Minorities and Communication 2019 Abstracts
Faculty Research Competition
Doesn’t Beto Look Hispanic? Perceived Co-ethnicity and Voting in the 2018 Texas Senate Election • Oluseyi Adegbola; Sherice Gearhart, Texas Tech University • Existing research has shown that Hispanic voters are likely to support Democratic candidates as well as candidates with matching ethnicity. However, voters’ decisions are influenced by a host of other factors including, but not limited to, political advertising, agreement with candidates’ issue positions, and candidate evaluations. The current study examines how these factors collectively guide Hispanic voters using survey data (N = 424) collected during the 2018 Texas senate election featuring Anglo Democrat, Beto O’Rourke, and Hispanic Republican, Ted Cruz. Results suggest that different pathways led to support for Cruz and O’Rourke. Hispanics exposed to advertising supporting Cruz also perceived him to be Hispanic, leading to shared issue positions and support for him. Hispanics exposed to advertising supporting O’Rourke were more likely to share his issue positions, leading to positive evaluations and electoral support for the congressman. Implications for future research on Hispanic voting are discussed.
What do scientists look like? Race, Gender, and Occupation in Children’s STEM-Focused Educational Television • Fashina Alade, Michigan State University • This content analysis draws attention to race and gender representation amongst the characters in STEM-focused children’s television programs. Across 90 episodes, 1,086 unique speaking characters were coded on their demographics, physical attributes, centrality to the plot, and modeling of STEM behaviors and occupations. Findings align closely with prior character-focused content analyses, with female and minority characters being underrepresented compared to U.S. population statistics, but also present some areas in which the industry may be improving.
Perpetual foreigners: negotiating the framing of Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans via Twitter after Hurricane Maria • Maria DeMoya, DePaul University; Vanessa Bravo, Elon University • In September of 2017, Puerto Rico was hit with Hurricane Maria, one of the costliest and deadliest storms in U.S. history. Its effects on the island’s infrastructure and socioeconomic situation are still felt more than a year later. The media attention that this crisis brought resulted in coverage not only about the hurricane but also about the island and its people, bringing renewed attention to the territory status of Puerto Rico and the different type of citizenship held by its residents. As with any modern natural disaster, people relied on traditional and digital media to obtain need-to-know information and make sense of the situation. In this process, Twitter users articulated a place for Puerto Ricans in the American imaginary. Through a critically-informed content analysis of Twitter conversations, this study explores the question of the treatment of Puerto Rico and its people, and how this treatment was shaped by Twitter discussions.
YouTube’s content influence on college-aged Black women’s decision to transition to natural hair • Cameron Jackson; Vanessa Bravo, Elon University • Not knowing how to care for their natural hair and not wanting to be judged by older generations, young Black women are turning to YouTube to gain information and support for their decision to go natural, and to become part of a larger online community. To understand their motivations, this study analyzed the narratives of 17 Black, college-aged women, from five universities(two private liberal arts universities, two large state universities and two historically Black universities), about their experiences of going natural and the role YouTube played in their journey. The different meanings of transitioning to wearing natural hair and the role that YouTube played in the process of making that decision, according to the participants’ narratives, are discussed in the study. Findings suggest that YouTube videos about natural hair have helped these women to overcome challenges encountered during their natural hair journeys, such as facing societal judgment and going against familial norms. However, the participants also revealed concerns surrounding the accuracy of YouTube depictions in regard to colorism, hair textures and branded content. Implications of how YouTube has influenced these Black women’s sense of identity and how it has given them a shared online community are discussed.
JMC Deans of Color Lead with a Purpose: A Qualitative Study • Keonte Coleman, Middle Tennessee State University School of Journalism and Strategic Media • This qualitative study contextualized the leadership experiences of journalism and mass communication (JMC) deans who self-identified as persons of color. These deans expressed bringing a higher purpose to leading their programs while anonymously participating in a virtual focus group. This study aims to elucidate the benefits of increasing the diversity of JMC leadership and to illuminate the need to improve the working environment to help recruit future JMC leaders of color.
