Integrating Race and Gender Issues Into the Basic Media Writing Course

Standard media writing courses rarely address race and gender issues, although research in our field illuminates the manifold ramifications on audiences of ploffing and characterization. Feminist scholars, for example, have decried the skewed depictions of violence against women that leave the public woefully uninformed. The author describes a writing assignment designed to improve such portrayals through a public service campaign targeting African-American teenagers and suggests strategies for addressing such freighted topics as race and rape.