The Portrayal of Race and Crime on Television Network News

A content analysis of television network news was conducted to assess the portrayal of race and criminal behavior. Findings revealed that Whites were more likely than African Americans to appear as perpetrators, victims, and officers. Both African Americans and Whites were more likely to appear as perpetrators than as victims and officers. African American and White law-breakers were represented in a way consistent with their perpetration rates. However, Whites were overrepresented while African Americans were underrepresented as victims of violent crime. Furthermore, Whites were over represented and African Americans were under-represented as police officers. The implications of these findings are discussed.     

Communication competence problematics in ethnic friendships

This study examines the relationship between ethnic background and emergent cultural competencies in friendships in the United States. A discursive, interpretive perspective served to delineate normative dimensions in competent intra‐and intercultural friendships involving Latinos, Asian Americans, African Americans, and Anglo Americans. Competence was approached as a problematic set of predicaments in which interlocutors co‐construct identities and coordinate action. Similarities and differences in competencies were pinpointed through identification of norms—appropriate conduct for ethnic identity, gender, and relationship—as well as outcomes‐the resulting feelings about self, other, the topic, and the friendship. The competencies identified in this study are consistent with core symbols identified in the discourse of friends in previous studies, in that Latinos emphasized relational support, Asian Americans emphasized a caring, positive exchange of ideas, African Americans emphasized respect and acceptance, and Anglo Americans emphasized recognizing the needs of the individual.     

Race and Ethnicity in local Television News: Framing,Story Assignments,and Source Selections

Because local television has become the primary source for news, this study examined race and ethnicity in news stories, story assignments, and source selections. A content analysis of local newscasts found Latinos, Asian Americans, and Native Americans were virtually invisible as anchors, reporters, and subjects in the news. Although African Americans anchored and reported the news in some markets, overall there was segregation in story assignments. Rarely were Latinos, Asian Americans, or Native Americans interviewed as news sources. African Americans were used as news sources more than other racial and ethnic groups when 2 or more people were interviewed.     

A “Model” Minority: Japanese Americans as References and Role Models in Black Newspapers, 2000–2010

The model minority began as an ideology pitting Japanese Americans against African Americans, using the former's economic success to deflect assertions of the persistence of race. In stressing enmity, research on black attitudes toward Asian Americans points to the utility of the myth in segmenting the two communities. The thrust of reporting on Japanese America in thirty seven black newspapers from 2000 to 2010 shows something different. Two frames emerge: Japanese Americans function as a reference group serving to reinforce the historical substance of racial profiling of minorities, and as a role model for developing a strategy for black efforts at reparations.     

Examining Differences in Predictors of African American,Caucasian, and Latino Young Adults’ Intentions to Register as an Organ Donor

To date, African Americans and Latinos consent to organ donation at lower rates than Caucasians and are disproportionately represented on transplant waiting lists. However, limited work has investigated racial differences in predictors of organ donation registration. In this study, we examined racial differences in the antecedents of African American, Caucasian, and Latino young adults’ registration intentions using the theory of planned behavior, the noncognitive model, and perceived realism. Non-donors (N = 307) were recruited in a stratified random telephone survey. Results indicate that for African Americans, subjective norm, bodily integrity, and medical mistrust were the strongest predictors of registration intention. For Caucasians, attitude and subjective norm arose as key determinants of registration intention. For Latinos, attitude, subjective norm, and medical mistrust were the strongest predictors of registration intention. Consistent evidence for the independent predictive validity of perceived realism was also documented. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed, as well as avenues for future research.     

The Impact of Market Segmentation on African American Frequency,Centrality, and Status in Television Advertising

Market segmentation made communication with the advertising audience dependent upon the audience segment. African Americans were the first racial minority group identified as having economic viability as a target market that could be reached through advertising content and placement. A content analysis of 358 prime-time television advertisements for African American and general audiences revealed that African Americans are still playing a subordinate role, even in advertising targeted to them. Market segmentation has increased the breadth, but not necessarily the depth of African American advertising depictions.     

