U.S. racism in focus as the world watches Ferguson

Media analysis of international TV news coverage of Ferguson, Missouri

New York, August 29, 2014. – International TV news turned a negative lens on the U.S. as it focused on racism in the country in the wake of the police shooting of Michael Brown and subsequent protests and police actions in Ferguson, Missouri, according to new research from Media Tenor International.

“Prior to this month, international TV news did not consider racism in the U.S. a topic of interest or concern,” says Racheline Maltese, a researcher at Media Tenor. “However, the events in Ferguson have been strongly in focus, with international news focusing on the impact of racism on African Americans and largely framing the police actions in Ferguson as motivated by race.” That some journalists were arrested while reporting on the story did not help the media image of the police, she added. “The international media portrayal of U.S. police forces regarding use of force and racial bias shows even more negativity than the results of a recent Pew study on U.S. perceptions,” she notes.

TV news programs in all nine countries analyzed by Media Tenor framed the actions of the police negatively and highlighted concerns about racism, human rights violations, and excessive violence. The media image of African Americans as a group was also negative, but Media Tenor found this was largely in the context of being the target of police action. However, some criticism was related to activities associated with protestors and crime-related coverage.

Additionally, Media Tenor found that there was little media coverage to shape the image of African Americans outside of this coverage of racism, protests, violence, and social policy. One of the only exceptions was coverage of Mo’ne Davis, an African American girl who pitched a shut-out in the 2014 Little League World Series.

This research examined all 58,008 reports on international TV news from January 1 to August 25, 2014.

For over 20 years Media Tenor’s mission has been to contribute to objective, diverse and newsworthy media content by bringing together the diverse parties. Media Tenor’s global research projects include analyses of election campaigns, investor relations, public diplomacy, corporate communications and other topics critical to news makers and news audiences.

For more information, please contact Racheline Maltese at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 212-935-0210.