1. GENERAL SURVEY OF CHICAGO NEWSPAPERS
It was assumed by the Commission that so far as the ordinary reading public is concerned the study of the three Chicago white daily papers with the largest circulation and the three Negro weekly papers most widely read would provide an adequate basis for a test of news handling, and for measuring the effect on the public of accounts of racial happenings. The papers selected are listed in Table XXX.
| Name of Paper | Published | Circulation[87] | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Week Days | Sundays | ||
| White | |||
| Chicago Tribune | Every morning | 439,262 | 713,966 |
| Chicago Daily News | Every afternoon except Sundays | 404,726 | ... |
| Chicago Herald-Examiner | Every morning | 289,094 | 596,851 |
| Negro | |||
| Chicago Defender | Weekly | 185,000 | ... |
| Chicago Whip | Weekly | 65,000 | ... |
| Chicago Searchlight | Weekly | 10,000 | ... |
For the two-year period 1916 and 1917 the Commission listed from the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Daily News, and the Chicago Herald-Examiner 1,551 articles on racial matters. Of these articles 1,338 were news items, 108 were letters to the press, and 96 were editorials.
Table XXXI classifies these items according to subject:
| Subject | Number of Articles |
|---|---|
| Riots and clashes | 309 |
| Crime and vice | 297 |
| Soldiers | 199 |
| Politics | 99 |
| Housing | 89 |
| Ridicule | 63 |
| Illegitimate contacts | 61 |
| Sports | 56 |
| Migration | 45 |
| Personal | 39 |
| Special columns | 33 |
| Education | 18 |
| Meetings | 17 |
| Art | 8 |
| Business | 5 |
| Total | 1,338 |
These figures do not represent all articles appearing on racial issues during the two-year period. Many additional articles appeared in early editions and not in the editions examined.
Generally these articles indicated hastily acquired and partial information, giving high lights and picturing hysteria. Frequently they showed gross exaggeration. The less sensational articles, permitting a glimpse of the stabler side of Negro life, were less than seventy-five. The subjects receiving most frequent and extended treatment in these three papers were: crime, housing, politics, riots, and soldiers. In analyzing the articles themselves, under these specific headings, it appears that the appeal to the interests of the public is founded on definite assumptions in the public mind. It has come to be recognized by both whites and Negroes, but more especially by the latter, that crime is most often associated with the publication of Negro news in white newspapers.
Crime.—The University Commission on Southern Race Problems in a recommendation to the white college men of the South said:
Colored people feel very keenly about the way crime committed, or alleged to have been committed, by Negroes is played up in the newspapers. We never see the Negro's good qualities mentioned. As a rule, when a Negro's name appears in the newspapers he has done something to somebody, or somebody has done something to him. It may be true that the newspaper's attitude toward the Negro does not influence white public opinion as much as the Negro thinks, but it is bound to affect the point of view of those white people who do not know the Negro.