Reporting Baltimore

Race and the media – the debate continues; plus, the politics of reforming Italy's state broadcaster.

The death of 25-year-old African American Freddie Gray while in police custody earlier this month triggered widespread protests in the city of Baltimore in the night of April 25, 2015.
But the story was not deemed newsworthy by major US news networks that opted to cover the White House Correspondent's Dinner - an annual black-tie affair where journalists and politicians rub shoulders - in the capital less than 65 kilometres away.
Mainstream media have since tried to play catch-up but those journalists have received the same kind of treatment they faced while covering the protests in Ferguson, Missouri last year following the death of another unarmed black man at the hands of the police.