The New York Times:
Coming to grips with Racism
Through most of its history, National Geographic, in words and images, reproduced a racial hierarchy with brown and black people at the bottom, and white people at the top,” Mr. Mason said in an interview on Tuesday.
There was a complete absence of urban, educated Africans in the magazine’s pages, he told them. Black people were presented as static, primitive and non-technological, often unclothed or presented as savages, he said. And that image, which persisted until the 1970s, shaped how the magazine’s readers — largely white and middle class — perceived black people, he said.
There was a complete absence of urban, educated Africans in the magazine’s pages, he told them. Black people were presented as static, primitive and non-technological, often unclothed or presented as savages, he said. And that image, which persisted until the 1970s, shaped how the magazine’s readers — largely white and middle class — perceived black people, he said.
The Magazine:
For Decades, Our Coverage Was Racist. To Rise Above Our Past, We Must Acknowledge It
Other who came "clean" with time:
In 2004, The Lexington Herald-Leader in Kentucky published a front-page “clarification” to atone for its civil rights coverage 50 years earlier.
“It has come to the editor’s attention that The Herald-Leader neglected to cover the civil rights movement,” it read. “We regret the omission.”
In 2016, The Courier-Journal in Louisville, Ky., apologized for continuing to refer to Muhammad Ali, the famed boxer, as Cassius Clay for years after he changed his name in 1964. Its editor, Neil Budde, wrote that it “did little to help race relations in a turbulent time.” (It was one of several newspapers, including The New York Times, to slowly adopt the change.)
The Times has scoured its archives for unpublished photos of black history, and retroactively wrote obituaries for women who were initially overlooked, an effort it pledged to continue.
“It has come to the editor’s attention that The Herald-Leader neglected to cover the civil rights movement,” it read. “We regret the omission.”
In 2016, The Courier-Journal in Louisville, Ky., apologized for continuing to refer to Muhammad Ali, the famed boxer, as Cassius Clay for years after he changed his name in 1964. Its editor, Neil Budde, wrote that it “did little to help race relations in a turbulent time.” (It was one of several newspapers, including The New York Times, to slowly adopt the change.)
The Times has scoured its archives for unpublished photos of black history, and retroactively wrote obituaries for women who were initially overlooked, an effort it pledged to continue.
