Minorities and Communication 2009 Abstracts
Minorities and Communication Division
Faculty Papers
Wave of Hope: African American Youth Use Media and Engage More Civically, Politically than Whites • Dustin Harp, University of Texas, Austin; Ingrid Bachmann, University of Texas at Austin; Jaime Loke, University of Texas; Tania Cantrell, University of Texas at Austin • The study is the first of a multi-wave panel survey on media use, and political and social attitudes among 12- to 17-year-olds. The results show that African Americans were more likely to engage in civic activities, politically participate in online and offline settings, take part in political consumerism, talk about news, follow the news, and demonstrate overall interest in news. This suggests that race is a complex, influential characteristic affecting youth behavior.
A 2009 Assessment of the Status of Diversity Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Programs • Masudul Biswas, Forum on Media Diversity, Louisiana State University; Ralph Izard, Forum on Media Diversity, Louisiana State University • This paper assessed the status of diversity education in 2008-9 in both accredited and non-accredited journalism and mass communication programs in U.S. colleges and universities. Using survey responses from 105 academic programs, the survey findings support earlier studies that found the number of special courses on media diversity is steadily increasing. The findings also identify a preference for integrating diversity content across the curriculum.
Introducing the super-coon: A new Flavor for the new millennium • Steven Giannino, University of Miami; Shannon Campbell, University of Miami; Chrystal China, University of Miami • This article offers an examination of the latest stereotype of African Americans and situates it within our hegemonically stratified media landscape. This stereotype represents a hybrid of sorts in that it epitomizes the rebirth of one of the most disturbing meditated caricature portrayals of African Americans—the coon, while combining its characteristics with the voracious sexual appetite of the buck.
Discourses of Fame: The “Alma Awards” and the Construction of U.S.-Latino Celebrity • Avila-Saavedra Guillermo, Salem State College • An important, yet still unexplored, element of the Latino trend is the articulation of discourses of celebrity and fame associated with the television shows. An examination of the publicity surrounding the most popular of these shows and performers can advance our understanding of the Latino trend. Through discourse analysis of the 2006, 2007 and 2008 editions of the Alma Awards, this essay examines the construction of Latino television performers as simultaneously ethnic and mainstream media celebrities.
Coverage of Serious Health Risks: A Content Analysis of Popular Women’s Magazines Targeting Hispanics • Shanna Kurpe, Florida State University; Gary Heald, Florida State University; Juliann Cortese, Florida State University • Inequalities exist in the health statuses of Latinos/Hispanics in the United States compared with the general population. One factor potentially contributing to these inequalities is the coverage of serious health risks by the media targeting racial/ethnic minorities. This content analysis of health-related articles available in popular women’s magazines indicates the relative scarcity of information about serious health risks. This scarcity is particularly notable in a popular, Spanish language, magazine targeting Hispanic women.
Before (and after) Kerner: Paul Swensson and the Newspaper Fund • Rick Kenney, University of Central Florida • Paul Swensson began to build the Newspaper Fund’s relationship with Savannah State College for Negroes in particular and with minority students, teachers, and journalists in general, a good five years before a presidential commission, after race riots in America’s inner cities, condemned the media in part for the disfranchisement of Blacks and urge news organizations to overcome their failings.
Assessing Cross-Cultural Learning and the Effects of Personality and Negative Attitudes on Journalism Students’ Knowledge • María Len-Ríos, University of Missouri; Earnest L. Perry, University of Missouri • This study uses a pre-test/post-test design to assess student learning of cross-cultural journalism principles and to determine if students with intolerant personality characteristics (RWA and SDO) learn differently. Findings show that knowledge increased from Time 1 to Time 2. Personality characteristics were associated with beliefs about diversity’s importance to industry, but not to knowledge. As journalists set the tone for conversations about class, race and gender, it is of consequence how students enter these conversations.
HIV/AIDS prevention behaviors: Predictors of condom use among African American college students • DaKysha Moore, Johnson C. Smith University; Srinivas Melkote, Bowling Green State University • Not only is scholarly research limited on college students and their sexual behaviors, but there is also very limited research that strictly focuses on African American college students and their sexual practices. A frequently suggested strategy in the context of HIV/AIDS prevention cited in medical literature as well as by UNAIDS is the consistent use of condoms during sex.
The New York Times v. Sullivan Decision and Coverage of the Civil Rights Story of the 1960s • Ali Mohamed, United Arab Emirates University • A content analysis of stories about the civil rights movement in the New York Times and the Birmingham News before and after the Sullivan libel suit of 1960 shows that the New York Times was equally adversarial toward state officials after the lawsuit as before; and that the Birmingham News devoted more space to news about “change” than the New York Times.
Mi Patria, Mi Pais, Mi Periodico: Second-level agenda setting in The Los Angeles Times and La Opinion • Carolyn Nielsen, Western Washington University • This study asks the question, “What did immigration/inmigración” mean in spring 2006 coverage by La Opinión and The Los Angeles Times. Adding to the growing research on both ethnic media and second-level agenda setting, the study employs qualitative, quantitative and ethnographic content analysis to uncover the subtle differences in coverage and their potentially strong impacts on readers. Research findings are discussed in terms of the larger context of agenda-setting research and theory.
