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Large Racial Gap In Poll Of The Media's Ferguson Coverage

Large Racial Gap In Poll Of The Media's Ferguson Coverage
By 

Senior Media Editor, The Huffington Post

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FERGUSON, UNITED STATES - AUGUST 18: Captain Ron Johnson of the Missouri Highway Patrol speaks to media during a protest on August 18, 2014 for Michael Brown, who was killed by a police officer on August 9 in Ferguson, United States. Captain Ronald Johnson of the Missouri State Highway Patrol, makes statements to reporters as the protests continue in Ferguson. Some of the protesters were detained by the police during the clashes on Monday. The 18 year-old Brown was killed in a confrontation with a police officer in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson, Missouri on August 09, 2014. Details of the fatal encounter continue to be disputed but racial tensions flared between the majority black community and predominantly white police force following his death. (Photo by Bilgin Sasmaz/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

A new poll found that residents of St. Louis County had starkly divergent views about the media's conduct in Ferguson depending on their race.

The Remington Research Group surveyed local people about their views on a wide range of issues surrounding the recent crisis in the Missouri suburb.

Overall, the media got very bad marks, but there was a huge gap in white and black views of the way the press handled the story.

From the survey:

Nearly 75 percent of all respondents told pollsters the media contributed to making the situation in Ferguson worse.

Of those criticizing the media coverage in Ferguson, 50 percent were African-American and 81 percent were white.

There was also a large gap between the percentage of black residents who said that the media made things better in Ferguson (37 percent) and the percentage of white residents who did (12 percent).

(h/t Poynter)

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