When it comes to bias and objectivity in media stories, it is significant for journalists to pay attention to people in special groups. In blog 4, we discussed how to cover news stories of people with mental disabilities. This week, we are more concentrated on people with physical disabilities. According to the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, people with disabilities are seldom seen as individuals beyond the framework of their disabilities. What is more, there are lots of biases and stereotypes in news stories featuring this group of people. I want to talk about two problems in related news stories. First, I want to talk about bias towards people with disabilities from the perspective of the content of the news. Second, I want to talk about bias towards them during the news dissemination process.
First, I want to talk about inspiration porn in related news stories. This term was first brought up by Stella Young in her TED Talk, which means that people are objectifying disabled people for the benefit of non-disabled people. For instance, in lots of stories, we can see content that “even though he cannot see anything, he can still achieve ‘A’ in class.” According to Young, there is an underlying assumption in such motivational stories. The public tends to think that it is a miracle that people with a disability can achieve something in their lives. What is worse, in such news stories, people with a disability are considered an object of inspiration. In other words, from the angles of irresponsible journalists, people with a disability do not have a personality as a human. They are just a tool to inspire people without a disability. According to the article from Forbes, disabled people are often told from the point of view of non-disabled observers, leaving out the actual disabled person’s personality and perspective, which can result in inspiration porn. To address this issue, journalists need to stop and ponder before they produce a story regarding this group of people. It will be beneficial for them to ask, “if I were a people with disabilities, would I be comfortable to see stories like that?” The questions will help journalists put themselves in the shoes of people with disabilities.
Second, the barriers for people with disabilities during the news dissemination process can be seen as an implicit bias towards this group of people. Sometimes it is difficult for people with disabilities to view news, thus hindering them from knowing how media portrays them. For instance, for people with eye problems, they cannot know what the photo stories are about when pictures online do not have alter text within them. Likewise, it is challenging for people whose hearing is impaired to know what the main character in a video story is talking about without a caption. Hence, it is a responsibility for journalists to consider the accessibility of the news stories. In this way, people with disabilities can get to read or view every news story and thus become more prepared to voice their opinions in the media.
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