Before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was signed, and even afterward, newspapers around the country were very biased. Words such as “Negroes” were used regularly as decent words to use, and the light that they represented Civil Rights activists was on the verge of racist.
Local newspapers were the worst in this practice, trying to hide what the racist, white community was doing in reaction. National newspapers were less biased, but still being run by a fully white population, so the bias angle still existed. The best, most unbiased coverage were covered by African American run newspapers.
February 12, 1960:
Major stories of sit-ins in national papers are moved from the front pages to the middles of papers with much less coverage. The initial newsworthy value of these sit-ins began to wear off because of the biased aspect of the newspapers during this pre-Civil Rights Act of 1964 time period.
February 20, 1960:
The Baltimore Afro-American covers Charlotte sit-ins on the front page. The Baltimore Afro-American, along with other African American newspapers, covered the events during the Civil Rights period thoroughly and in an unbiased light.
