Minorities and Communication 2002 Abstracts
Minorities and Communication Division
FACULTY COMPETITION
Representations, Constructions Of Cultural Spaces And Marking Racial Difference: The Discourse of Urban-Suburban Dialectic as an Exilic Narrative • Linus Abraham, Iowa State University of Science and Technology • This paper examines the manifestation of the urban-suburban dialectic in the media. It suggests the dialectic serves as a hyper-ritualized narrative, linked to the dominant racial ideology, which by essentializing the nature of cultural spaces on the basis of race (suburban = white, urban = black) promotes myths of racial superiority and inferiority. The dialectic functions as a regime for staging and marking racial difference in the culture.
Racial And Regional Differences in Readers’ Evaluations of the Credibility of Political Columnists by Race and Sex • Julie L. Andsager, Washington State University • The purpose of this study, an experiment, was to determine how- race and gender of columnist and reader interact to influence readers’ perceptions of the credibility of the opinion column. Further, we examined whether regional differences would relate to credibility. This experiment was conducted using 594 students from two universities 2,500 miles apart. No differences in credibility appeared by race or gender of the columnist until region and race of the subjects interacted.
Americans Online: Differences in Surfing and Evaluating Race-Targeted Web Sites by Black and White Users • Osei Appiah, Iowa State University • Two hundred three black and white subjects navigated through either a black- or white-targeted professionally designed web site. It was expected that race-targeted web sites would not affect white viewers’ browsing and evaluation of a web site. Race-targeted web sites were, however, expected to influence black viewers’ responses to a site. As expected, whites displayed no difference in their overall navigation time on a site and displayed no difference in their evaluation of a site based on the racial target of the web site.
Starkly Different Views: A Historical Examination of Letters to the Editor Responding to the Lynching of Three Blacks in Aiken, S.C., 1926 • Kenneth Campbell, South Carolina • This study examines letters to the editor of several newspapers written in response to a triple lynching in Aiken, S.C. in 1926. While it does not suggest that the letter writers are a mirror of public opinion, it does point to the value of their ongoing conversation as a part of the historical record that should be considered in accounts of the tragedy.
Language Preference Issues Related to the Entry of a Local Hispanic Television Newscast • Todd Chambers, Texas Tech University • This paper examines the language preference issues related to entry of a local Hispanic television newscast. As the Hispanic population continues to grow, local media outlets will attempt to meet that need. One of the acculturation issues related to Spanish language media is the issue of language preference. Using a telephone survey method of Hispanics in a local television market in the Southwest, this study found a large demand among Hispanics for a newscast targeted to their population.
The Race Card and Ethical Reasoning: The Importance of Race to Journalistic Decision Making • Renita Coleman, Louisiana State University • A controlled experiment is used to investigate the effects of race of news subjects on journalists’ ethical reasoning. In this study as well as in two previous studies reported here, the race of the people in the dilemmas had a highly significant effect on ethical reasoning. When participants knew the race because they saw photographs, their ethical reasoning scores were higher when the people in the ethical dilemmas were white than when they were African American.
The Linguistic Intergroup Bias In Interpretations of a Race-Related Crime Story • Bradley W. Gorman and Eileen N. Gilligan, Syracuse University • Social psychologists argue that language can subtly reflect the structure of our thinking, especially in situations involving groups. This paper examines the linguistic intergroup bias in the context of people’s interpretations of a race-related television news story. The LIB suggests that people use more abstract language to describe members of outgroups performing negative behaviors compared to those same behaviors performed by ingroup members.
Black Ink and the New Red Power: Native Newspapers and Tribal Sovereignty • Patty Loew, and Kelly Mella, Wisconsin-Madison • This paper examines the relationship between Native American newspapers and tribal sovereignty and how this relationship informs community dialogue over environmental issues. “Black Ink and the New Red Power: Native Newspapers and Tribal Sovereignty” uses both quantitative and qualitative methodology. It includes a content analysis of more than a thousand environmental stories in four tribal newspapers in Wisconsin over a five-year period (1995-1999), interviews with Native American journalists, and discussions with Indian focus groups.
We Want In: The African American Press’ Negotiation for a White House Correspondent • Earnest L. Parry Jr., Texas Christian University • Almost 60 years ago, Harry S. McAlpin shook the hand of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and held a brief conversation with him after a White House press conference. It marked the first time an African American reporter had participated at a White House press conference as an official correspondent. Though African American editors and publishers had been pressuring the White House to allow a journalist to represent them since the beginning of Roosevelt’s administration, the most concerted efforts did not occur until just before and during America’s involvement in World War II.
Color Blindsided in the Booth: An Examination of the Descriptions of College Athletes During Televised Games • James A. Rada, Rowan University and K. Tim Wulfemeyer, San Diego State University • During televised sporting events, African American athletes often are characterized as purely physical specimens on the field or court and they are the recipients of negative references to their off-field activities. In contrast, White athletes more often are the recipients of a broader and more positive set of descriptors. This research tested for the presence of racial bias in televised coverage of men’s collegiate sports. Results showed that while African Americans have made some progress, biased coverage still exists.
