Facilitating a Conversation about Race

By Karen M. Turner
AEJMC Standing Committee on Teaching
Associate Professor
Department of Journalism
Temple University
kturner@temple.edu

 

 

 

(Article courtesy of AEJMC News, March 2017 issue)

I often hear from colleagues who say talking about diversity, and race in particular, is difficult. However, by being silent about race in the classroom, our students may take this as a cue that such discussions should be avoided. Our political environment has provided us with a challenge and opportunity to bring hot-button topics into our classrooms in meaningful ways. Whether we’re talking about the Black Lives Matter movement or police shootings and killings or racial and religious refugees, the news is filled with politicized issues ripe for discussion.

Several years ago I developed and began teaching a module to upper-level students, dealing with journalistic biases, as a way to contextualize a race/diversity discussion. We need to have conversations about race so we can improve the way we report about communities of color. We teach our journalists-in-training to strive for objectivity. But the reality is we see the world through our own eyes and experiences – our various dimensions of diversity such as race, class, ability, age, political affiliation, sexual orientation, etc. We need to recognize our biases. And we need to help our students as future communication professionals do the same. Such understanding can lead to better reporting. Knowing one’s biases in this context can foster a critical analysis of how identity impacts journalistic storytelling. I am not suggesting one module devoted to this difficult topic is adequate. I am suggesting it is a start.

Create a positive classroom climate. I usually wait to teach the race module midway through the semester. By this point in the course we are familiar and comfortable with one another. As instructor, I work to create a welcoming classroom climate where all points of view are valued and open for critical reflection.

Explain why we need to have conversations about race. It is important early in the discussion to explain to the students why I introduce what could be for some an uncomfortable conversation. My reasons are simple:
• the student population and the population they will serve as journalists are becoming more and more diverse;
• we need to function in an increasingly multicultural workplace;
• as a society we don’t do race-talk well but it’s important for developing racial consciousness, improving race relations and for our purposes better reporting;
• honest race talk is a powerful way to dispel stereotypes and biases*;
• I am committed to stepping outside my comfort zone to facilitate difficult conversations.

Once I say why it is important to bring a race discussion into the curriculum, I set ground rules and discuss what I hope to accomplish. There are three main objectives:
• begin an honest dialogue about race;
• avoid a monologue where we state and restate our initial positions – LISTEN;
• recognize/understand our own biases and how they may impact our reporting.

Exercise 1: I begin by asking the students to list all the dimensions of diversity that explain who they are. I get things started by describing myself. When students see I am willing to share, it encourages them to take the exercise seriously. I don’t ask the students to talk publicly about their list. I tell them to keep the list and add to it throughout the rest of the semester.

Discuss our racial realities. At this point I discuss and show verdict video from the 1995 O.J. Simpson trial demonstrating how Americans saw this story very differently depending on their racial background. Journalist Ted Koppel said about the trial… “I think that race is the great unresolved issue in this country. … And in many respects, the O.J. Simpson trial, coming as it did toward the end of the 20th Century, served as an exclamation mark.”

Exercise 2: For the second exercise, I assign the students to diverse groups of three or four. I ask them to think about the following question then share their answers with their group. “Write a few words describing when and what happened the first time you became aware of your racial/ethnic identity. This can be a personal experience or something you witnessed. How do you think this event has influenced your present attitudes about race and race-related issues? How might this impact your reporting?” As the students are getting into their groups I share with them my first racial awareness memory, which happened in kindergarten. Many students have never thought about these questions before. They usually become very engaged to the point that I have to cut short the group discussions.

Encourage quality reporting. I end the module talking about storytelling approaches to keep in mind when reporting, such as being mindful of visuals used; word choices; who’s interviewed and who’s not; and framing the story. Following the module, I distribute an anonymous (name optional) three-question survey to be submitted by the next class. I ask: (1) In what ways, if any, has your thinking or awareness of race and stereotypes changed? (2) To what extent have these activities and discussion made you reflect on your own position and identity in society? (3) In what ways, if any, have or will these activities and discussion impact your approach to reporting? The feedback has been positive and informative.

