When doing research for my previous article on Governor Paterson’s  claims of racist media bias, I examined every front page from the New York Post from the Day he was appointed, on March 17^th 2008, to September 31^st 2009.  I was able to identify 33 cover stories that related to Governor Paterson.  Out of thirty-three stories, only two of them are semi-positive.  The reason I call them semi-positive is the way that they are told.   

The first semi-positive story titled “Move It! Governor threatens Senate bums with Special Session” is accompanied with the picture of a clown.  The second, “Gov’s Ace – Picks Circus tiebreaker”, has no accompanying picture.  Sadly, headlines like “Pension Tension”, “Snooper Troopers” and “Hard Times” all have unflattering pictures of the Governor.  Visual association is a fundamental part of human psychology and racism  can be a very subtle thing.  Never seeing the Governor’s face associated with anything positive will definitely impact his approval ratings.  Look at the lovely pictures of Caroline Kennedy and Elliot Spitzer. 

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It is what it is.  At Cornell I minored in African studies and took a course titled “Minorities in the Media.”  It is just a sad reality that the main stream media will often push a particular agenda.  Fox News Network is a perfect example of that.  I have no problem with the New York Post; in fact I enjoy the sports section thoroughly.  I don’t think the Post is any more racist than any other “main stream” publication.  I will say that  New York Post was the only newspaper to cover the Columbia Gentrification story.  But the facts are the facts and pictures tell a thousand words.