Pressure on Ken Burns for Latino images in "The War"

This documentary airs this week; basic story at:
http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/tv/ny-fftv5382202sep23,0,2620347.story

Summary of debate about inclusion of Latino voices, from National Association of Hispanic Journalists:
http://www.nahj.org/nahjnews/articles/2007/april/defendhonor.shtml

Civil rights reporting of past and present

Coverage of the Jena 6 may be found at Dallasnews.com, with video at:
http://www.dallasnews.com/video/dallasnews/hp/index.html?nvid=176859

An excellent history of reporting civil rights may be found here:
http://www.reportingcivilrights.org

Again, I invite you to blog about coverage that you've seen over the past week on this event.

Guidelines for news reporting and disabilities

For coverage of disability issues:
http://www.spj.org/dtb5.asp

National Center on Disability Journalism
http://ncdj.org/links.html

Resources:
http://pages.towson.edu/bhalle/disable.html

Visit one of these sites and consider the stereotypes of disabilities that you are familiar with. Where did you get these stereotypes, from news coverage or mass media? Write about your perceptions on your blog.

Remember, no class on Friday, Sept. 14

You'll be working on your projects, due next Friday, Sept. 21. Please email me with your questions about that; directions for the assignment are on your syllabus.

Minorities in TV newsrooms (2006):
http://www.nabj.org/newsroom/story/49993p-76533c.html

Minorities in print newsrooms (2004 & 2005):
http://www.asne.org/index.cfm?ID=5648
http://www.asne.org/index.cfm?ID=6264

Some definitions from last week:
Schema theory says that humans use “organized knowledge … abstracted from prior experiences” to process new info and to retrieve stored info (Graber, 1988).

Stereotyping fits with schema theory. Walter Lippmann in Public Opinion (1922) Walter Lippmann (1922) coined the term, which literally means “solid model.” He wrote that “the real environment is altogether too big, too complex, too fleeting for direct acquaintance. We are not equipped to deal with so much subtlety, so much variety, so many permutations & combinations.” However, stereotypes also are one dimensional, perjorative, and powerful identifiers that may seep into our schema.

Zingrone and “simplex,” as in mass media can only produce simplex--this also fits with schema and stereotyping, since our world is complex, but mass media can produce only simple ideas.

Agenda-setting theory: Long-held theory which states that media don’t tell people what to think, but rather, tell people what to think about.

Uses and gratification theory: Newer theory which states that media are best understood from viewpoint of audience, rather than from power of media or communicator. It asks "What do people do with media?" In this theory, audience is active, and media compete with other sources of need satisfaction.

Gerbner and other researchers believe that heavy exposure to cultural products (media) affect a person’s concept of reality (p. 108 in textbook). Social learning theory (Bandura) says that people model behavior that they see in others or from television/film (pp. 127 and 136 in textbook).

A helpful guiding philosophy for our class might be Anthony Appiah's "cosmopolitanism," which means not crude worldliness or colonialism. It's an informed cultural understanding, not just a traveler’s fleeting and shallow perspective. He works to find a way for cultures to agree on conversation and respect, when they can’t agree on values or truth; and he believes that “everybody matters.” Might also be a good method for journalists, who should resist stereotypes for something more substantive.