Challenge ourselves to step outside our comfort zone. It can be uncomfortable teaching a race module. However our students must have the tools to report accurately on issues related to race. This process starts in our classrooms where we can help our students understand, recognize and address journalistic biases. Honest and accurate reporting in this climate of “fake” news is imperative. I often tell my students they will be the eyes and ears of their public and therefore have an awesome responsibility to produce quality journalism. I remind them our democracy depends on it.

*A good resource is Derald Wing Sue’s, Race Talk and the Conspiracy of Silence: Understanding and Facilitating Difficult Dialogues on Race. Also see my 2015 commentary, “Journalists’ Biases Must Be Part of Frank Conversation on Race” (http://mije.org/journalists%E2%80%99-biases-must-be-part-frank-conversation-race)

Teaching Corner

CONTACT: Paul Voakes, University of Colorado, 2016-17 President of AEJMC | February 9, 2017

Dear President Trump,

As the leaders of organizations representing more than 8,600 journalism and communication educators throughout the country, we hope you will join us in supporting the longstanding, democratic principles that inform our teaching and our research:

· We strongly support the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.  Its guarantee of freedom of speech has resulted in a nation whose public debates and tolerance for diverse viewpoints are unmatched in world history. We believe that freedom of expression, as many before us have asserted, “is the right from which all others flow.”

· We believe the First Amendment compels the news media to hold accountable those
in power – especially those leading the U.S. government. Without this “watchdog”
function, American citizens will not have the broad sweep of information they need for
successful self-governance. This in turn requires transparency and accessibility on the
part of those in government.

· We believe in the discipline of verification. As our colleagues Bill Kovach and Tom
Rosenstiel have written, verification “is what separates journalism from entertainment,
propaganda, fiction or art. . . . Journalism alone is focused on the process employed to
get what happened down right.” We value the gathering of evidence-based information
over the superficial parroting of opposing claims.

· We support the teaching of news literacy – not just to journalism students but to all
students. As young citizens and future leaders, our students must be able to discern
fabrication from fact, to evaluate the evidence and sources of claims, to recognize the
inevitable biases in themselves and in others, and to understand the economics of news
media and all public communications. We believe the American public deserves journalism that is factual and balanced, and we are preparing future professionals to provide it.

– We support debate and dialogue that is both robust and civil.  While the First Amendment protects freedom of expression in its many forms, the norms of a civil society also necessitate that we treat others with decency and respect – even those with whom we disagree.

These are traditional and time-honored principles of journalism and communication
education that we feel have been recently threatened by the rhetoric of your administration. In your campaign and during your transition to the presidency, you and your leadership team have made references to changes both logistical (relocation of the White House press corps, among many others) and conceptual (“opening up the libel laws” to make it easier to sue the media, among many others), which together signal a potential erosion of important First Amendment freedoms that are essential to our democracy. You have stated that you have a “running war” with the news media, and you have declared journalists to be “among the most dishonest human beings on earth.” In the first days of your presidency your administration shut down systems of communication between the several key federal agencies and the public.

In fairness, we also recognize that the Obama administration had a less than stellar record of accessibility, transparency and accountability, in its own relations with news media. But we have now turned a page in U.S. history. We urge you and your administration to set an example — indeed, the benchmark — of transparency, accessibility and accountability, and to encourage and support journalism in its important watchdog role.

As educators, we have long used current events and trends for “teachable moments”
and for research topics. We are using this moment to restate the value of journalism and encourage our students to pursue it as a noble profession that can enlighten and inform.

We urge you and your administration vigorously to protect and preserve the First Amendment rights of journalists and all citizens – rights that are basic to democracy and an informed society.  We will also continue vigorously to defend these principles.

Sincerely,

The Boards of Directors:

Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication
National Scholastic Press Association/Associated Collegiate Press
Journalism Education Association
Student Press Law Center

<<PACS

What Did We Learn?

By Earnest L. Perry Jr.
AEJMC Standing Committee on Teaching
Associate Professor
Associate Dean for Graduate Studies
Missouri School of Journalism
University of Missouri
perryel@missouri.edu

 

 

(Article courtesy of AEJMC News, January 2017 issue)

Donald Trump’s victory in November surprised many Americans who heard for months that Democratic challenger Hillary Clinton had a comfortable lead and was poised to be the first woman president of the United States. Clinton won the popular vote, but lost the key states of Ohio, Michigan, Florida and Pennsylvania giving the Electoral College to Trump.

