African Americans are not a consistent asset in mainstream media. Nor are they portrayed in a positive light. There was 67,000 mainstream news stories that were reported from February 2009 through February 2010. Out of those stories only 643 (1.9% ) were related towards African Americans in a significant manner. Hispanics and Asians received even less coverage than this. Hispanics received (1.3%) and Asian (.2%).
According to the research done by The Pew Research Center news worthy news towards African Americans are ranked highest in cable and radio talk shows with 2.5 percent. The approached angle mainly consist of political issues.
When African Americans are mentioned in the mainstream it is not because of media coverage but specific events like Obama presidency, the arresting of Gates (elderly Harvard professor), Michael Jackson, etc. The mainstream media have not been the strong point when it comes to worthy news that are not based around specific events.
