Black Americans have long had a complex relationship with the news media. In 1967, the Kerner Commission — a panel established by President Lyndon Johnson to investigate the causes of more than 150 urban riots in the United States — sharply criticized the media’s treatment of Black Americans.
More than 50 years later, there is ongoing discussion of many of the themes raised in the commission’s report. Amid these discussions, here are some key facts about Black Americans’ experiences with and attitudes toward the news, based on recent Pew Research Center surveys:
