Jobs Numbers Provide Another Example of Differing Perspectives

Sometimes it’s a matter of perspective; stories can be covered from the viewpoint of the agencies issuing the information, or that of the people being affected. Today’s coverage of April unemployment and jobs numbers is a good example. The mainstream sites are all touting the drop in unemployment and the slow jobs growth. The stories focus primarily on the numbers and there’s little humanity. This is in contrast to the approach taken by The Grio, which emphasizes what the numbers mean for black people. That focus  is relevant to the entire nation since black unemployment numbers are higher than the overall rate:

• The Grio: Black Unemployment Drops but Overall Job Growth Largely Stalled  
• The HuffPost: Unemployment Rate April Jobs
• The Daily Beast: Cheat Sheet  
• Salon: Another Jobs Report Downer
• Slate: April Jobs Report Hiring Slows But Unemployment Drops to 81 percent

The mainstream view of people of color focuses on celebrities who wear high-cut dresses, get  large tattoos and scream at people. Otherwise there’s a career-ending injury for a beloved Yankee, arrests in the FAMU hazing case and more on Ashton Kutcher in brown face. 

The Huffington Post is scandalized by Jessica White’s “high-cut” dress, but is it really homepage news?  . . .And there’s a growing backlash against “Basketball Wives,” in particular Evelyn Lozada and her violent flare-ups . . . J. Lo has major tattoos across her chest and back. Fortunately, they’re temporary . . . Mariano Rivera’s torn ACL might end the Yankee’s career . . . The Daily Beast reports on this too.

. . . Salon wonders what Ashton Kutcher was thinking . . .

. . . Slate gets in on the discussion by re-running a piece suggesting that there’s been a surge of Indian actors on television . . . Slate tracks the arrests of those charged in the FAMU hazing case.

. . .   Samuel L. Jackson’s performance in “The Avengers” is saluted.  

Another point of view . . . 

The ethnic sites also have coverage of the FAMU arrests. The most extensive comes from The Grio The Root and Loop21 also report on the case  . . .

Also on Loop21: Another woman says she suffered abuse at the hands of Rico Gray. Marissa Alexander is facing jail time for firing a gun during a confrontation with him . . . And, Deion’s divorce drama continues.

. . . Mario Wire grabs HuffPost’s piece on the President blaming the GOP for inaction on the Dream ACT and links to an NBC piece that asks what it takes to stand up to discrimination.

. . . ICE is making changes to its deportation policy . . . The Root tackles the student loan interest debate and why it’s important to black people.

. . . Celebrity trainer Mark Jenkins talks about black people and exercise.

. . .  Is the racial make-up of “Girls” really a big deal, or a false representation?