Mainstream Media vs. Ethnic Media

Mainstream Media vs. Ethnic Media

On the front page of the New York Times online version, (Monday, June 12, 2006), the story receiving the most prominence was "Zarqawi Lived for 52 Minutes After Strike." The story was about the Iraqi al-Qaida terrorist who was killed last week by a bomb that was dropped from a U.S. fighter jet onto his hideout. "It was very evident he had extremely massive internal injuries," said Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, a U.S. military spokesperson in Baghdad. The Times is a hard-news, up-to-date internationally themed paper; and other front page stories were about a bomb that killed 13 members of a little Palestinian girl's family in the Gaza Strip; about the United Auto Workers having to give in on their demands to help "rescue" the auto industry

Another top story in the Times' explained that the 3 prisoners who committed suicide at the U.S. military prison in Cuba, "tried to conceal themselves in their cells" behind their washed laundry. The front page had a report on the Tony Awards (Broadway shows); the Arts on the front page featured the woman who wrote the book The Vagina Monologues. The Mets and Yankees, the World Cup, and the NBA Finals made up the sporting news on the front page.

On the front page of the New York Post (Monday, June 12, 2006), the top story is about a "Hell Ride" in a taxi; one girl was killed trying to jump out of a taxi that was driving out of control; three other girls in the cab were injured. The Post is a "tabloid" newspaper, using emotion and weirdness to get people to buy the paper. Also on the front page, under the "Gossip" section, readers learn that dolphins are "ultra-horny," and that Angelina Jolie had some sexy pictures taken when she was young. In order to read about the horny dolphins, an online reader has to register ("It's free!") as a member of the Post. The Post does have sports (the Mets' sweep of Arizona was on the front page), food, culture, and opinion, but the paper is mainly sold on big splashy headlines, provocative entertainment stories sort of like "National Inquirer" uses.

The New York Beacon is a more serious newspaper, geared toward stories and issues that relate to the African-American community, and the online version has daily news, but it is not constantly updated, so the paper has more of a "magazine" sense to it. For example, the Monday, June 12 online version of the New York Beacon has on the front page a story (originally published May 24, 2006) titled "Ray Nagin Re-Election Forced by Power Grabbing Whites." The story reported that it was "white people, not blacks, who got Ray Nagin elected." Another story of great interest to black readers was the article (May 6, 2006) on U.S. Congressman Bill Jefferson, who is accused of accepting bribes, and whose Capitol Hill office was raided by the FBI ("Is a Double-Standard being used to Judge Rep. Bill Jefferson?").

The Beacon has several parts of the paper available (Opinion, Sports, Lifestyle, Obituaries, Family) available through links on the front page. Under "Op-Ed" an article by Jimmy Booker reports that "Bob Brown, one of Africa's greatest sons on Friday, May 12, 2006 filed a historic lawsuit with the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois, Law Division against all beneficiaries of slave trade." Actually, Friday was May 9, not May 12, but the story was very interesting, and not found in any other New York papers' front pages.