Expanding the Theory of Planned behavior: Implications for Media Use, Race/Ethnicity, and Pro-Environmental Intentions • Troy Elias; Jay Hmielowski, Washington State University • Using a purposive sample of 302 Latinos, 305 African Americans, 310 non-Hispanic Whites, and 299 Asian Americans, we examine the relationship between media (e.g., liberal, conservative, and non-partisan) and pro-environmental intentions. Existing studies show the impact media’s ideological perspectives have on shaping orientations. We propose a mediated moderated model examining whether the conditional indirect relationship of various media outlets on behavioral intentions through key components of the Theory of Planned Behavior varies by race.
“I am Enough”: (Re)Constructions of Gendered and Racialized Subjectivities in Crazy Rich Asians • Marianne Fritz, California State University, Los Angeles • As the first film in 25 years to feature an all-Asian cast, Crazy Rich Asians has generated a lot of interest among profession film critics and, more importantly, film spectators. The present paper considers the film’s counter-hegemonic depictions of Asian Americans. In addition, I examine the film’s depiction of gender roles within heterosexual romantic relationships, and the way it normalizes Asian-Asian pairings, while at the same time sexualizing the image of the Asian male.
Latina Millennials in a Post-TV Network World: ‘Anti-stereotypes’ in the Web-TV Series East Los High • Celeste Gonzalez de Bustamante, University of Arizona; Jessica Retis, Cal State University – Northridge • This paper analyzes the emergence of ‘anti-stereotypes,’ and attempts to locate Latina millennial latinidad in East Los High, by paying specific attention to the topic of teen pregnancy. In addition, we aim to identify attempts to create collective action through scale shifting strategies (Livingston and Asmolov, 2010; Author 2014). The chapter interrogates how Latinas are being represented and representing themselves in a historically political and transformative mediatic era, and what might be the prospects for social change. In addition, the chapter examines the potential for collective action among producers and actors of East Los High through the process of “scale-shifting”. In Tarrow’s (2005) definition, scale-shifting involves ‘‘a change in the number and level of coordinated contentious actions to a different focal point, involving a new range of actors, different objectives, and broadened claims. It can also generate a change in the meaning and scope of the object of the claim’’ (p. 121).” While, Tarrow, Livingston and Asmolov were concerned with the potential for activists to side-step bona-fide political actors and structures in nation-states, we focus our attention on the structural issues involving the entertainment industry, and the ability of Latina/o producers and actors to circumvent traditional power structures to contribute to collective-action to effect social change. They argue that “the growth of networked non-state actors and scale shifting sometimes bypasses both states and traditional news organizations” (Livingston and Asmolov, 2010, p. 751). We ask in this post TV-network era, whether approaches involving transmedia and edutainment (using entertainment outlets and content to entertain and educate) strategies (Ramasubramarian, 2016; Wang & Singhal, 2016), and/or the use of social media by entertainment actors as activists may contribute to create a sense of collective action. We suggest that there is room and need for more programming similar to ELH that incorporates the dual functions of entertaining Latina youth and education about relevant social issues.
News media apologies for racism • Robin Hoecker, DePaul University • Should news organizations apologize for racist coverage? What should such an apology look like? This study looks at three case studies of publications that apologized publicly for their contributions to slavery, racism and racially motivated violence: The Hartford Courant in 2000, National Geographic in 2018, and the Montgomery Advertiser in 2018. It reviews the elements of an effective apology and then evaluates each publication’s statement on those parameters. It compares and contrasts these efforts and discusses potential best practices for publications considering apologies in the future.
Factors Influencing the Effectiveness of Patriotic Advertising to Ethnic Minorities • Gawon Kim; Jun Heo, Louisiana State University • This research revisits the identity complexity, identification, and distinctiveness theories to understand how ethnic minorities in the U.S. respond to patriotism-themed advertising. The significance of acculturation was emphasized in evaluating patriotic ads, beyond the ethnicity itself. Online experiment revealed that Americans, regardless ethnic backgrounds, preferred patriotic advertising, and the preference improved with an ethnicity-matching appeal. The authors argue acculturation of new generations among ethnic minorities reduces the gap between ethnically dominant group and minority groups.
