The case of Breonna Taylor’s death reveals the degree to which the media will exploit black pain for clicks.
Last week, we learned there would be no murder charges filed against the police officers involved in Taylor’s tragic shooting. Anyone savvy to how mainstream media outlets exploit African Americans’ pain and suffering for clicks and ratings should’ve expected the subsequent media coverage surrounding the decision. I discuss this in this week’s episode of my podcast.
I expected the media coverage because I used to work in this kind of media, and I know precisely how media companies exploit such situations.
Last election cycle, I worked at a media company I jokingly called “the news mill.” [Somebody] tasked this company with creating short internet videos about stories that were getting lots of headlines in the news. The idea was that websites short on video content could buy the videos from this company and use them when republishing articles.
You may remember that, in 2016, there was a rash of stories about police officers shooting and killing black men. These stories seemed like a near-daily occurrence during that summer, and I was tasked with handling many of them.
I sifted through footage of black men embroiled in violence constantly. After a few months of this, I realized it made me angry, tired, and stressed out. The owners of this company, however, just wanted more because these stories were getting clicks. These stories were fascinating. These stories were selling. Black pain. Black death. Images of crying black people screaming because another black person had died. The videos always did well.
At this moment, I realized the mainstream media pushes a destructive message about black people because it is obsessed with black pain — and far too many of us are ready and willing to play along because it provides some sense of identity. But this identity comes with a psychological toll.
Many compassionate white Americans can see this imagery of black suffering, think about how awful it is, and move on. But blacks can’t dissociate so easily. This imagery makes far too many black Americans angry toward police officers, hurt because we’re made to believe nobody cares, and fearful because the stories project a narrative of a world out to get us.
The media frenzy surrounding Taylor’s case is just the latest example of the mainstream media’s obsession with black pain for clicks and ratings.
We will see images of angry African-Americans marching for perceived justice in the streets for the foreseeable future. They’ll be armed with few facts outside of a narrative that was pushed by entertainers, activists, and celebrities on social media during the months when investigators kept silent while doing their work. We will see outlets like ESPN doing segments on Taylor and the Black Lives Matter movement — like the one I caught a glimpse of while working out at my local gym in which anchor Max Kellerman incorrectly said that Taylor was shot while sleeping. Or we’ll see NBA star Chris Paul talk about the imaginary “George Floyd shooting” (George Floyd was not shot). Of course, their misinformation spreads to millions.
Who are the victims here? Certainly not Kellerman and Paul, who are praised for spreading false narratives. Not ESPN — although the network has faced declining ratings for years, the ad revenue continues to be in the millions. Not the Black liberal commentators who sell more books by peddling black pain on the cable news networks.
Nope, the victims are — as always — regular working-class African Americans, stuck in the same old cycle of feeling angry, hurt, and fearful that some irresponsible media outlets perpetuate by peddling false narratives.
Black pain is a big business. And the mainstream media will never miss an opportunity to cash in.
