What is the effect of political bias on media portrayal of Critical Race Theory in online written news sources from the years 2020 to 2022?
Brief Overview
The topic of Critical Race Theory (CRT) has increased public interest over the past few years within the topic of education. In the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement, public institutions in some states have begun to take steps to show their support and make changes to businesses, legislation, and the topics taught in schools. By looking at political bias in news sources, this study will allow a more in depth look at why people are forming such strong and differing opinions. From understanding Critical Race Theory to how it is being translated in school curriculum, news resources provide an array of mixed information. Understanding these differences in news reporting will help the public to understand what is being taught, and allow for future conversations on the topic to be informed through a better understanding of both sides of the argument.
critical race theory (CRT), intellectual and social movement and loosely organized framework of legal analysis based on the premise that race is not a natural, biologically grounded feature of physically distinct subgroups of human beings but a socially constructed (culturally invented) category that is used to oppress and exploit people of colour. Critical race theorists hold that racism is inherent in the law and legal institutions of the United States insofar as they function to create and maintain social, economic, and political inequalities between whites and nonwhites, especially African Americans. Critical race theorists are generally dedicated to applying their understanding of the institutional or structural nature of racism to the concrete (if distant) goal of eliminating all race-based and other unjust hierarchies.
Britannica, 2022
Background
Critical Race Theory, although typically taught in college, has been taught in K-12 schools since the 1990s. However, Critical Race Theory in K-12 schools is much different from Critical Race Theory in sociology. Courses offered in college on CRT are typically sociology theory courses, and they introduce the main ideas on CRT. An overview of Critical Race Theory in college includes, looking at the six basic tenets which include, race is socially constructed, not biological or natural; racism in the U.S. is normalized; material determinism; differential racialization; intersectionality; white is a racial category (The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2022). These elements say that racism is built into society in such an intertwined way that it impacts our laws, businesses, and society. It is also describing how race itself is something that is made by society and is in no way a biological fact. In Kindergarten to twelfth grade (K-12) schools, this would be a typical history class going over topics like the Indigenous American Genocide; confinement camps during World War II; slavery; the Civil War; and the Civil Rights Era. Teachers will expand on these topics by exemplifying how these historical events have created the oppressive society that is lived in today. The Black Lives Matter movement sparked an increased interest in this topic as it caused white people to feel unsettled and blamed, while leaving minorities to feel stuck in a place of institutionalized racism. Due to the increase of mass media, a rise in interest has been brought up on Critical Race Theory due to political bias and misinformation in news sources. To get to the bottom of this, research can be done to look at media bias in the last three years on Critical Race Theory by analyzing attitudes towards CRT in education in popular news resources.