Fox News joins other media outlets in capitalizing ‘Black’

Fox News Media joined other outlets on Monday in adjusting its style to capitalize the “B” in “Black.” 

The company announced that the capitalization would apply when “Black” is used as an adjective to describe people, a community or a culture. The style change followed moves by The Associated Press and other news outlets to update their styles after George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis police custody. 

Fox News Media said the decision was made after discussions with the company’s diversity team and researching the history of “language, culture and customs.” 

Other colors used to describe race, like “White” and “Brown” will be capitalized when used as an adjective, following the National Association of Black Journalists’s recommendation. This will align with the company’s style for other words to describe racial and ethnic groups, like Asian, African American, Latino, Hispanic and Native American, the announcement noted. 

The change will apply across Fox News Media outlets, like Fox News Channel, Fox Business Network, Fox News Digital and Fox Nation.

Floyd, a Black man, died after a former officer knelt on his neck for almost nine minutes as Floyd said he couldn’t breathe and became unresponsive.

Video of the incident sparked protests and discussions over the existence of systemic racism across the country, involving police treatment of minorities, diversity at companies and media coverage of the Black community.