Minorities and Communication 2001 Abstracts
Minorities and Communication Division
Factors Constraining Encoding of African-American Life in the News: Mainstream Media Representations of African-American Life as Manifestation of Interethnic or Interacial Communication Behavior • Linus Abraham, Iowa State University • Adopting a critical structural approach, the paper moves the discussion of racial representation beyond manifest content to include contextual factors that empower it. It explores mainstream white-media’s representations of Blacks as a form of inter-ethnic communication behavior, and in the process provides a theoretical foundation for understanding the persistence of predominantly negative representations. In doing so, it also provides a theoretical mechanism for systematically analyzing the media representations, and makes it possible to conduct systematic longitudinal studies of representations of Blacks.
Differences in Media Buying by Online Businesses in Black- and White-Targeted Magazines: The Potential Impact of the Digital Divide on Ad Placement • Osei Appiah and Matthew Wagner, Iowa State University • This study examined differences in ad placement by online companies based on whether the publication targets the general market or the black population. Seventy-two magazines from three different categories were analyzed to ascertain the number of online company ads in each magazine. It was predicted that online businesses would place more ads in general market magazines than they would in magazines targeted to black audiences. The findings clearly support the overall hypothesis. The impact of the digital divide on ad placement is discussed.
The Uses and Gratifications of the Internet among African American College Students • Mahmoud A.M. Braima, Southern University and A&M College • This study developed and empirically tested a model of the uses and gratifications of the Internet among African American college students. The study used structural equations to simultaneously test three gratification needs. Data from a survey of 404 African American college students in East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana provided support for the hypothesis that surveillance, entertainment and personal utility are significant gratification dimensions among African American college student users of the Internet.
Time, Media and Acculturation: The Experience of a Southern California Vietnamese American Community • Jeff Brody, Tony Rimmer and Edgar P. Trotter, California State-Fullerton • This study of recent immigrants – the Vietnamese American community in Southern California – examines how media use, namely the decision to read English-language and/or Vietnamese-language newspapers, might play a part in measuring acculturation. Further, the study explores how age at arrival and time in the United States might affect media use and acculturation. Immigrant groups have typically been studied in terms of the differences of assimilation among generations (first, second, third). Vietnamese Americans have lived in this country for at most 25 years, which is about the equivalent of one generation. A problem for this study, then, is whether the assimilation process can be detected within one generation. The analysis draws on data from a 1999 telephone survey in the Orange County, California, Vietnamese American community. The study’s findings indicate that assimilation differences among first generation immigrants – including newspaper language selection – can be delineated by age at arrival, length of residence in the United States, and the proportion of life spent in the United States.
Not like Me: How Minority Youth Distance Themselves From Risk • John R. Chapin, Penn State University • The third-person perceptions hypothesis posits that people believe others are more influenced by media messages than they are. The existing literature consistently documents that individuals make self vs. other distinctions when assessing media effects, but not how such distinctions are made. The current study sought to document the self/other distinction in third-person perception and to assess differences in how minority youth separate their own personal risk from that of others.
Translating ownership into action: A comparison of owner involvement and values at minority- and non-minority-owned broadcast stations • Stephanie Craft, University of Missouri • Research demonstrating that minority ownership of broadcast stations and programming diversity are linked also includes the counter-intuitive finding that owner involvement in station activities is not related to that link. This paper examines two ways owners may affect programming: through staff perceptions of shared values with the owner and through hiring. Results of a survey of minority- and non-minority-owned stations suggest that owner involvement is a significant predictor of perceived similarity, but not hiring.
Effects of Advertising Messages for Breast Cancer on African-American Women 5 Attitudes Toward Early Prevention • Cynthia M. Frisby, University of Missouri-Columbia • The present research examines and analyzes how African American women think and feel about specific communication strategies concerning breast cancer. Using a 2 x 2 experiment, advertising appeal and involvement, results indicated an interaction between involvement and appeal used in the ad. Ads using endorsers and survivors were found to be most effective in changing attitude toward breast cancer prevention for black women who expressed little interest in breast cancer prevention and early detection.
