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Media

Decoding the Invisible Whiteness In Boston Bombing Coverage

Decoding the Invisible Whiteness In Boston Bombing Coverage

by Akiba Solomon on April 25 2013, 12:00PM

We live in an ahistorical culture that continually attempts to deny the white supremacy that determines who is and isn’t defined as a U.S. citizen, a criminal, a terrorist or a victim. A trip through our history is instructive.

Topics: Boston Bombing, Media, National Security

The News Media's Public Disservice in Boston

The News Media’s Public Disservice in Boston

by Sally Kohn on April 21 2013, 8:56AM

In moments like these, people make assumptions. It becomes all the more important for media to challenge those assumptions and keep our prejudices in check. In that, too many failed.

Topics: Boston Bombing, Media

Who Will Stand Behind Adria Richards? [Reader Forum]

Who Will Stand Behind Adria Richards? [Reader Forum]

by Nia King on April 8 2013, 9:55AM

Colorlines readers sound off on the firing of Adria Richards.

Topics: Media

'Obamaphones': A Case Study in How Race Perverts the Spending Debate

‘Obamaphones’: A Case Study in How Race Perverts the Spending Debate

by Jamilah King on April 8 2013, 7:20AM

Tea party Republicans have used race to demonize a longstanding government phone subsidy for people living in poverty.

Topics: Budget Cuts, Media, Politics

Fact vs. Fiction About ‘Obamaphones’

by Erin Zipper on April 8 2013, 7:15AM

A festering rightwing meme has turned an old, Republican program that benefits private cell phone companies into an Obama giveaway for poor (black) people.

Topics: Media, Politics

Why the AP's Choice to Drop the I-Word Is a Crucial Victory

Why the AP’s Choice to Drop the I-Word Is a Crucial Victory

by Rinku Sen on April 3 2013, 8:29AM

Because the deliberately divisive and willfully inaccurate term has stood in the way of real discussion for too long.

Topics: Media, Rinku Sen

How to Get a Black Woman Fired

How to Get a Black Woman Fired

by Channing Kennedy on April 1 2013, 6:40AM

In light of the Adria Richards debacle, Channing Kennedy, Colorlines.com’s white male correspondent, uses the power bestowed by his made-up title to break down a pattern of Internet harassment, racist and sexist micro-aggressions and other methods of enforcing mob rule.

Topics: Adria Richards, Gender & Sexuality, Media

It's Bigger Than Adria Richards

It’s Bigger Than Adria Richards

by Jamilah King on March 27 2013, 8:25AM

A primer for how you can prepare yourself for racist and sexist Internet attacks—mind, body and soul.

Topics: Adria Richards, Gender & Sexuality, Media

On Steubenville, Guns, and Healthy Echo Chambers

On Steubenville, Guns, and Healthy Echo Chambers

by Akiba Solomon on March 20 2013, 1:30PM

Sexual violence is horrible. It’s also an extremely complicated issue to handle online. That’s why we need to help each other sort it out, take a break if needed—and allow room for the complexity of human compassion.

Topics: Akiba Solomon, Gender & Sexuality, Media

Do You Accept Bloomberg Businessweek's Apology for Its Racist Magazine Cover? [Reader Forum]

Do You Accept Bloomberg Businessweek’s Apology for Its Racist Magazine Cover? [Reader Forum]

by Nia King on March 5 2013, 8:33AM

Last week, Bloomberg Businessweek ran a magazine cover featuring caricatures of Black and Latino people swimming in money, feeding it to their dogs, and burning it for warmth. Colorlines’ readers react.

Topics: Media

Storytelling Across the Fluid Cultural Borders of the Americas

Storytelling Across the Fluid Cultural Borders of the Americas

by Jamilah King on February 8 2013, 10:05AM

Novelist Daniel Alarcón says his Spanish-language show, Radio Ambulante, aims to “quesiton how stories get told, and who tells them.”

Topics: Media

Was Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's Criticism of 'Girls' Correct? [Reader Forum]

Was Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s Criticism of ‘Girls’ Correct? [Reader Forum]

by Nia King on February 4 2013, 9:45AM

Colorlines readers respond to Donald Glover’s role on “Girls,” high youth murder rates in Chicago, and domestic violence charges levied against a former NFL player.

Topics: Arts & Culture, Media

Should Black Women Have To Straighten Their Hair To Be On TV? [Reader Forum]

Should Black Women Have To Straighten Their Hair To Be On TV? [Reader Forum]

by Nia King on December 17 2012, 9:33AM

Colorlines readers sounds off on perms, police, and the school-to-prison pipeline.

Topics: Media

CNN Contributing Producer Probes Lingering Pain of the 'One Drop' Rule

CNN Contributing Producer Probes Lingering Pain of the ‘One Drop’ Rule

by Akiba Solomon on December 7 2012, 9:43AM

CNN’s upcoming “Black in America 5” wades into the deep of black identity and skin color politics. Here, Dr. Yaba Blay, a Ghanain-American scholar whose independent work sparked the special, talks about the nuances of a topic often considered too hot TV.

Topics: Akiba Solomon, History, Media

Family Becomes Focal Point in Fight to Lower Prison Phone Rates

Family Becomes Focal Point in Fight to Lower Prison Phone Rates

by Jamilah King on November 20 2012, 10:13AM

The criminal cost of talking to a loved one behind bars has taken center stage at the Federal Communications Commission. And that’s exactly what organizers had in mind.

Topics: Criminal Justice, Media

The Cleveland Uppercut, Lil Reese and Camera Phone Savagery

The Cleveland Uppercut, Lil Reese and Camera Phone Savagery

by Akiba Solomon on October 29 2012, 10:00AM

Camera phone videos of black men beating up black women are all the rage. What does that say about us, the viewers?

Topics: Akiba Solomon, Gender & Sexuality, Media

The Associated Press' Developing, Conflicted Policy on the I-Word

The Associated Press’ Developing, Conflicted Policy on the I-Word

by Mónica Novoa on October 23 2012, 11:14AM

The AP’s policy updates are hopeful, because they articulate all of the evidence necessary to stop calling people “illegal.” Now the organization just needs to take its own advice.

Topics: Drop the I-Word, Media

Janet Mock on the Freedom of Telling Her Own Story

Janet Mock on the Freedom of Telling Her Own Story

by Julianne Hing on October 23 2012, 9:19AM

The People.com editor talks to Colorlines about coming out as a transgender woman of color and her newly visible role in LGBT politics. She’ll be speaking at Facing Race 2012 in November.

Topics: Facing Race 2012, Gender & Sexuality, Media

A Tech Innovation in Detroit: Connect People, Not Computers

A Tech Innovation in Detroit: Connect People, Not Computers

by Jamilah King on October 3 2012, 10:05AM

A technology project in Detroit is making in-roads based on an old school philosophy that the Internet can’t solve every problem by itself.

Topics: Dispatches, Economy, Media

Charlotte Journalists Pledge Humane Treatment of Immigrant Subjects

Charlotte Journalists Pledge Humane Treatment of Immigrant Subjects

by Mónica Novoa on July 12 2012, 10:23AM

A youth-led campaign for media reform adds the city’s large alternative weekly to the list of local journalists who have vowed to Drop the I-Word.

Topics: Drop the I-Word, Immigration, Media