate struggled to find common ground coupled with intensified debates over the accuracy and fairness of news reporting. In fact, overall public trust in mass media dropped to an all-time low, according to a Gallup poll.
And yet the polarizing presidency of Donald Trump has pushed political parties even farther apart. A recent study from Pew Research Center found that the differences between Trump and Biden voters, particularly regarding race and gender, are even greater than between Trump and Clinton voters.
Among the most striking findings of Pew is the response to the question: “is it more difficult to be Black than White in the United States?” The amount of all registered voters who say “yes” has increased by 9 percentage points since 2016. This change comes from the supporters of Democratic candidates.
Seventy-four percent of Biden supporters say it is a lot more difficult to be Black than White, up from 57% of Clinton supporters from 2016. Among Trump supporters, 9% say it is a lot more difficult to be Black than White, compared to the 11% who said the same in 2016.