人種デモ報道に批判相次ぐ　自省強いられる米メディア

【ニューヨークＡＦＰ＝時事】米ミネソタ州ミネアポリスで警官が黒人のジョージ・フロイドさんを死亡させた事件を機に世界中で反人種差別デモが行われる中、米国の報道機関の多くは、自らが人種差別に加担してきた事実と向き合うことを強いられている。（写真は米ミネソタ州ミネアポリスで、ジョージ・フロイドさんの死に抗議する人々）
　米国の大手メディアではここ１週間、「Ｂｌａｃｋ　Ｌｉｖｅｓ　Ｍａｔｔｅｒ（黒人の命は大切）」運動をめぐる報道や、非白人記者に対する不当な扱いに関する批判が高まり、幹部の辞任が相次いだ。
　ニューヨーク・タイムズ紙では、米軍によるデモ隊鎮圧を呼び掛けた上院議員の寄稿を掲載したオピニオン面編集長が批判を受け辞任。フィラデルフィア・インクワイアラー紙でも、デモ現場で起きた暴動による建物被害に言及した「Ｂｕｉｌｄｉｎｇｓ　Ｍａｔｔｅｒ，　Ｔｏｏ（建物も大切だ）」との見出しが反発を呼び、編集長が辞任した。
　同様の状況は、生活情報サイトから新聞までメディア業界全体に波及。各社は従業員との対話の場を設けたり、連帯や謝罪、改善の約束を表明したりした。
　これと並行し、ツイッター上では多くの黒人ジャーナリストが職場での自らの体験を投稿し始め、長年にわたり白人男性で占められてきた業界で働く難しさについて非難の声を上げた。
　そのうちの一人、ニュースサイト「インターセプト」政治記者のアケラ・レイシーさん（２７）は「自分はニュースルームで唯一の黒人記者だという人は他にもいる？」とツイートした。
　米調査機関ピュー・リサーチ・センターが２０１８年に発表したデータによると、非ヒスパニック系の白人は米国の労働人口の６５％、全人口では６０％を占めるが、米メディア報道部門では７７％に上る。非ヒスパニック系の白人男性だけでも報道部門のほぼ半分を占めている。

■黒人記者への処分が物議
　米紙ＵＳＡトゥデーの元編集長、ケン・ポールソン氏は、多様性に欠いた職場は日々の報道で問題を生むと指摘。スキャンダルや暴力事件がない限り、有色人種コミュニティーについて十分に取り上げないメディアが多いと説明した。
　ポールソン氏は、「大きなニュースはいつだって注目される」「難しいのは、周囲で実際に起きている、あまり目立つことのない数多くの出来事を伝えることだ。ここでカギとなるのが、記者の見識と多様性だ。
　ピッツバーグ・ポスト・ガゼット紙は今週、反人種差別デモに関連した建物の被害について個人用アカウントからツイートをした黒人女性記者に対し、デモ報道への関与を禁じる処分を科したことで、批判の的となった。同紙は客観性の保持を理由としているが、渦中の記者であるアレクシス・ジョンソンさんは、「黒人の問題」についてツイートしたことで自分だけが処分されたと主張している。
　ニュースメディアの多様性促進を目指す米団体メイナード・インスティテュートのマーティン・レイノルズ共同事務局長も、同紙の論理を疑問視。客観性の概念は「誤信」であって、必要なのはむしろ公平性だと指摘し、そのためには個人が持つ偏見の自覚が必要だと語った。
　インターセプトのレイシー記者もＡＦＰの取材に対し、多くの報道機関が抱える問題として「非白人の記者や従業員の言葉を偏りのないものとして受け止めることに対する大きなためらい」があると説明。こうした編集体制が、白人の見解に大きく偏った報道につながってきたと語った。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2020/06/15-13:46）

Anti-racism protests triggered worldwide after the police killing of George Floyd have many American newsrooms grappling with their own complicity in contributing to racial inequity.
The past week has seen a widespread backlash and a slew of resignations, both over Black Lives Matter protest coverage and mushrooming accusations that reporters of color face chronic mistreatment at a number of top US media organizations.
The New York Times opinion page editor resigned in flames after publishing a hardline column by a US senator who urged military force against protestors, as the Philadelphia Inquirer's news head also stepped down following blowback for the headline Buildings Matter, Too, in reference to the damage caused by violence at the demonstrations.
And the editor-in-chief of Bon Appetit, a culinary magazine owned by media powerhouse Conde Nast, left in disgrace over accusations that he belittled and underpaid employees of color as a photo of him wearing brownface circulated online.
Similar situations rippled across the industry, from lifestyle websites to newspapers, as outlets organized employee town halls and scrambled to issue statements of solidarity, apologies and vows to improve.
Many black journalists meanwhile began tweeting about their personal work experiences, decrying the challenges of navigating an industry that's long been dominated by white men.
is anyone else the only black reporter in their newsroom? tweeted Akela Lacy, who covers politics at The Intercept.
The 27-year-old, who began reporting for the left-leaning investigative publication after working at Politico, told AFP that while most people within news organizations are well-intentioned, the industry can foster a culture that is hostile to non-white people.
Issues like problematic angles or a lack of intentional wording pervade in a top-down, white-ruled industry, she said.
Martin Reynolds -- co-head of the Maynard Institute, a body focused on promoting diversity in news media -- said the issue is rooted in mainstream legacy journalism institutions that are largely complicit in perpetuating structures of institutional racism, because we haven't explicitly challenged them.
The former editor-in-chief of The Oakland Tribune also pointed to the lack of newsroom diversity as inextricably linked to the question of well-rounded coverage.
Approximately three-quarters of American newsroom employees are white, according to 2018 data from the Pew Research Center, a disparity that spans age demographics.
Inadequate newsroom diversity can prove particularly problematic on a day-to-day basis, said Ken Paulson, former editor-in-chief of USA Today, as outlets often fail to adequately cover communities of color until there's a scandal or violence.
Big stories always get the attention, he said. The challenge is to tell the smaller stories that paint a picture of what's actually happening. Journalists and diversity are key to that.
Many black journalists, Reynolds said, have reached their breaking point.
There's a parallel uprising in communities and uprising in a lot of newsrooms that is beginning to amplify, he said.
- 'Systematically racist system' -
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette came under fire this week for barring a black woman reporter from covering protests after she posted a personal tweet regarding property damage linked to demonstrations -- which the outlet considered compromising to her ability to remain objective.
The newspaper's decision sparked an uprising alleging racism within its ranks, as the company's executive editor defended the decision by citing a longstanding canon of journalism ethics that prevents voicing opinion about topics of coverage.
But the journalist at the row's center, Alexis Johnson, held that she was singled out for tweeting about a black issue.
Reynolds questioned the paper's logic, calling the notion of objectivity a fallacy and saying the responsiblity lies instead in fairness, which requires personal bias awareness.
Lacy voiced a similar point, citing a huge hesitancy to take non-white reporters and staff's word as unbiased as endemic to many newsrooms.
That editorial framework, she said, has shaped coverage to conform to a narrative that's overwhelmingly white-centric.
It's unnerving for a lot of us to see the benefit of the doubt continuously given to the people who have written the rule, she said.
There's some things that you look at and you're like, either no black person looked at this, or y'all just didn't listen to what they have to say.
Both Lacy and Reynolds voiced hope that the difficult conversations launching in some newsrooms indicated hope for a more just, equitable future of news.
Imagine what kind of country and world we can have if we address these systemic issues that are imperiling people of color, and at the same time focus on our journalism institutions so that they can better reflect the diversity of the country and world -- to stop being a sustainer of a systematically racist system, Reynolds said.