Stereotypes

I've been thinking a lot lately about stereotypes and how they affect the media's coverage of events, especially in light of the recent murder of the UNT student. Often times, when the media is covering a story similar to this one, they always lean on stereotypes to describe the victim. Even people close to the victim are guilty of using "stock phrases" to describe the person they lost. For instance in this case, Melanie Goodwin was a sweet, loving, caring, Christian girl who never met a stranger. It is unfortunate that stereotypes can over shadow the real tragedy of this story. It probably is true that she was a wonderful, good hearted girl that attended church regularly and was nice to everyone. But, it seems to me that while these things probably are true, they get masked by these common stereotypes. Her story is horrific and terribly sad, but it makes it hard to identify her as the person she really is because it seems that every person that is involved in a tragedy like this that gets media attention, can be described this way. So, while stereotypes are meant to help their viewers "identify" with the victim and the story, they can also over shadow the severity of an event.
I think I might have just gotten on a major soapbox, but hopefully this makes sense!

Media Coverage of people with disabilities

For this week's blog, I visited the Society for Professional Journalists' website, to see how we as journalists are suposed to handle these types of situations. I learned that it is more important to use someone with a disability as a source for a story, rather than using them as the inspiration for a story. It can often be upseting to someone with a disability to be treated as a "supercrip" because the media highlights them continuing on with their everyday life as some kind of miracle. Having a diverse group of sources for a story is important, and getting an opinion or quote from someone with a disability adds to that diversity.
When covering a story about the construction of a new building, it is also important to make sure that the architecture meets federal law and is accessible to handicapped people, which account for about 20% of the American population.
I think that stereotypes about people with disabilities do come from the media. These people are always portrayed as the victim-turned-hero, just because they have the desire to carry on with life. I always find stories like this inspirational, but am now seeing the subject in a new light after reading the information on this SPJ website. More reporters and journalists should use the tips provided on the SPJ website, so that American's aren't confined to single-minded stereotypes about people with disabilities.

#1

I try to watch the news and catch up on current events as much as possible. I usually watch Good Morning Texas every morning while I am getting ready, and sometimes I switch back and forth between some national news shows. I also read occasional news stories that catch my eye on yahoo.com. And, if Im really bored, Il watch CNN at night! I also write for DMagazine, so I check their website frequently to keep up with pop-culture news in the Dallas area. I subscribe to several fashion magazines (Cosmo, Elle, Glamour), DMagazine, and all the popular gossip magazines (gotta keep tabs on those celebs!!) Im really not sure how many hours a day or week I seek the news; my schedule is so unpredictable, I just try and catch up on the news as often as I can. When I consider the media's coverage and attitudes towards race, gender, sexuality, and people with disabilities, I'm torn....Sometimes I feel like the media is becoming more modern and tolerant of people's differences, but other times I feel like people are misrepresented. It really hit me when we watched the video in class about how a news station is more likely to air a news/crime story involving African Americans, when statistics show that crime rates are higher for whites.