WHOSE NEWS?

​by Jasmine Brianna Ellison

The news caters to the residents in the suburban and industrial areas of Connecticut, and the faces of the inner-city are seen only in the capacity of crime or charity.
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The total population in the state is 3,588,184 million and approximately 88% of that number is considered a minority. Although the minority population exceeds the White, The Hartford Courant reports a total of 73% White subscribers. The highest circulated newspaper in the state maintains roughly 300,000 subscribers. Only 12% of those subscribers report as Hispanic and merely 9% are reported as Black. Their shortage of readers involved in urban culture is emphasized when they describe their ‘alternative audience’ as the 20% subscribers who documented attending rock concerts.

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It is undisputable, even advertised, that most of their audience is White and of high financial and social stature. Courant reports 67% of readers are college educated. In addition, 72% of readers are homeowners. Also reporting that 1 in 2 who reads the publication or visits courant.com are adults with household incomes of $100k+ a year.

Of the fifty-two photos listed in The Courant staff directory online, only one staff member was noticeably African-American.

Similar statistics reflect the lack of circulation to urban areas by the leading newspaper in the 5th district of Conn., New Haven Register, leading newspaper in Meriden, Conn., Record-Journal, and even the national syndicate for news, The Wall Street Journal.

A yearly subscription for a newspaper is roughly $200. The statistics on yearly incomes in urban areas is irrefutable and conspicuous. It is obvious that the subscription itself is a discriminatory option for the inner-city residents of the state.

When the ‘free’ news is accessed through sites, readers are consumed by paid advertisers. These advertisements are from companies geared towards consumers in their demographic, which are the same as the newspaper itself- White.

This narrow investigation on Connecticut is just the peak of the iceberg in terms of the injustices the urban societies face; however, these circumstances are not ones that are impossible to change.

The values of the stories published lie within the values of the society that receive the publication. The news is not written for urban communities because it is not written by or circulated to urban residents.

CITATIONS 
1.      Connecticut Urbanized Areas.US Census. 2000.
2.      2010 Census of Population and Housing. US Census. 2010.
3.      Hartford Courant Media Kit. Hartford Courant Media Group.