Resistance Advocacy as News: Digital Black Press Covers the Tea Party

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Resistance Advocacy as News: Digital Black Press Covers the Tea Party examines the Black and mainstream presss digital interpretations of the Tea Party during President Barack Obamas first term. The Tea Party narrative and the white ideologies disseminated by conservative groups was, and continues to be, an intricate story for journalists to tell. This book tracks coverage of the Tea Party from the modern groups beginning in early February of 2009 until two weeks after the 2012 general presidential election in November. While many mainstream journalists either fail to recognize, or ignore all together, the racial component that the Tea Party poses to Black solidarity, this book shows that Black reporters working for the Black press absolutely recognize the racial component and provide more thorough discussions than their mainstream counterparts. Historically, the Black press has existed to fill holes of misrepresentation in the mainstream press; to that end, this book addresses questions surrounding the ongoing necessity of the Black press and whether our society is postracial, combining a quantitative analysis of implicit racial frames with a qualitative analysis of resonant myth, and providing empirical evidence that Black people still struggle to have their voices heard in the mainstream press.

Reviews

Resistance Advocacy as News is an important and timely consideration of one of the most-often overlooked alternative presses in the United States: the black press. Black press historians have for a long time heralded its role in shaping black consciousness, identity, and activism as far back as 1827s Freedoms Journal, and LaPoe and LaPoes work reminds us that the black press resonates not only as a voice of the past but also in our divided present. This book is essential reading for scholars interested in the black presss role in shaping US politics as well as aspiring and practicing journalists. -- Carrie Teresa, Niagara University
In an era of unprecedented attack on the fourth estate, mainstream media is on its heels searching for relevance. Perhaps now more than ever it is time for the mainstream to seek answers from the masters of the marginsthe journalists of the black press. Lapoe and Lapoe tell a story of digital black newspapers that unflinchingly confronted the racial implications of the Tea Party. Ultimately, the black press anticipated todays normalization of white supremacist policies in ways the mainstream media could not. Resistance Advocacy as News bears witness to why black press matters for a multiracial democracy. -- Khuram Hussain, Hobart and William Smith Colleges
This timely book provides a rich history of how both the black press and mainstream media covered the Tea Party during former President Barack Obamas stint as leader of the United States. Chapters compare and contrast the mainstream and black press narrative of the Tea Party and explore racial implicitness in the black and mainstream press. This content is of interest to both students and scholars of race, media, sociology, and politics. The authors have done a good job of providing an overview of this important topic. -- Mia Moody-Ramirez, Baylor University

Author Bio

Benjamin Rex LaPoe II is visiting assistant professor at Ohio University. Victoria L. LaPoe is assistant professor in Ohio Universitys Scripps School of Journalism.