Civil rights activist Robert L. Woodson Sr. has criticized mainstream media for its alleged racial bias in covering violent incidents, arguing that outlets disproportionately focus on cases where white individuals are victims and Black individuals are perpetrators. Woodson, a Black author and longtime civil rights advocate, pointed out that a violent assault in Cincinnati, where two white individuals were beaten by Black suspects, received minimal media attention. He argued that mainstream media only highlights racial violence when the perpetrator is white and the victim is Black, such as the cases of George Floyd and Ariana Delane, a young girl shot in a domestic incident. Additionally, Woodson noted that the 2018 spike in anti-Asian violence saw Black perpetrators largely ignored by journalists. He called for a rejection of the narrative that places Black Americans as permanent victims and white Americans as perpetually guilty, urging the nation to move beyond race-based judgments to avert national ruin.
The Media Research Center’s NewsBusters analyzed ABC’s “Good Morning America” and “World News Tonight,” CBS News Mornings and Evening News, and NBC’s “Today” and “Nightly News” and found no coverage of the horrific viral brawl in Cincinnati in the days immediately following the event. Woodson, who has authored multiple books, including “A Pathway to American Renewal: Red, White, and Black,” believes that “the mainstream media buries the incident or ignores” violence when the races are reversed and in cases of “Black-on-Black” crime.
Woodson also founded the Woodson Center, which aims to “empower community-based leaders to promote solutions that reduce crime and violence, restore families, revitalize underserved communities, and assist in the creation of economic enterprise,” according to its website.