Media representations of black young men and boys: Report of the REACH media monitoring project

This report provides an extensive analysis of media coverage of black young men and boys in the British news and current affairs media. The central aim of the research is to understand how the news media represent black young men and boys, and specifically, to consider whether there is evidence of negative stereotyping of black young men and boys in the news media. The report begins by discussing the results of a quantitative analysis of media news stories about young men and boys generally, followed by more detailed analysis of media news stories involving black young men and boys. This is followed by an in-depth qualitative analysis of media stories about black young men and boys related to crime; an analysis of black and minority ethnic media coverage; and finally the results of a series of qualitative interviews with those involved in making and reporting the news. Overall, the dominant discourse surrounding black young men and boys in the news media links them with violent crime, and particularly murders involving knives and/or gangs. While this is clearly a negative media image, no clear or explicit stereotype of black young men or boys was constructed across news reports