Codeswitch and the Perils of Bias in Journalism

Gene Demby, a blogger with NPR's Codeswitch speaks to American University
Communications students on Thursday Oct. 9 at American University's School
of Communication about bias in the media. (Photo Courtesy John Burns)

“People tend to think that stereotypes are honest reflections of what they see in the world. But instead, they often shape how we see the world,” says Gene Demby, a blogger with NPR’s Codeswitch. On Oct. 9, Demby visited American University to speak to a class of communications students about bias in the media. At NPR, he writes for the blog Codeswitch, which helps remove bias and stereotypes from the news. He described a recent project he was working on about Jason Lin and Asian-Americans in the NBA. 

Demby answers students questions at American
University after discussing bias and stereotypes
in journalism on Oct. 9 (Photo Courtesy John Burns)

Lin was one of the most famous basketball players in 2012 when he took the spotlight in the later part of the season. He had never played for the New York Knicks when Carmelo Anthony, the Knick’s star, was injured. He was so successful in leading his team to victory that he became the NBA’s leading scorer and had a hashtag on Twitter, #linsanity. He is an Asian-American and there are very few Asian-Americans in the NBA. Gene Demby decided to find out why. He learned that because they are not recruited to play in college, basketball players like Jason Lin, are left out of the NBA. “Of the 5,380 men's players in the top tier of college basketball during the 2012-2013 season, only 15 were Asian-American. Asian-American ballers weren't just underrepresented. They were practically invisible,” he says. The stereotype is that they are too short, don’t like basketball, and that they are busy studying. 

Demby looked into it further and found out that in the 1920s, Harvard, Yale, and Princeton wanted to keep “undesirables” out of their programs and so they added essays and extracurricular activities to the admission requirements. This they thought would keep inter-city Jews from applying to their schools. And back then, Jewish-Americans were the best ballers. Demby thinks that like Jewish-Americans in the 1920s, Asian-Americans today are not sought after simply because “we don’t look where we should,” even though we say that “they’re not playing in the right places.”

Examples of bias and stereotyping can be seen in other articles too. The title of a recent Washington Post article was "The murderous Chinese cult that thinks Jesus has returned — as a Chinese woman." By using the words "murderous" and "cult," there is a clear stereotype. The article discusses a Chinese religious group that has some members that have been implicated in violence charges. Another example was in an article about David Catania, a mayoral candidate in Washington, DC. The article says that the opportunity is there for David Catania to harvest the kind of votes he will need if he is to become the city’s first ex-Republican, first gay and first white mayor. By describing Catania as "ex-Republican, first gay and first white mayor," the reporter adds a negative tone to the article and shows his bias against Catania.

Finally, before leaving Demby gave the students some advice. He said that “objectivity is a lie” and that students interested in media should “challenge [their] assumptions,” and “ask stupid questions.”