NPR : Talk of the Nation

'Race-Baiter": Media Feeds On Fear And Prejudice

November 1, 2012
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In his new book, Race-Baiter, media critic Eric Deggans says that modern media outlets trade in bigotry and bias to build audience and sell advertising.

Deggans dissects media coverage of events such as Hurricane Katrina, the Trayvon Martin case, and the 2012 presidential election to build an argument that we lack the right vocabulary for having important conversations about race, and that the echo chambers of our fractured media landscape aren't helping. The fix, he says, is a more savvy audience that demands better conversations.

Deggans and psychologist Linda Tropp, who studies perceptions of racial differences, join NPR's Neal Conan for a conversation about media, race, and what Deggans calls "a divided America."

Copyright 2012 National Public Radio. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.

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