Visions & Voices Recap - Talking Race: Social Media and Social Justice

By Amy Wang ‘21

The Visions & Voices event “Talking Race: Social Media and Social Justice“ featured Meredith D. Clark, Karen Grigsby Bates, Feminista Jones, and Felix Gutierrez. While the panel covered many topics regarding social media and its influence on activism, there were several ideas covered that especially piqued my interest. 

1. Is the media biased?

After the topic of “fake news” was brought up, questions regarding whether or not the media was biased arose in the conversation. While the panel agreed that news outlets and media were vital, they also discussed that media in itself was somewhat biased as outlets can choose what stories they ultimately end up sharing. An example the panel mentioned was the The Lexington Herald-Leader; the paper from Kentucky failed have much coverage of the Civil Rights Movement back in the 1960s, but only recently admitted to the mistake in 2004. Furthermore, some panelists stated that news outlets had a tendency to use euphemisms when sharing their stories, which is also a form of bias.

2. How does social media allow minority communities to fight for themselves?

The panel emphasized the importance of social media for minority groups, especially when looking at the recent social media movements. With recent movements, such as the #MeToo movement or #BlackLivesMatter on Twitter, we see how hashtags and social media spread awareness to others, regardless of the distance. Social media provides mobility; groups can organize without being physically close to each other.

Also, social media acts as evidence. In the case of the #MeToo movement, the origin of the movement was mistold at first. The panel stated that social media allows for posts to be timestamped and thus documented.

Ultimately, social media allows for minority groups to tell their stories through their perspectives and their voices. While traditional news outlets might include interviews and quotes, there is still the possibility for the story to be mistold; however social media allows for people to report for themselves.

3. Can journalists be activists?

The panel also discussed whether or not journalists could be activists through their writing. One of the panelists, who is a news reporter, stated that journalists could not be activists since the had to have unbiased storytelling that stuck with the facts. However, the activist on the panel explained that bias was inevitable since diction and tone used by the writer included his or her personal bias. While there is controversy over whether or not a journalist should let their personal morals and beliefs show in their writing, it was still interesting to hear the different perspectives from both a journalist and activist.

The Visions & Voices event provided a space in which people who are knowledgeable in the topics can speak about their opinions, even if they do go against others in the room or on the panel itself. It is through conversation that we are able to grow and learn, and “Talking Race” allowed me to hear new perspectives on news and social media and how it is used (or not used) in the fight for social justice.

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