“Big news organizations often seem to editorially privilege the difficulties and even the feelings of Midwestern whites,” writes Greg Sargent. “I can’t cite a study that proves this. But you see it constantly.” He highlights the asymmetry of how the press views your basic white diner patron or factory worker as the go-to perspective to get on everything.
The genre of newspaper writing that sends reporters into diners and dives down the road from rusting factories to find out what Trump voters think of whatever just happened has literally become the stuff of parody, as Alexandra Petri demonstrates well. When Trump attacked four nonwhite congresswomen, telling the country they aren’t really part of the American nation, one news organization sent reporters out to discover what Midwestern white Trump voters thought about it. No, really.
Not for nothing, but this is why while Kirsten Gillibrand was correct to call out white privilege at the most recent Democratic debate (a feat for which Jason Johnson of The Root deemed her an “anti-Becky”), the critique ultimately doesn’t so far enough. White privilege isn’t just about the serious mortal threats faced by black Americans and other people of color but also about the social and cultural erasure resulting from things like the nation’s press corps (certainly the Beltway press corps) defaulting to white opinion, thereby reinforcing the overt Trumpist position that only they are the real Americans.