Offensive magazine covers, baby mamas, and terrorist fist jabs - Journalism Gone Wild or sheer ignorance?

In yesterday’s weekly episode of “Racially Insensitive Ideas Gone Wrong,” the New Yorker has proclaimed that a cover depicting Sen. Barack Obama with an enormously drawn head wrapped in a turban and wife Michelle as some type of heat-packing militant Barbie as “satire.” (May I also point out the subtly placed photo of Osama bin Laden and the flag burning in the fireplace.) Satire it may be - I do get that the New Yorker is attempting to embellish upon all of the recycled and hateful comments tossed around during this very long campaign season, but what it also does is play on the not so subtle fears in the back of some minds.

I’ll save my comments about how it seems all the “satire” and sly references to nefarious behavior has seemed to focus on only one direction, towards the Obamas, for now. If this is truly satire, I fully expect to see the McCains gracing the cover of the New Yorker in the near future - with the good Senator with one foot in a coffin and his wife fashionably attired in a pin-striped designer suit, stealing prescription drugs from the back door of a non-profit.

NABJ issued a news release a short time ago about how the newspaper industry shouldn’t treat diversity as a passing fad. Perhaps that directive should be extended to include magazines, television and radio as well. The media has the power to influence many minds - which is why diversity in coverage is important - not just in the newsrooms but the diversity of the newsrooms. Black media, the blogosphere, freelancers and the mainstream media all have a shared responsibility when it comes to covering the issues of the day in a fair manner and exposing ignorance and bias in coverage.

Now personally, I’m not one to be easily offended - I’m a fan of satire and sarcasm (hell, I’m a an avid practitioner of both and who hasn’t laughed at the many caricatures and cartoons about our current Commander in Chief). But all of the backhanded references (eg. Michelle the baby mama/angry black militant woman, Barack the Oreo/magical negro) to all of the most negative and deplorable racial and ethnic stereotypes have got to stop.

Felicia R. Harvey is the Editor of BlackPoliticsontheWeb.com