The Entman-Rojecki Index of Race and the Media

To introduce their book The Black Image in the White Mind: Media and Race in America, Robert M. Entman and Andrew Rojecki present some of the statistical evidence of how the mass media treat racial differences.

You may also visit their companion website at www.raceandmedia.com.

"Drawing on their own research and that of a wide array of other scholars, Entman and Rojecki present a great deal of provocative data showing a general tendency to devalue blacks or force them into stock categories."—Ben Yagoda, New Leader

"Thoroughly researched and convincingly argued."—Publishers Weekly

Winner of the Frank Luther Mott Award for best book in Mass Communication and the Robert E. Lane Award for best book in political psychology.

The Entman-Rojecki Index
of Race and the Media

by Robert M. Entman and Andrew Rojecki,
authors of The Black Image in the White Mind

1. While Black actors are now more numerous in film, it's an open question as to how well they're being represented. In the top movies of 1996:

Black female movie characters shown using vulgar profanity: 89%.
White female movie characters shown using vulgar profanity: 17%.
Black female movie characters shown being physically violent: 56%.
White female movie characters shown being physically violent: 11%.
Black female movie characters shown being restrained: 55%.
White female movie characters shown being restrained: 6%.

2. Television ads now show many Blacks and eschew stereotypes. However, hidden patterns of differentiation and distance emerge on close analysis. Not surprisingly, for instance, Blacks do not touch Whites in the ads, but (unlike Whites) they rarely even touch each other, conveying a subtle message of Black skin as taboo. A hierarchy of racial preference is embedded within the casting of commercials. Consider these figures from a large prime time sample:

Of the 105 commercials for autos or trucks that showed only one race, the percentage all-White: 100%.
Of the 74 commercials for perfumes that showed only one race, the percentage all-White: 98%.
Of the 47 commercials for jewelry or cosmetics that showed only one race, the percentage all-White: 100%.

3. Over 70% of Black characters in the most highly rated TV entertainment shows have professional or management positions. However well-intentioned, this utopian reversal imposes a formal distance between Black and White actors, hobbling the audience's sympathetic imagination. Blacks' supervisory roles isolate their characters from close peer relationships. Among these actors, 92% of interactions with Whites are restricted to job-related tasks.

4. Network news tends to "ghettoize" Blacks. Increasingly, African Americans appear mostly in crime, sports and entertainment stories. Rarely are Blacks shown making an important contribution to the serious business of the nation. Sampling network news shows:

Number of soundbites on foreign affairs uttered by Whites: 99; by Blacks: 1.
Number of soundbites on economics uttered by Whites: 86; by Blacks: 1.
Number of soundbites on electoral politics uttered by Whites: 79; by Blacks: 0.
Number of soundbites on sports and entertainment uttered by Whites: 35; by Blacks: 11.
Number of soundbites on crime uttered by Whites: 149; by Blacks: 24.

5. Black defendants are simply treated differently on local TV news from their White counterparts:

Times more likely that a mug shot of the accused will appear in a local TV news report when the defendant is Black rather than White: 4.
Times more likely that the accused will be shown physically restrained in a local TV news report when the defendant is Black rather than White: 2.
Times less likely that the name of the accused will be shown on screen in a local TV news report when the defendant is Black rather than White: 2

6. "Telegenic" figures aren't always the most representative leaders. Some statistics from 1994:

Black adults stating that Jesse Jackson represents Black people "very well": 40%.
Black adults stating that Louis Farrakhan represents Black people "very well": 11%.
Black adults stating they had "never heard of" Jesse Jackson: 0%.
Black adults stating they had "never heard of" Louis Farrakhan: 22%.
Stories about, or soundbites from, Jesse Jackson on ABC World News: 13.
Stories about, or soundbites from, Louis Farrakhan on ABC World News: 25.

7. The media sowed discord during the affirmative action debate of the 1990s despite the considerable common ground between Blacks and Whites. Reporters often predicted affirmative action would be one of the key issues in the 1996 election because of the "rage" among Whites.

Percentage of survey respondents naming affirmative action as their top priority in voting against a presidential candidate, 1996: 1%.
Percentage of White men ("angry" or not) surveyed who favored affirmative action programs as is or with reforms: 61%.
Percentage of White women surveyed who favored affirmative action programs as is or with reforms: 76%.
Percentage of White "persons on the street" supporting affirmative action in a sample of network news: 12.5%. Percentage opposing: 87.5%.

Copyright notice: ©2000 by Robert M. Entman and Andrew Rojecki. This text appears on the University of Chicago Press website by permission of the authors. This text may be used and shared in accordance with the fair-use provisions of U.S. copyright law, and it may be archived and redistributed in electronic form, provided that this entire notice, including copyright information, is carried and provided that Robert M. Entman and Andrew Rojecki and the University of Chicago Press are notified and no fee is charged for access. Archiving, redistribution, or republication of this text on other terms, in any medium, requires the consent of Robert M. Entman and Andrew Rojecki.

Robert M. Entman and Andrew Rojecki
The Black Image in the White Mind: Media and Race in America
©2000, 324 pages
Paper $17.00 ISBN: 978-0-226-21076-6

For information on purchasing the book—from bookstores or here online—please go to the webpage for The Black Image in the White Mind.