| Description | Newspapers and press clippings collected by Vanley Burke to assess the various representations of black people, black communities and incidents involving black people in the press. The main body of the collection reflects crime involving black people, both as perpetrator as well as victim, and how this is reported and documented within the mainstream media.
This subsection has been further divided into four files to reflect the frequency of respective items collected and their topics, as well as reflecting the prominence of the stories within the context of the wider collection:
/1 'Winston Silcott & PC Blakelock' contains various press cuttings from different newspapers of the same case, reflecting a variety of treatments of the story of murder of the police officer by a black male.
/2 'Aston Shootings' contains the same material reporting the incident of murder by shooting of two black teenage girls in Aston, Birmingham. This file is prominent, due to Burke's subsequent photographing of the investigative activities, as well as the funerals. His intimacy with the case and its photographic representations gives context to his interest and collecting of press portrayal of the story.
/3 'Black Sports People' contains newspapers and press material of some black sports people as seen in the media, including Denise Lewis, black athlete and medal winner from the West Midlands.
/4 'Black People in the Press: Other' is a miscellaneous file containing material also dealing with the portrayal of black people in the media however in less concentrated amounts. Some of the stories include reports and portrayals of black pop stars and celebrity figures such as Michael Jackson and black British artist Craig David, and articles involving crime, such as the 1980's case of the so-called "Putney Rapist", as well as locally based reports featuring black people. |