ABSTRACT
Reporting the news of race and ethnic relations has serious implications for the social capital of a community, for developing an ethos of multiculturalism, and for refining an American democratic process. This chapter presents the outcome of interviews with the major gatekeepers of what is reported in the leading circulating newspapers in the United States. It discusses how the editor as an institutional representative chooses the reporter and views group relations in their community. Race beat reporting is probably not high in newsroom prestige. Ideally, the race and ethnic (R&E) beat reporter would have another level of knowledge to build on: a knowledge of the dynamics of prejudice and intergroup relations. The beat reporters said they spend 80" of their time working on their beat while general-assignment reporters said that they are called on only one-third of the time to cover race/ethnic issues.