African Americans in the Brownsville (TN) States-Graphic: The Invisible Majority • Cynthia A. Bond Hopson, University of Memphis • During l960-l961, in Haywood County, Tennessee, African Americans got married, worked hard, took care of their children and did many of the same things that Whites did, however, most of their activities were never reported in the Brownsville States-Graphic, the local weekly newspaper. When there was news about African Americans, it was usually about crimes or catastrophe. This content analysis examined news items about African Americans in this small rural newspaper.
WELCOMING A VISITING IN-LAW: RACIAL SOLIDARITY AND PRESIDENT CLINTON’S IMAGE IN THE NIGERIAN PRESS • Minabere Ibelema, University of Alabama-Birmingham • This paper examines President Clinton’s image in the Nigerian press and relates it to the political philosophy of Pan-Africanism. The study draws especially from Nigerian press coverage of President Clinton’s visit to Nigeria in August 2000. The study employs the metaphor of the extended African family to illuminate the dynamics of the visit. The paper concludes that President Clinton’s positive image in the Nigerian press derived from the perception that Clinton was a friend of African Americans.
Racial Stereotyping and Mass Mediated Contact: A Comparative Analysis of African, Anglo, Asian and Latino Americans • Carol M. Liebler, Syracuse University and Richard D. Waters, University of Georgia • This study examines in-group bias, and the extremity-complexity and contact hypotheses in relation to media exposure, and crime and success stereotyping. A cross-sectional survey of African, Anglo, Asian and Latino Americans (n=491) illustrated that not only did stereotyping vary by group, but that interpersonal and mediated communication are both important factors to consider when conceptualizing and operationalizing contact, as is the type of media contact.
When Identities Collide: The African American struggle with dominant culture ideology during World War I and II • Earnest L. Perry, Texas Christian University • In the years leading up to America’s involvement in the war, African Americans had been denied jobs in the defense industry, turned away while attempting to volunteer for military service and when accepted forced to train at camps in the segregated South. During the war they could serve in support service units, such as construction, mechanical and mess duty. However, they were expected to remain loyal to American democracy. This study looks at the conflict between the role the dominant culture wanted African Americans to play during World War I and II, and the resentment it caused. During both wars, the African American press helped the community renegotiate its position within American society, reject the negative aspects of the dominant culture and re-establish relationships with those who supported democracy based on equality for all. This study, using double-consciousness as a theoretical approach and the narrative of African American hesitancy to support the dominant culture during two world wars, attempts to fill the gaps in this neglected area of historical study.
Student Research Papers
Commercials and Race: A Comparative Study of Blacks in Prime Time Advertising in Denmark and the United States • Tiffany Nicole Avery, Elon College. • While scholars in our country have investigated and discussed the impact of American racial stereotyping in the media, little is known about racial stereotyping in other countries. This comparative study examines prime-time television advertising in the United States and Denmark; and the presence of stereotyped images of people with dark skin. Comparing data collected during a study by Entman & Book (2000) with a similar assessment in Denmark, each advertisement was coded and examined.
Between Silence and Condemnation: A Discourse Analysis of Booker T. Washington’s Editorials and Private Writings on Lynching • Wanda Goins Brockington, Howard University • This paper examines the implications and motivation behind the rhetoric of Booker T. Washington and his public and private stance on lynching. Positioned as he was as a chosen leader, he became, in effect, a buffer between the injustices perpetrated against his people and the oppressors themselves. Understanding what is left unsaid is sometimes more revealing than what is actually said. Through the application of critical discourse analysis and employing the framework of strategic silence and cultural studies, the study found there was a marked difference in the public and private rhetoric Booker T. Washington used to discuss lynching.
