Race, gender and media: A methods approach: September 2008

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

We'll be turning our discussion to other media beyond news media, starting with this week. We will continue, however, talking about news media as coverage arises that fits our course interests.

Define these terms, to help you study for your vocabulary test on Thursday, Oct. 9:

What is the difference between ethnicity and race?

The brown sugar stereotype in advertising (chapter 17)

The lotus blossom stereotype in advertising (chapter 17)

What is a model minority? Why do some Asian-Americans, for instance, say that being a model minority can be a negative experience?

What is media literacy or critical media consumption?

What is a case study?

What is content analysis?

What is interreality comparison and why is it important?

What is a good definition of stereotyping? Be able to give some examples from the news media.

Why are we interested in schema, especially role schema?

Schema theory says that humans use “organized knowledge … abstracted from prior experiences” to process new info and to retrieve stored info (Graber, 1988). Role schema means that sometimes, people (such as journalists) have expectations about who should serve in certain roles. This can be problematic, such as when a reporter decides to call a source for a story, and that reporter always calls a man (or a woman, or a white person, or a person of color), depending on what sort of professional job that source has.

Stereotyping fits with schema theory. Walter Lippmann in Public Opinion (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).

Dear Dr. Lambiase (or an advice column for your miniprojects)

QUESTION
Dear Dr. Lambiase,

So for my mini-study I have gathered 15 magazines to see how the pictures of the people of the covers differ. From families and their newborns, to stars that are "too thin for tv", and even magazines focus on fashion and new trends. My question is over a term you used in class. We were talking about the different shots like head shot with just the face, then body shots which I'm guess is from head to mid thigh and then full body. Is this the right terminology?

Thanks and see you tomorrow,
A student from JOUR 4250

ANSWER
Yes, wonderful student, you have it just right. Some people call this "facism," in terms of a fascination with women's bodies/men's faces. Here's what you are going for: does this publication show a kind of "real world" that is diverse and full of different kinds of people? Or does this publication show a world that has been narrowed down by its producers? It sounds like your publication has been narrowed to celebrities or a different subset of the "beautiful people." And are these beautiful people diverse, or just one type?

Your quantitative part of this mini study will show us whether there's equal representation between women/men and other groups. But the qualitative study might go something like this: there are equal numbers of men and women, but all of them are extremely thin or some other characteristic. It's a kind of news as dreamworld--advertising used to be the main kind of dreamworld in media, but now those "perfect lifestyle" depictions are everywhere. Some scholars would call this a kind of visual annihilation, where some types of people are never depicted.

Hope this helps a bit. Let me know if you have other questions.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

For next third of semester

A link for the next third of the fall semester, from Ad Age, about GLBT issues:

http://adage.com/article?article_id=131168

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Latinos and mass communication

Check out the National Association of Hispanic Journalists link, for its discussion of these terms: illegals, illegal aliens, undocumented workers, undocumented immigrants.

http://www.nahj.org

Here's a link to a Fort Worth Business Press story about marketing to Latinos, and the complexities of that task:
http://www.fwbusinesspress.com/display.php?id=8386

We'll talk more about this in the second third of the semester.

Crime, race and content analysis

Here are two studies that refer to crime reporting in Philadelphia and other large cities; both include reference to KVUE in Austin and that station's attempt in the 1990s to curb crime reporting, which tends to distort and exaggerate criminal activity and to extend stereotypes of blacks as criminals, whites and victims.

www.localtvnews.org/papers/CrimeCommLocalTVNews.pdf

http://www.justicejournalism.org/pdfs/SceneOfTheCrime.pdf

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Internship ops for journalism students

College journalism students are invited to apply for the 2009 Scripps Howard Foundation Semester in Washington Program.

Six interns, including one international student, work as reporters for the Scripps Howard Foundation Wire in our downtown Washington bureau. We pay a stipend and provide free housing in furnished apartments in Northwest Washington near the National Zoo.

Interns’ stories are published on our Web-based wire: www.shfwire.com. Some of their stories may go to the Scripps Howard News Service’s 400 client newspapers. Interns may write for hometown or campus newspapers and earn internship or independent study credits through their universities. We tour Washington journalism and government institutions, bring in guest speakers and meet weekly to discuss issues in journalism.

The program is open to college juniors and seniors who are studying print or online journalism. It is not open to graduates or graduate students. Download the application form at our Web site. I’m also attaching a PDF document about the program that you can forward to faculty and students or post on a bulletin board. Thank you

2009 Program dates and application deadlines

Spring – 15 weeks

Program: Jan. 12 to April 24, a special program that includes the presidential inauguration and the National Journalism Awards dinner

Stipend: $2,450

Application postmark deadline: Nov. 1, 2008

Summer – 10 weeks

Program: June 8 to Aug. 14

Stipend: $1,800

Application postmark deadline: Nov. 1, 2008

Fall – 14 weeks

Program: Sept. 14 to Dec. 18

Stipend: $2,350

Application postmark deadline: March 16, 2009

Friday, September 12, 2008

For next week, Sept. 18

See information about media effects readings, below on Sept. 11 entry--there are links instead of handouts. Be sure to check out the "Girl Like Me" link, in terms of effects, and we'll continue our discussion of race and reporting (and the video we watched in class on Sept. 11). We'll also tackle the Jessica Lynch and Shoshana Johnson case (see links in Sept. 11 entry).

Here's a short example of a ministudy (choice 2):

I examined the "Home" section of the New York Times, Sept. 11, 2008. Although it was a 10-page section, three full pages were advertising. For this analysis, I used both quantitative and qualitative content analysis. First, all stories in the section were coded by byline (whether male or female), sources used (male or female), and subject of stories (whether focused on a man or a woman). Second, all photographs were analyzed and described for a more qualitative measure. Another qualitative measure was attempted by scanning all stories for descriptions of people. These descriptions were analyzed and compared, to determine how gender and race may have played a role in these descriptions.

In terms of the quantitative measure, 5 stories were written by men, and 6 were written by women. Sources in these stories were evenly divided between men and women, with .....

OK, this should help you get started on your own ministudy--let me know your questions.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Grab yer hats, dudes ...

We'll start talking about accents and regional stereotypes tonight, especially as they pertain to news coverage of candidates. Here's something to start our thinking on this topic:

http://blip.tv/file/990887/

Thursday, September 4, 2008

When should sexuality be mentioned in news coverage?

An article from the NYTimes about a fashion designer:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/31/magazine/31pilati-t.html

Coverage of lesbians, gays & transgendered people

For tonight's discussion, a stylebook supplement for news coverage:

http://www.nlgja.org/resources/stylebook.html

and an article from People:

http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20129572,00.html

Race, gender and media: A methods approach

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Links to your blogs

The test