The Austin Bombings: Race and the Media

On Tuesday, April 2, 2019, the LBJ Library’s Future Forum held an event to honor the victims of the deadly series of mystery package bombs planted in Austin in 2018 and to discuss media coverage of the bombings. Austin journalists and media consumers discussed ways in which racial biases shaped the unfolding story of the bombings and considered strategies and ideas for reducing the reflection of biases in future news reporting.

The panelists were John Bridges, executive editor of the Austin American-Statesman; Eric Byrd, vice president and chief operating officer of the nonprofit MEASURE Austin and director of transitional and supervised independent living for SAFE Alliance, an Austin nonprofit serving abuse survivors; DaLyah Jones, assistant producer for All Things Considered and a KUT evening host; and Eric Tang, PhD, associate professor in the African and African Diaspora Studies Department and director of the Center for Asian American Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. Moderator of the panel was Erna Smith, lecturer at UT Austin’s School of Journalism.