She’s not one of ours: Social identity, black sheep effects and transgressive female athletes • Lance Kinney, University of Alabama; Dylan Teal; Amanda Flamerich • She’s not one of ours: Social identity, black sheep effects and transgressive female athletes. This research reports the results of a 2 (female athlete race: Black or White) x 2 (female athlete appearance: threatening or non-threatening) experiment. Participants read a simulated media report and recommended punishment for an athlete accused of using performance-enhancing drugs. Participants with high levels of personal racial identity recommended significantly harsher punishments to athletes of other races. Sex effects were observed for White female participants and Black male participants.
Learning to be More or Less Prejudiced? How News Media Moderate the Effects of Ideologies and Partisanship on Attitudes toward Migrants • Tien-Tsung Lee, University of Kansas; Yuki Fujioka, Georgia State • Using a large national survey, this study investigated the predictors of Americans’ attitudes toward migrants. Younger, better educated, non-White, liberal, and Democrat-leaning individuals are more supportive of migrants. Political partisanship mediates the relationship between ideology and attitudes toward migrants. The number of television news programs watched, and the number of radio news and talk shows consumed, have a moderation effect on the connection between the support for migrants and one’s ideology as well as partisanship.
Does Professor’s Gender or Ethnicity Matter to College Students? A Case of Prejudice in Higher Education • Moon Lee, University of Florida; Povedano Shiselle • This study investigated how college students rated professors’ qualifications and their intention to take a course based on a professor’s race and gender after reviewing an identical syllabus of a communication course. The purpose was to investigate whether a professor’s ethnicity/gender influences college students’ perceptions of the professor and their evaluations of the class. Five hundred twenty-seven undergraduate students participated in this post-test only group experiment. We found an interaction effect between a professor’s gender and ethnicity on a student’s perception of the professor’ qualifications, likability, and student’s intent to enroll in a class.
Latino Trust in Journalists and the 2016 U.S. General Election: An Analysis of Voter Responses • Maria Len-Rios, The University of Georgia; Patricia Moy, University of Washington; Ivanka Pjesivac, The University of Georgia • This paper reports qualitative and quantitative data from a national online panel survey of Latinos (N=720) after the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Participants reported in their closed-ended responses a level of distrust toward the news organizations that largely parallels national figures. In open-ended responses, Latinos cited cable news journalists most as trusted journalists, with additional differences by partisanship and whether individuals were U.S. or foreign born. Implications for political news consumption and identity are discussed.
Muhammad Ali in New York, 1967-1970: The Media and an Exiled Boxer Fight the Establishment • Raymond McCaffrey, University of Arkansas • This historical study explores the relationship between Muhammad Ali and the New York media from April 1967 to October 1970, when the boxing champion was exiled from fighting after refusing military induction. The study examines Ali’s relationship with powerful media personalities who stood by him when many journalists refused to even use his Muslim name. This examination reveals Ali’s skill and daring as he publicized his fight against the U.S. government and the boxing establishment.
The Supreme Court’s Plessy and Brown decisions, democratic rights, and journalism ethics in the battle over segregation in the South, 1960-1964 • Ali Mohamed, UAE University • We examine the role of the Southern press in the “massive resistance” to the High Court’s Brown v. Board of Education ruling of 1954 to integrate schools, and the extent to which newspaper editorial arguments relied on legal and social rationales for segregation from the High Court’s earlier Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896. Plessy’s three rationales for institutionalizing segregation — the “separate but equal” doctrine, state’s rights, and a tiered system of “social rights”, were widely adopted by the press. However, newspapers took the “equal” part of Plessy’s “separate but equal” doctrine much more seriously than did elected officials in the South. A content analysis of the Birmingham News from 1960 to 1964 found support for Thornton’s (2002) thesis that post-Brown electoral politics in Alabama produced staunch segregationist officials whose relations with the press became highly adversarial. While the News supported segregation and states’ rights, after George Wallace was elected governor in 1962, the paper opposed his policies and the editorial page became a platform focused more on advocacy of greater equality, voting rights, and the rule of law.”
