After reviewing the Florida Times Union for a week (from September 28, 2010 to October 4, 2010), I have learned that the most popular images are of white men. And the most popular category is crime (trials, arrests, etc.). The least represented category were images of African American women - there were more images of non-human subjects, such as boats or cell phones or laptops, than there were of black females.
Let me quickly clarify the subjects and categories of analysis before I continue. The subjects were broken down into white men, white women, African American men, African American women, other minorities, and non-human images. Women pertains to all ages of females, and men to all ages of males. I also broke the images into categories: political (articles about people running for office), governmental (articles featuring service people, congress, the President, etc.), sports, business, crimes, human interest (articles about the weather, a specific family, health), and celebrity pieces. I did not include images of groups, images from advertisements, the obituaries, editorial images, or images that signified where in the paper you'd find a specific article.
There were 87 images of white men, 41 images of white women, 25 of black men, and only 13 of black women. In every category except African American women, the images were more common in the front page section of the paper instead of the metro section (there were 48 images of white men in the front page section and only 39 in the metro section).
As far as types of articles, governmental issues were covered more heavily in the front page section and crimes were a larger portion of the metro section. Celebrity pieces were featured in the front page section (nine articles throughout the week) but not in the metro section. There were no types of articles that were only featured in the metro section.
There were 87 images of white men, 41 images of white women, 25 of black men, and only 13 of black women. In every category except African American women, the images were more common in the front page section of the paper instead of the metro section (there were 48 images of white men in the front page section and only 39 in the metro section).
As far as types of articles, governmental issues were covered more heavily in the front page section and crimes were a larger portion of the metro section. Celebrity pieces were featured in the front page section (nine articles throughout the week) but not in the metro section. There were no types of articles that were only featured in the metro section.
The most common images among white and black males and females were human interest pieces. Human interest articles were about everything from the weather and associated damage, science, health, the arts and education, and anything locally interesting.
During the week I reviewed the paper, the first time an African American was on the front page was on Saturday, October 2. The article was about a crime. The following day, an African American woman was featured with the title "The New Face of HIV/AIDS."
Interestingly enough, the largest sports image was a picture of the Jacksonville Jaguars. Despite the racial diversity of the team, the image featured only three white males.
Furthermore, there were only two images of the President throughout the week. Neither image was on the front page or the metro section front page.
I do not think these findings conform to the responsibilities of the news media. It should be speaking for all the voices of Jacksonville, there should not be a predominant figure or a predominant race. While I do not believe that Jacksonville, as a whole, is a racist city, our newspaper images certainly favor White males.
