Race, Media, and the Crisis of Civil Society

The outcomes of public communication depend in large part on the communicative geography of civil society – that is, the extent and the quality of interactions between different publics, and the forms of representation used to make events meaningful in specific interpretive communities. Because communication takes place within an environment of plural and partial publics, it cannot be considered solely in terms of its ability to produce a shared commitment to a singular vision of the good, or to some “rational” consensus; it must also be evaluated in terms of its ability to keep a conversation going, and to protect the possibility of opening up this dialogue to new narratives and to new points of difference. This is most likely to happen, as I have argued throughout the pages of this book, if there is a differentiated and diverse set of communication media – both large and small, universalistic and particularistic.

There is little question that the African-American public sphere has been an important part of the communicative geography of civil society, and that the African-American press has been one of its central communicative institutions. Historically, African-Americans have turned to the black press in order to develop alternative interpretations of public events; to develop arguments that might prove more effective in engaging those in the hegemonic public spheres; and to monitor the mainstream media in order to counter negative racial stereotypes and interpretations.