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:

> 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:
>
>     * How to define diversity so that students see the ways it
>       connects to journalism's core values
>     * To teach diversity modules that reinforce the universal skills
>       journalists need to succeed
>     * Strategic ways to include elements of diversity in the syllabus
>       throughout the course
>     * New ways of framing journalism's approach to matters of race,
>       ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation and other diversity concerns
>
>
>
> ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
>
> 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
>
>
>
>
> ------ End of Forwarded Message