I thought this would be of interest on multiple levels. 

Ü      A national survey of more than 19,000 adults by Mendelsohn revealed some dramatic differences in how consumers perceive media, based on their ethnic background. Certain brands did well across the board: the Discovery Channel and People took the top spot among every group--except African-Americans. The WeatherChannel.com swept the top ranking in Web site category. Among the findings: Mendelsohn found that BET is the highest-rated cable network among African-Americans, while four of the top five magazines are Ebony, Jet, Essence and O. African-Americans also placed the Lifetime Channel and Lifetime Movie Network in their top 10 cable channels--the only group to do so. However, African-Americans gave high rankings to news channels like FoxNews, CNN and the Weather Channel, and gave the No. 2 cable spot to the Discovery Channel, paralleling other groups to some degree.  Asian-Americans also favor general news and entertainment cable channels, including CNN, Fox News, ESPN, ESPN 2 and the ubiquitous Discovery Channel. But there were some differences in cable viewing: the Food Network and Disney Channel both made the Asian-American top 10--as opposed to other groups. Among print properties, Asian-Americans gave general news titles like USA Today, Time, and Newsweek some of the highest ratings. Finally, among Hispanics, general news cable channels also rank highest--with CNN and Fox News leading the way, and Animal Planet also making a strong showing. Hispanics' favorite print publications resemble those of white consumers: People, AARP the Magazine, Better Homes and Gardens, Reader's Digest, USA Today and National Geographic topping the list.



Lillie M. Fears, Ph.D. wrote:
[log in to unmask]" type="cite"> Professional Development Opportunity for MAC Members! Good afternoon, MAC members,

It appears the article written by Berea Willingham that I sent everybody last week and the subsequent discussion about a teaching panel on this topic has really ignited a healthy discussion over the past few days. That’s great!

Anyway, one of our members, Lillian Dunlap, of Poynter Institute, sent the following related information today and asked me to share it with MAC Members. Below are excerpts from her note to me in which she announces the annual Poynter Divesity Across the Curriculum Seminar.

Thanks again, Lillian!

-- Lillie M. Fears, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Journalism
Arkansas State University
& Head, Minorities & Communications Division of AEJMC
POB 2733
State University, AR 72467
870.972.3210
870.972-3321 (FAX)


------ Forwarded Message
From: Lillian Dunlap <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Mon, 2 Oct 2006 14:10:48 -0400
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Lillian Dunlap calling
Lillie,
 
When I saw your name attached to the essay at the bottom of the page, I had to write and tell you the rest of the story.  ........
Breea Willingham, the author of the essay, says that she based the essay on one she submitted to Poynter for the Diversity Across the Curriculum Seminar this summer.  The seminar is scheduled again for May 20-25, 2007. I’ll again be one of the seminar leaders along with Keith Woods and others. I’d like you to consider applying as a participant and encouraging others in MAC Division to think about spending the week in St Petersburg.  I would love to see you here.  Here’s the seminar description http://poynter.org/seminar/seminar_view.asp?int_seminarID=4073 :
 
  Seminar Description:   
  If tomorrow’s journalists are to report and write about a dynamic, increasingly diverse society, they’ll need guidance in the classroom. Whatever the course, there’s a place for teaching diversity across the journalism curriculum.
 
 You'll learn:
 
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
 
Dear MAC Member:
 
My university diversity officer sent me the article below. I thought some of you might be interested in reading it. --- Lillie Fears
 
 
Current News
Perspectives: Improving Race Relations One Journalism Class At A Time  By Breea C. Willingham  Sep 28, 2006, 06:56
 
 
I was standing in line in the Dollar Tree store recently when a blonde-haired little girl who looked to be about 5 years old flashed a toothless smile at me. 3Hello,2 she said. 3You have a black face. How did you get that black face?2
 
I9m usually quick with a comeback, but the girl caught me off guard. After pausing for a few minutes I simply replied, 3I was born with it just like you were born with your white face.2
 
3Oh,2 the little girl said, and went about her business.
 
Imagine that little girl in my classroom 13 years from now. I recognize that little girl in a few of my students.
 
I9m an African-American faculty member on a predominantly White campus in a town where less than 5 percent of the population is minority.
 
Many of my students are from White suburban communities or small towns, where diversity is not an issue because there is none. For many of them, their first experiences with minorities and discussions about race happen in my classroom.
 
Getting my students to talk about race is challenging, at best, on most days.
 
And on the days when my students write papers where they call Black people
3coloreds2 or say the majority of crimes in the United States are committed by Black men, that goal seems more frustrating than attainable.
 
The biggest challenge for me is figuring out how to use those frustrations as learning tools and examples of precisely why diversity is needed across the curriculum. Just as newsrooms across the nation celebrate Time Out for Diversity and Accuracy once a year, journalism educators need to be reminded why they have to bring these issues to the classroom.
 
I9ve always been passionate about issues dealing with race, ethnicity and diversity, and how they relate to the media. I covered these matters as a reporter for the Times Union in Albany, and I work hard to incorporate them into my courses.
 
For instance, during an exercise in my 3Women, Minorities and the Media2 class I drew four columns on the blackboard and labeled each one African-American, Asian American, American Indian or Hispanic. I then asked the students to call out stereotypes for each group.
 
The students had no problem calling out stereotypes such as 3lazy,2 3like to eat fried chicken2 and 3can9t speak English well.2 But when I drew a fifth column for White people and asked for the stereotypes, the students were hard pressed to find any. I repeated the exercise asking for positive attributes for each group; the lists for the minorities were considerably shorter.
 
At the end I asked my students why it was so easy for them to point out the negatives and not the positives. They all blamed the media for portraying negative images of minorities.
 
I try to teach my students that before they can even begin to report on and write about race-related issues, they have to be willing to talk about them first and confront their prejudices.
 
Teaching that lesson isn9t always easy, and I even became discouraged when I read course evaluations from last fall semester where some students criticized me for talking about diversity too much in class.
 
But then I read one student9s paper in the spring semester. 3Because of this class I feel better prepared to deal with many social issues and situations, especially race, on a day-to-day basis,2 the student wrote. I felt an overwhelming sense of satisfaction knowing I at least reached one.
 
My efforts so far have taught me that adding diversity to the curriculum is more than just adding a new course to the roster, and simply having a 3Women, Minorities and the Media2 course is not enough.
 
I9m learning it9s more about changing the way students think about and look at diversity issues, and challenging their biases. Professors also need to learn before they can deal with these issues as an educator; they need to acknowledge and challenge their own biases.
 
Although I have my moments when I feel like I want to give up trying to teach diversity to the next generation of journalists, my passion for the issue won9t let me.
 
And on the days when I feel my efforts are in vain, I remember the advice a colleague recently gave me: 3You9re the only education some of these students will ever get on race issues. I don9t know if that9s more frustrating than consoling, but I see it as a legitimate chance for you to make a difference in some of their lives and in the world around you. Yeah, it seems small-scale, but if the world9s gonna change, it9s going to be one person at a time. At least you9re doing some good things to try to initiate that change. Keep at it.2
 
And so I do.
 
Breea C. Willingham spent 10 years as a reporter for papers in the Carolinas and New York State. She is now a journalism professor at St. Bonaventure University in Allegany, N.Y.
 
 
) Copyright 2005 by DiverseEducation.com
 
All the best,
Lillian

Lillian R Dunlap, Ph.D.

Vice President

Stinsights, Inc.

727-432-1602

[log in to unmask]

www.stinsights.com




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