Economic News Coverage in Puerto Rico and the Contradictions of Dependent Development • Ilia Rodriguez, St. Cloud State University • The purpose of research was explore how an elite Puerto Rican newspaper mediated the political tensions surrounding the implementation of the economic development policy promoted on the island by the Puerto Rican and U.S. governments between 1947 and 1963. More specifically, the analysis focused on the framing strategies utilized by the daily El Mundo to cover those aspects of Operation Bootstrap that became the subject of debate and revealed some of the tensions and contradictions of industrialization in a colonial context.
At War At Home And Abroad: The Pittsburgh Courier Columns of George S. Schuyler In Roosevelt’s America • Earnest Wiggins, South Carolina • A review of the writings of George S. Schuyler suggests that the ‘30s and ‘40s were the most productive decades of his life, during which he published journalism, commentary, essays and novels. This study focuses on his journalistic product, the work that has garnered the least attention from scholars. This researcher contends that his political and social philosophies were solidified during the second and third Roosevelt Administrations, periods of national challenge and change.
STUDENT COMPETITION
Media Effect on Race and Immigration: Testing the Link • Cleo Joffrion Allen, Louisiana State University • Martin Gilens concludes in his book Why Americans Hate Welfare (1999) that racial stereotypes play a central role in whites’ attitudes about welfare, crime, and immigration. His content analysis suggests a link between the “darkening” of poverty in news and public perceptions, but fails to empirically connect the two. I test the putative link between race and immigration using 2000 NES data -specifically, whether media use is positively correlated to racial attitudes and attitudes about immigration spending.
A Fall from Grace: The Framing of Imam Fawaz Damra by The Cleveland Plain Dealer • Yolanda D. Campbell, Akron • This paper reveals how the September 11th terrorist attacks, committed by men of the Islamic religion, may have influenced the news coverage of a significant national Islamic leader. Through a qualitative content analysis, the researcher examines The Cleveland Plain Dealer’s news coverage of Imam Fawaz Damra, current Islamic leader of the Islamic Center of Greater Cleveland mosque in Parma, Ohio and nationally known Islamic leader. Findings indicate that before September 11th, the newspaper consistently anointed Damra as a “spiritual leader.”
The Black Press and the Integration of Baseball: A Content Analysis of Changes in Coverage • Brian Carroll, North Carolina at Chapel Hill • This study analyzes black press coverage of both the Negro leagues and major league baseball before and after Jackie Robinson broke baseball’s color barrier with the Brooklyn Dodgers in April 1947. The study employs a content analysis of columns and articles before integration and after Robinson’s signing. The results are meant to contribute to an understanding of the role of the black press in achieving integration and the newspapers’ conflicted relationship with Negro league baseball.
News Media, Racial Profiling, and September 11: Implications for Driving While Black • Philip Garland, David Domke, Andre Billeaudeaux and John Hutcheson, Washington • Study of news coverage before and after September 11 illuminates how discourse changed with respect to voices used as sources and their respective degree of support for racial profiling. Journalists and individual citizens increased as sources in post September 11 news, despite recent scholarship suggestive of overwhelming media reliance on elites and government officials. Examination of source’s race pinpoints which racial groups drive increased support for racial profiling, revealing white American sources’ significant belief shifts.
Silencing the Voice of the Minority • Minjeong Kim, North Carolina at Chapel Hill • This paper compares coverage of two newspapers — the Los Angeles Times in the United States and the Chosun Ilbo in South Korea — about the civil disturbance following the Rodney King verdicts in Los Angeles in 1992 to explore whether the media kept Korean-American views out of the marketplace of ideas by portraying events in ways that did not include Korean-American voices. It shows that Korean-Americans’ voices were limited in the Los Angeles Times.
Jesse Owens, a Black Pearl Amidst an Ocean of Fury: A Case Study of Press Coverage on Jesse Owens in the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games • Pamela C. Laucella, North Carolina at Chapel Hill • This research examines the mainstream and black press’s coverage of 1936 Olympic gold medallist Jesse Owns. It compares Grantland Rice’s articles with journalists at New Your Amsterdam News to elucidate the interplay between journalists, media content, and 1920s culture. While all recognized Owens’s talent and gracious deportment, Rice’s evasive, descriptive, and stylistic approach focused on surrounding scenes and racial stereotypes. Amsterdam News’ journalists remained passive yet resolute in emphasizing Owens’s place in history while denouncing Adolph Hitler.
Cultural Diversity under Deregulation: Minority Ownership in Broadcast and Cable after the 1996 Telecommunications Act • Seung Kwan Ryu, Southern Illinois University-Carbondale • This study examines the consequences of cultural diversity in terms of the status of minority ownership in broadcast media and cable after deregulation: How has deregulation affected minority ownership and programming in the cable industry, including the ownership of broadcast media? First, this study discusses the FCC’s minority preference policy. Second, it explores the current status of minority ownership in broadcast media and cable, focusing on period after the 1996 Act.
Hispanics in the Heartland: Are New Members of Iowa Communities Getting Appropriate Coverage in Local Newspapers? • Ellen Thompson, Drake University • As Hispanic populations increase in small communities, what are the community newspapers doing to provide community-wide, equitable coverage? This study examines 129 Iowa newspapers and compares percentage increases (if any) of Hispanic coverage with actual percentage increases of Hispanic people in the community. In 2000, 63 newspapers had 143 Hispanic-related stories in 8 of 14 news categories, the largest being 41 in Education, Classic Arts, and Religion.
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