“I thought I’d have more trouble with white people!”: Exploring racial microaggressions between West African immigrants and African Americans

Racial tensions continue in 21st-century United States through the communication of racial microaggressions. We are interested in the communication of racial microaggressions directed towards West African immigrants by people with whom they expected to be allied, African Americans. Sixteen people who identified as West African immigrants were interviewed about communication struggles with African Americans in this qualitative, interpretive analysis. Owen’s thematic analysis was employed to analyze interview data. Results suggest the communicative impact of racial microaggressions on recipients is far-reaching and consequential. Narratives illustrate microaggressive communication occurs daily through invalidating, dismissive lines of questioning as well as targeted name calling and pejorative dialogue.     

Felony Disenfranchisement: An Annotated Bibliography

This selective annotated bibliography is a guide to scholarly articles, books, and websites about felony disenfranchisement and published or updated between 1999 and 2018. Felony disenfranchisement affects more than 6 million Americans and disproportionately impacts African Americans. This annotated bibliography is intended to be used by scholars and practitioners to inform them about the origins and impact of felony disenfranchisement and to aid them in developing arguments against the practice.     

Priming Stereotypical Associations: Violent Video Games and African American Depictions

The following study examines the influence of racial representations in violent video games upon stereotype associations. Participants were assigned to play either a violent video game with a stereotypical African American avatar or a Caucasian avatar. Following game play, participants completed several measures related to aggression and an implicit association task. The results showed significant differences between the conditions for IAT response times. African American participants showed faster response times to stereotype associations of African Americans than participants who played as a Caucasian avatar. The results also showed a significant interaction effect between participant race and avatar race for aggressive affect.     

Network Revenues and African American Broadcast Television Programs

This article explores factors explaining program cast racial composition on television broadcast network programs. The roles of program type, cast composition, and viewer income on advertising revenue are examined. The analysis of the data yields several key findings. First, there is no bias against African Americans on the part of viewers or television networks when adjusting for viewer income and age. Second, African Americans have lower incomes and show a strong intensity of preference for programming featuring African American cast members. Therefore, despite the absence of bias, the advertiser-supported broadcast market likely produces less than the socially optimal amount of African American programming. This article provides policy recommendations to increase viewer benefits.     

Race,whiteness, "lightness," and relevance: African American and European American interpretations of Jump Start and The Boondocks

African American and European American participants were interviewed about two syndicated comic strips written by and featuring African Americans: Jump Start, a comic strip that portrays African Americans in a normative middle-class family narrative and focuses only occasionally on racial issues, and The Boondocks, a comic strip that focuses frequently on racial issues. The African American groups interpreted the comic strips through the terministic screen of race cognizance, through which racial politics and oppression were highly relevant. Almost all of the European American participants, however, interpreted the comic strips through the terministic screen of Whiteness, through which racial politics and oppression were not relevant.     

Audience Research Informs Strategic Planning in Two Art Museums

Abstract This article describes how two art museums have used the results of audience research for institution‐wide planning. Results and outcomes are reported from a visitor audit at the Tate Gallery (now Tate Britain), and from a survey of Black cultural tourists and local African Americans visiting The Art Institute of Chicago. A follow‐up interview five years later with the head of communications at the Tate Gallery highlights how exhibit developers and museum staff used visitor feedback and response to improve visitor care, and ultimately visitor experience. A conference presentation a year after the audience research was conducted at the Art Institute and an exhibition two years following are indications of the extent to which the African American audience research project had an institutional impact. The article concludes with a review of helpful methods and suggestions for other institutions.     

Extending the Digital Divide Conversation: Examining the Knowledge Gap Through Media Expectancies

As long as scholars have studied media, issues of access have been of great concern. Recent advancements in digital technology have framed disparities in access within the digital divide research and knowledge gap frameworks. While early digital divide research looked at access, more recent research has focused on how media are used differently across populations. The current research extends this literature by examining media expectancies across ethnic subgroups for a broad range of media (i.e., local newspapers, national newspapers, network television, cable television, radio, magazines, and Internet). Data indicate expectancies differ among African Americans, Caucasians, and Hispanics.     

Stereotypical Portrayals of Emotionality in News Photos

This research content analyzed the news photographs of a major U.S. daily newspaper to examine the emotional portrayals of individuals in different gender, age, and ethnic subgroups. A multidimensional measure of emotion (pleasure, arousal, dominance) was used. A total of 1,595 individuals were coded. The results demonstrate that emotionality was stereotyped to some degree, particularly in relation to women, ethnic minorities, and senior citizens. Specifically, African Americans were depicted as excited whereas Asian Americans were seen as calm. Women were portrayed as happy and teens were shown as sad. The results support the social construction of emotion and suggest that the news media play a role in framing and constructing emotional meaning with regard to different subgroups in American society.     

