Tim Vercellotti, assistant professor in the Department of Political Science and Public Administration, presented a paper on African-Americans’ views of the black press and mainstream press April 24 at a conference titled, “Voice and Citizenship: Re-Thinking Theory and Practice in Political Communication.” The Department of Communication at the University of Washington, Seattle, sponsored the conference.
Vercellotti and Paul R. Brewer, an assistant professor of journalism and mass communication at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, presented a paper titled, ” ‘To Plead Our Own Cause’: Public Opinion Toward Black and Mainstream News Media Among African-Americans.”
The paper used Elon University Poll data consisting of interviews with 386 African-American adults in North Carolina. The authors found that reading and viewing black media complemented exposure to mainstream media, as opposed to replacing it. When asked to choose between two different versions of the same story that appeared in the black press and the mainstream press, politically alienated African-Americans were more likely to choose the version that appeared in the black press. The authors concluded that the black press continues to serve as an important voice for those who feel politically marginalized.