Advertised Stereotypical and Masculine Images of Black and White Men: Where Are We Now? • ADRIENNE MULDROW, East Carolina University • To assess the portrayal of hegemonic masculinity from Black and White males in magazine advertising, an in-depth content analysis of advertised imagery appearing in two representative genres of two mainstream, male-directed magazines—men’s lifestyle magazines and sports magazines from 2015 to 2017–was completed. Drawing upon Mahalik and colleagues’ (2003) conformity to masculinity inventory and using social identity theory and cultivation theory, the primary aim of the study was to compare stereotypical images of Black men and stereotypical images of White to determine the frequency of these images and if there is a significant difference in these images by race. Overall results from 2,135 images from 72 magazines indicate that the image of Black men in contemporary magazines is improving and most images, favorable or unfavorable, are comparable to those of White men. Images of Black men were shown in equivalent percentages as White men with regard to primary roles, professional roles violent imagery, and with the most desirable body type. The study relates current findings to prior findings of stereotypical images to determine how advertisers in these magazine genres are choosing to display images of Black and White men and with what possible effects.
Thinking Black: an Analysis of the Impact of Black Racial Identity on the Discourse and Work Routines of Cable Media Practitioners • Gheni Platenburg, University of Montevallo • Black journalists working in the mainstream press face an “identity crisis: Am I Black first and a reporter second? Or do I owe my primary allegiance to the newspaper (or other media)?” The researcher explores this concept through semi-structured interviews with black, news practitioners from FNC, MSNBC and CNN. Findings revealed race further impacted black media practitioners’ discourse through employer-mandated limitations, on-air interactions with colleagues, considerations of audience reactions and more.
Preparing for the worst: Lessons for news media after Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico • Bruno Takahashi, Michigan State University; Qucheng Zhang, Michigan State University; Manuel Chavez, Michigan State University School of Journalism • Hurricane Maria was the most devastating hurricane in Puerto Rico in the last 90 years. The entire communication system collapsed, including cellular networks and telephone system. Media organizations in Puerto Rico, with the exception of one radio station, were unable to transmit much needed information during and immediately after Maria made landfall. The present study examines changes in journalistic practices, organizational readiness and disaster coverage plans, and infrastructure preparedness almost 18 months after the event. This study extends the limited research examining long-term changes to news media preparedness plans in the context of disasters, and expands theoretical understandings of media practices in the context of the hierarchy of influences model. The results suggest that infrastructure damage severely hampered the ability of news organizations to perform their work, but solidarity among media was useful in the immediate aftermath of the disaster. Each media played a differentiated and important role in the aftermath of the disaster based on their resources and organizational structure. The study shows that preparedness plans were inadequate and that changes are slowly been implemented to deal with challenges related to infrastructure, electricity, and technology, but with limited focus on the long-term well-being of media workers. Recommendations to improve communication responses to future natural disasters are presented.
Exploring Psychosocial Comorbidity Messages and Illness Perception: A Focus Group Study With African American Survivors of Prostate Cancer • Sean Upshaw, University of Utah • Prostate cancer remains a health challenge in U.S. health care, especially among African American men, who experience elevated levels of prostate cancer diagnosis compared to other racial/ethnic groups. However, psychosocial comorbidity challenges often affect the perception of illness and engagement with prostate cancer. This qualitative focus group study explored the implications of illness perception (IP) and psychosocial comorbidity messages (PSCM) concerning prostate cancer among 12 African American survivors. Findings suggest that IP that can identify existing mental health barriers associated with prostate cancer as influenced by PSCM in African American survivors. The findings also indicate that PSCM can provide insight into how African American survivors developed an IP framework about prostate cancer through communication.
The Black Digital Syllabus Movement: The Fusion of Academia, Activism and Arts • Sherri Williams, American University • As Black America experienced some of the most profound shifts in politics and entertainment in recent history, from the Ferguson rebellion to the release of Beyonce’s Lemonade, Black academics worked to find ways to help Black people and the nation understand and contextualize these major events and connect them to history. Using social media Black scholars curated lists of texts, films and music that related to the Black American experience of the present and past and shared them on social networks giving birth to the Black digital syllabus movement. The Black digital syllabus movement taps into the amplifying power of Black Twitter and Black digital culture to bridge the gap between pop culture, politics and scholarly work and spread contextualized, curated lists of important Black works. The syllabi analyzed in this study, created between August 2014 and August 2017, are the Ferguson Syllabus, #BlkWomenSyllabus, Charleston Syllabus, Lemonade Syllabus, A Seat at the Table Syllabus and the 4:44 Syllabus. This study uses the historical method in qualitative research to examine the syllabi and the context in which they were created.