Single,double, and triple minorities and the evaluations of persuasive arguments

The study examines the relationship between positional minorities, social minorities (i.e., African‐Americans and women) and the evaluations of persuasive arguments within the context of hypothetical small groups. Specifically, the study predicted that positional majority arguments would be evaluated most positively when identified with social minorities and that positional minority arguments would be evaluated least positively when identified with social minorities. Results demonstrated that when majority arguments were attributed to an African‐American spokesperson, they were evaluated more favorably than when the spokesperson was European‐American. However, spokesperson race did not influence evaluations of minority arguments. Spokesperson gender also did not influence argument evaluations for either position.     

Accessing Ethnic Group Information on CD-ROM:

The reference librarian in academic libraries today is often challenged by the demand from patrons for information on ethnic groups from a variety of disciplines. Questions on the four "mega" ethnic groups (African Americans, Asian Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans) are common. In addition, depending on the community in which the academic library resides, one or more ethnic groups will be emphasized. Automated indexes (particularly CD-ROM and online databases) can greatly facilitate the search for information in ethnic studies. Yet each electronic index has its own unique structure, indexing, and search protocol. The reference librarian should be attuned to the variation in ethnic group terminology and indexing in these and other resouces in order to maximize retrieval of references. To illustrate this point, an example of indexing and usage of terms related to Southeast Asians in four separate CD-ROM databases is presented.     

Does the Music Matter? Examining Differential Effects of Music Genre on Support for Ethnic Groups

Using data from a post-test only experiment with random assignment, this article examines whether differing music genres influence socially relevant decisions made by listeners. A sample of White college students was exposed to1 of 3 music genres during an ostensible waiting period, and was then asked to allocate funding to projects for different ethnic groups. Three music conditions—radical White power rock, mainstream rock, and Top 40 pop music—were examined to determine whether differential allocations to ethnic groups would emerge following music exposure. As expected, Top 40 pop music exposure led to equal allocations to the various ethnic groups. After listening to mainstream rock, participants allocated significantly higher budgets to White Americans compared to all other race groups. After listening to radical White power rock music, participants also allocated significantly higher budgets to White Americans, but changes in allocations to ethnic minority groups also emerged. Namely, African Americans and Arab Americans received particularly low funding from participants exposed to radical White power rock music.     

Revisiting a Polysemic Text: The African American Press's Reception of Gone With the Wind

This article is a historical and discursive analysis of the African American press's reception of the motion picture Gone With the Wind (1939). The African American press represents a specific sphere wherein ambivalence and resistance to the cultural hegemony exhibited in this popular film text may be examined. Coverage of the film by 5 newspapers from December 1939 through May 1940 suggests a process in which discourse changed from watchful indifference to ambivalence toward the film. News and commentary suggest the polysemic readings of the text by African American journalists and filmgoers and the emergence of more complex forms of viewer resistance to Hollywood's cultural hegemony. The Academy Award received by Hattie McDaniel for her performance made the sense of resistance to such hegemony more substantive, while also bringing a new sense of purpose to the audiences' readings of the text. The resistance to this cultural hegemony was cut short, however, when reports of a new production of The Birth of a Nation (1915) were carried by the newspapers. A collective effort by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the African American press, and its readers curtailed the remake of The Birth of a Nation, although it would be years before Hollywood included African Americans in meaningful, multidimensional roles.     

HIV and aids: Toward increased awareness and understanding of prevention and education research using meta‐analysis

This essay is a review of four projects that use meta‐analysis to summarize existing research on four behavioral issues for HIV/AIDS education and prevention. The first project considers the importance of behavioral routines to promote safer sex behavior and the need to consider how the gender of the participant impact on those discussions. The second project examines four issues (disclosure, social support, risk behavior, and childbearing) for those testing positive for HIV. The third project examines the impact that the announcement of Earvin “Magic”; Johnson on behaviors and attitudes of adults and children. The final project examines the difference in knowledge for one subgroup of U.S. society (Hispanics) compared to either White European or African Americans. The summaries of ongoing projects illustrate the importance of meta‐analysis as a means to aggregate existing research.