Abstract

This chapter argues that the mainstream media have been integral to the promulgation of a form of antiracism that has, in fact, helped maintain structural inequalities and everyday stereotypes about minoritized communities. This devotion to “official antiracisms” which limit what can be said about race and racial inequality has always served the interests of powerful official actors by valorizing whiteness as a structuring ideology. Such a limiting framework for antiracism separates racist speech and actions from mainstream values, placing it as a fringe anomaly. In news, this stance has been inextricably tied to the norms and routines that have governed modern journalism, including the performance of objectivity. In an extreme populist moment and a digitally driven media environment, journalists must dismantle the rote quoting of sources, dueling soundbites, and frenzied news alerts that highlight incendiary speech and rethink objectivity as practiced through these routines. They must do so in order to reckon with a resurgence of overt racism.