Meaning Co-creation and Social Influencers in Race-relevant Crisis: A Social Network Analysis Study of Starbucks’ Crisis in Philadelphia • Ying Xiong, University of Tennessee; Moonhee Cho • The purpose of the research was to explore how meaning co-creation by the publics during the Starbucks’ crisis in Philadelphia and examined who were the social influencers in Starbucks’ Crisis in Philadelphia. The research applied semantic network analysis and social network analysis. Research results found the co-created meanings addressed three issues: Starbucks’ racial training, racial identity, and other celebrities who have received racial critiques. Mainstream media, celebrities, and activists were social influencers in the crisis.
Beyond the Reversal: Imagining New Ethnicities in Self-Representation • Sherry Yu • The under- and mis-representation of minorities in the media comes as no surprise. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s sitcom, Kim’s Convenience, is an interesting case study in this regard, as it is not only about representation of a minority group, but also about self-representation by a minority. A Critical Discourse Analysis of Kim’s Convenience explores ethnicity at the intersection of various social characteristics, and suggests the potential to imagine Stuart Hall’s new ethnicities.
Student Paper
Politicking While Black: News and Social Media Representations of Three Black Female Political Candidates Running for the House of Representatives in the 2018 Midterm Election • Zeina Cabrera-Peterson • African American women have been the leading force in political campaigns long before they had the right to vote and hold office. Today, roughly 5% of African American woman hold political positions (CAWP, 2018). However, despite their political participation, there are few studies that examine representation of Black female political candidates in news media. This study employed a content analysis of news reports and three Black female candidates’ Twitter campaign accounts to examine how news media represented these three, first-time candidates and to analyze how these candidates represented themselves on Twitter. Based on the overall analysis of a census of newspaper articles and Twitter candidate accounts, the study found that race and gender was not a leading area of news coverage or self-representation in tweets. The research found that these candidates were mostly identified by their former occupations and were not questioned because of who they are, but because of what they do. These findings are significant because it challenges and reshapes gender and race identities.
Puerto Rican college students’ experience with Post-hurricane María media environment • Laura Canuelas-Torres; Naiya Brooks • Utilizing a Digital Diaspora framework, researchers explore the experiences of Puerto Rican college students during and after Hurricane Maria. We conducted and analyzed 13 interviews, examining media use, the impact of communication interruption, and opinions on media coverage. Results show that students used both mainstream and social media to learn about the hurricane’s impact and reported feeling uncertainty, anxiety, and anger related to the inability to reach family, and the American government’s response.
“Zero-Tolerance” Transnational Motherhood: Images of Mothers and Children at the U.S.-Mexico Border • Ana R Good • It all began during a law enforcement event in Scottsdale, Arizona, when then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced a new, “zero-tolerance” policy in the handling of illegal border crossings. Though at the time, Session’s announcement did not generate much buzz, the United States was soon faced with an onslaught of gut-wrenching images. Using the lens of “transnational motherhood,” this paper will argue that the images taken at the border of the United States employed humanizing effects.
Black bad men or bad niggers: Popular culture and hypermasculinity in Black Greek letter fraternities • Rafael Matos, Indiana University of Pennsylvania • Black Greek Letter Fraternities are influenced by popular culture to maintain hyper masculine beahviors. The study will explore the impact popular culture has on the way NPHC fraternity members reinforce constructs that encourage hyper-masculinity through new member presentations.
Buying Blackness: Black Audience Decoding of Nike Advertisements • Diamond Stacker • This study reviews representations of Blackness in media, specifically in sports media, to uncover the harmful, yet subtle stereotypes in sports advertising. Applying Hall’s (2001) encoding/decoding theory to analyze the impact of selling Blackness, the research used focus groups to examine how Black, college-young adult audiences engage with and identify racial constructions in Nike advertisements, and thus, how that influences their views on Nike as a brand.
Adapting to Change: Rethinking Advocacy in the 21st Century Black Press • Miya Williams Fayne • The black press is often conceptualized as an advocacy press but in the current digital environment this definition is malleable. Black press websites that primarily produce entertainment news create ambiguity about advocacy as a requirement. Informed by interviews with journalists and focus groups with readers this research finds that advocacy in the black press is fraught as entertainment advances it, by providing increased representation of African Americans, and threatens it, by decreasing hard news content.
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