Heavy News Research Articles

Skin Tone, Crime News, and Social Reality Judgments: Priming the Stereotype of the Dark and Dangerous Black Criminal1

An experiment examined the extent to which viewers’ emotional discomfort with a crime story and perceptions and memorability of a perpetrator and victim could be influenced by the race and skin tone of the perpetrator portrayed in a newscast. Participants were exposed either to a White, light–skinned Black, medium–skinned Black, or dark–skinned Black perpetrator. In addition, participants provided self–reports of their news viewing habits. Results revealed that heavy television news viewers were more likely than light viewers to feel emotional discomfort after being exposed to the dark–skinned Black perpetrator. Heavy news viewers also had favorable perceptions of the victim when the perpetrator was Black, regardless of skin tone. Results also indicated that all participants, regardless of prior news exposure, found the perpetrator more memorable when the perpetrator was a dark–skinned Black male. The methodological and theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.

Publicity Committee Report

September 30, 1933 Your Publicity Committee herewith begs to submit a brief report of its activities for the period preceding and during the Congress, closing to-day. While it is too early to tell the full results of our efforts, we felt that you would want to become familiar with the broad scope of what has been done. The press of both the Americas and the radio have been our chief means of communication with the lay public in publicizing the Congress. We have used the medical journals extensively to get our message to the physicians. We believe that the great amount of publicity obtained prior to the Congress certainly helped bring a number of members into the Congress. This was perhaps particularly true in South and in Central America and in Canada, whence we would have had a considerable number of delegates under more favorable economic conditions. Classified, we may report the following: Use of the daily press—by wire services (AP-UP-Universal-INS) and by personal contact and mail. The first stories on the Congress were released two years ago and again a year ago, and we have been active since March, 1933, in keeping up the publicity, especially concentrating on the work since August 1, 1933. Before the meeting, we obtained many columns of space relative to the Congress. This included use of state wire services with “localized” stories telling of essayists from that state, etc. The AP and UP put out several stories that we prepared, and we have clippings showing that hundreds of papers used these stories. In addition, we received very favorable stories, usually page one, in large papers in Havana, Buenos Aires, and elsewhere. The local press in Chicago carried a number of advance stories. In the magazine field, the “Chicago Visitor,” a journal with over 50,000 monthly circulation, used a long, illustrated feature article, concerning the Congress and the development of commercial companies. “Time” will carry considerable material in its next two issues. This famous magazine has a weekly circulation of almost a million. Your Committee set up a comprehensive radio program through the courtesy of National Broadcasting Company and several large local stations. We thus were able to put 14 speakers on the air, six heard over national hookups. We believe that this was the first radiological meeting ever to obtain time over national hookups. Stations WGN, KYW, WCFL, and WLS likewise gave generously of their time for our speakers. A Columbia hookup was also arranged, but the speaker was unable to be present, and the arrangement was cancelled. Despite a heavy news week, we were able to obtain fine local publicity. Three leading papers—the Tribune, Herald and Examiner. and American—carried at least half a column each day for seven days, with a number of pictures. The other two papers did almost as well. The Tribune assigned its chief science writer, Philip Kinsley, and its chief “medical” reporter, Miss Kathleen McLaughlin, to the meeting.