Sourcing within Ethnic Media • Paul Niwa, Emerson College • This study compares sourcing by Asian Pacific American newspapers and metropolitan daily newspaper coverage of ethnic neighborhoods. It finds that ethnic media quotes non-elite sources at the same rate of major newspapers, and that ethnic newspapers favor public officials of their own race. This is the first quantitative comparison of ethnic media and metropolitan daily newspapers.
Peril and promise: Time magazine’s construction of the promise and peril of Michelle Rhee • David Oh, Denison University • Time’s coverage of Michelle Rhee employs “strategic objectivity” to simultaneously support White capitalist values manifest in Rhee’s pro-market educational reform proposals and to contain the person of Rhee evident in the use of historical stereotypes of Asian Pacific Americans. This use of objectivity creates a sense of impartial coverage while hiding alternative, especially labor, critiques, maintaining racist hierarchies, and promoting White interests.
“Isn’t he a good guy?”: Constructions of Whiteness in the 2006 Olympic Hockey Tournament • Kelly Poniatowski, Duquesne University; Erin Whiteside, The Pennsylvania State University • Given sports’ valued cultural position, scholars argue that images of sports stars provide viewers with guidance about how “good” men should behave (Whannel, 2002). Drawing from cultural studies theories on race in sports, this study explores representations of hockey players in the 2006 Winter Olympics television commentary. We suggest that the commentary provides lessons to viewers by way of the construction of the (White) hockey players as having exceptional physical bodies, intellectual aptitude and moral righteousness.
Depictions of minority characters on popular children’s cable programs: A content analysis • Jack Powers, Ithaca College • Documenting the trend of ethnic/racial minority characters on television is important because the depictions may help to either perpetuate racial stereotypes or diminish them. How television presents minority characters may influence the majority’s beliefs and perceptions about minority groups, and may also influence how minorities respond to the majority.
Television Drama and Partially-Structured Measure of Racial Attitudes • Lingling Zhang, Towson University • This study investigates the utility of a thought-listing procedure for measuring automatic racial attitudes based on the logic of partially structured measures. Two episodes of Law and Order are used as the stimuli to replicate the findings. Both convergence and discriminant validity are tested. Results indicate that the Partially-Structured measure has a positive relationship with explicit measure of racial attitudes and no significant relation with implicit measure of racial attitudes.
Student Papers
From the Buckeyes to the Hitmen: New racism and neoliberalism in media coverage of Maurice Clarett • Erin Ash, Pennsylvania State University; Bonnie Sierlecki, Pennsylvania State University • Maurice Clarett, who led the Ohio State Buckeyes to a National Championship in 2002, became the most covered off-field athlete in the Big Ten conference in 2006 after being arrested twice that year. This textual analysis examines the coverage of Clarett in 2006 through a lens of neoliberalism and new racism. Our analysis finds support for the persistence of racial stereotyping and the continued dominance of White male voices in coverage of Black athletes.
Diversity, Discrimination, and Disappearing Acts: A Qualitative Study of African American Professionals in Mass Communication Industry • Tori Collier, University of Oklahoma • It would be expected that racial minorities who experience workplace racial discrimination would exhibit job dissatisfaction and departure. Yet, many studies in the literature report that minorities are experiencing job satisfaction in discriminatory workplaces. Of 14 African-American media professionals that were studied, half the participants perceived that racial discrimination had a negative impact on their job satisfaction and half admitted to staying in discriminatory work environments to bring about positive change in race relations.
African American Women & The 2008 Presidential Election • Tonia East, Georgia State University • The 2008 presidential election has revealed the salience of minority coverage with the potential of an African American or woman president. African American women identification with gender and/or race, was explored in interviews of both Clinton and Obama supporters.
Justice Delayed, Justice Denied: Racism in the Press and Congress during New Mexico’s Quest for Statehood • Michael Fuhlhage, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • This historical study examines the negative portrayals of Latinos in the popular press and in deliberations over whether to admit New Mexico as a state. The antecedents of modern Latino stereotypes abounded in newspapers, magazines, and books as well as in records of the House and Senate Committees on the Territories in 1848-1912.
The Effects of Suspects of Different Gender and Ethnic Groups in a Crime News Article • Rachel Quick • This study examined how suspects of different genders (male and female) and ethnic backgrounds (African American and Caucasian) in a crime news story affect African American and Caucasian participants. Hypotheses were based on priming and cultivation theory. A total of 154 participants read one of four versions of a manipulated crime news article about a suspect committing a robbery.
Barack Obama: An Unlikely Challenge to Campus Speech Codes • Patricia Smith, Louisiana State University Manship School • President-elect Barack Obama’s “unlikely” candidacy thrust racial tension into the spotlight as incidents of cross-burning and effigies gained national media attention. The appropriate relocation of such incidents, from racially-driven to politically-driven, will help foster the free-flowing learning environment desired for universities. The possibility for new and open discussion, however, may be determined by the institution’s recognition of speech code jurisprudence and their response to unpopular expressions.
The New Suzie Wong: Normative Assumptions of White Male and Asian Female Relationships in Advertising • Murali Balaji, Pennsylvania State University; Worapron Worawongs, Pennsylvania State University • This study examines the explicit and implied relationships between Asian females and white males in television advertisement, using several examples to illustrate the historical and contextual impact of these images. A critical textual analysis of five televisions advertisements was conducted to examine the implicit meaning embedded in the content. The textual analysis revealed three dominant themes, which include assimilation/dependency, exoticism, and character positioning to convey social status.
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