The Relationship Between Television Exposure and Body Satisfaction Among Black College Women • Rockell A. Brown, Wayne State University • One image that the media exploit with great success is what constitutes beauty or attractiveness in women. By focusing on the relationship of Black women to this phenomenon, the study explores the extent of the relationship that exists between the amount of television exposure and body image among Black college females. Additionally, this investigation attempts to determine to what extent subjects are satisfied with their individual physical appearances, as well as whether subjects perceive Black female television personalities as exemplifying an idealized body image/type, and whether or not Black college students assess their physical appearance in terms of females that appear on television. The framework and research questions for this investigation are based on the social learning and social comparison theory. The design of the study involves survey research with participants being female students at a predominantly African American university.
Hispanic and Asian Presence and Portrayal in Minority Magazine Advertising From 1960s to 1980s • Hwi-Man Chung, North Carolina • This study first attempted to see how other minorities appeared and were portrayed in minority magazine ads, with an emphasis on black-oriented magazines. Previous historical observations and empirical studies about minorities in mass media have found that minorities in ads were less represented and were usually portrayed as less skilled than white models. This study also confirms the results of previous studies. From the 1960s to the 1980s, the frequency of black models in black-oriented magazine ads outnumbered the frequency of white models in main stream magazine ads. However, the blacks were still portrayed stereotypically in terms of occupations. That is, black models are most likely to portrayed as –entertainment-or Ôsports/athletic- figures in the ads. Furthermore, African Americans are usually targeted for alcohol and cigarette products. In terms of other minorities, Hispanics and Asians, both ethnic groups were less represented in black-oriented magazine ads. They were most often used in military recruiting ads and they were never portrayed as consumers in the ads. Instead, they were most often portrayed as below-skilled personnel in the ads, and usually depicted in service positions. Even though the government tried to include minorities in its ads, their occupations are highly skewed to certain types of categories such as mechanic, driver, or maintenance worker.
Terror Masked in Silence: Black Press Coverage of the Reconstruction-Era Ku Klux Klan • Mike Conway, University of Texas at Austin • The 1800-era Black press didnÕt back away from the most volatile issues of the time including slavery, emigration and lynching. But on the subject of the Ku Klux Klan, the editors were mostly silent. This paper strips away the years of revisionist history and looks at African-American owned newspapers’coverage of the original Klan. The paper explores the reasons why the Black press stayed away from coverage of the terrorist group and rarely mentioned it by name.
The Production of Latino As a Social Imaginary in La Raza (1972-1979) • Mirerza Gonazales-Velez • This paper presents the preliminary findings of a case study on La Raza newspaper (1973-1979). Newspapers, as archives of meanings, serve for the mediation, diffusion and re-articulation of discourses that enable people to familiarize with a community unlike their own. This is possible through the emergence of a “social imaginary,” a taken-for-granted truth that gives unity and order to people’s lives and facilitates the continuity of a collective that in Latino’s case is fragmented.
The Effects of Hispanic Model Ethnicity on White Viewers: An Exploratory Study • W. Buzz Hoon, Southern Illinois University-Carbondale • The purpose of this research was to explore the influences of models’ race on white viewers’ attitudes and purchase intentions. Previous research has offered mixed results in white subjects’ evaluations of ads with black models. This experiment manipulated Hispanic and white models in advertisements. Participants evaluated attitude toward the model, attitude toward the ad and purchase intention. Results indicate the use of Hispanics as advertising stimuli is relatively positive for white respondents.
Reaching Multicultural News Coverage Through Neutrality: An Examination of Newspaper Editorial Content on the Elian Gonzalez Custody Case in Hispanic and Non-Hispanic Communities • W. Buzz Hoon and Andy Lynch, Southern Illinois University-Carbondale • The purpose of this research was to examine editorial content on the custody case of Elian Gonzalez in newspapers located in Hispanic and non-Hispanic U. S. communities. Researchers analyzed the positions of 165 editorials on the case. Editorials in non-Hispanic communities’ newspapers were more often in favor of returning Gonzalez to Cuba (68%), while Hispanic newspapers were more neutral (43%). The data suggest that Hispanic newspapers did not present partisan content on the case.
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