Many college students, including those on my campus, expressed a range of emotion from despair to anger to bewilderment. However, in almost every discussion I had with students, faculty and staff one question arose. How did the news media not see this coming?

A colleague, Ryan Thomas, and I pondered this question as he prepared to teach our Cross-Cultural Journalism post-election. We both agreed that there is no one answer to the question, but one aspect was clear: many in the news media missed telling the story of a significant segment of our society. It’s not like this has not happened before. Ethnic minorities have complained about the lack of coverage or stereotypical images by the mainstream news media for decades. However, the 2016 presidential election brought into focus the divisions in our society and how our fragmented news media contribute to that phenomenon.

Our goal in the class is to help students learn and understand the importance of telling individuals’ stories from their lived experiences and not the story in our heads. Sounds easy, but as this election demonstrates, many in the news media failed to connect with a large segment of the country that voted for Trump.

In the first class following the election, my colleague walked his students through several propositions. He told the aspiring young journalists that more seasoned professionals should acknowledge the disconnect between them and those they cover, whether they are left-leaning or right-leaning. He also said that journalists have an obligation to help people understand one another and create an environment for “high-quality, civil discourse,” which was sorely missing in the 2016 election. Journalism is not solely responsible for misreading the electorate, but the profession cannot deny that it was part of the problem.

The news media missed the story of white, working-class voters who overwhelmingly supported Trump for the same reasons it has historically misunderstood minority and immigrant communities. Newsroom populations do not reflect the communities they serve, especially as they relate to working class, rural and non-college educated people. Shrinking newsroom budgets have led to fewer reporters and more parachute journalism that relies on predetermined narratives based on stereotypes and official sources. With elections, the news media’s over-reliance on polls and pundits contributes to the failure to connect with large segments of the electorate.

Those stories can be found in union halls in what is called the Rust Belt (that term is also a problem), coal mining communities in Appalachia, retirement communities in Florida and Arizona, and farm towns in Missouri and Nebraska. After every election, the most recent one included, those who make up the national news media promise to move away from the horse-race, poll-driven, pundit-laden coverage that chokes the life out of the electorate. I’m skeptical. The current method works for creating drama, driving ratings and Internet clicks, and ultimately making money. However, as educators trying to teach the next generation the best way to tell authentic stories, Thomas and I have several suggestions:

Understand context: We preach this constantly as journalism educators, but in today’s get-it-out-now news media environment, context seems to get lost. The forces that underlie the current political and economic environment, both nationally and globally, represent a nationalistic fervor that has grown since the Great Recession of 2008. The election of Trump and Great Britain’s vote to leave the European Union can be seen as a push back against globalization, deindustrialization, immigration and ethnic inclusion. These are the communities that feel left behind in the global economic recovery. Journalists who understand the overall context and can connect it to the everyday experiences of those trying to live through it stand a chance of successfully telling the story.

Listen before judging: Journalists should listen more and talk less. Ask just enough questions to start a conversation and then sit back and listen to what is being said. Suspend the urge to confirm what you think you know. Listen for examples of how people live their lives. It will point you to the answers of what truly matters and not the stereotypical generalities that make their way into stories.

Don’t assume: This is on every list of what not to do, but journalists cannot seem to resist. Many in the news media assumed that Trump’s statements about women would lead to his defeat and much of the coverage leading up to the election tried to confirm that assumption. Journalists need to do a better job of gathering information that leads to authentic stories and not just information that confirms the narrative that has already been established.

Asking “Why” and “What”: Throughout the election, I found myself yelling at a television news report or news article: “What did he/she mean?” or “Why did she/he say that?” The news media did a lousy job of asking follow-up questions. Too often, candidates were allowed to make statements without being pushed to provide clarifying information. Not only should candidates and government officials be asked “what do you mean” questions, all sources should be asked to elaborate on statements they make. “Make America Great Again” had a different meaning based on the person making the statement. Every person who made that statement, whether it was Trump himself, a supporter or opponent, should have been asked, “What do you mean?” The question could open the door to a more authentic conversation.

Dig deep: For years, journalists have been told that in order to better understand ethnic minority communities they need to spend time building trust. The same can be said of all communities. This election brought one issue into clear focus. The national news media, and in some cases, even local media, need to spend more time developing relationships with everyday people. Too much time has been spent talking to the well-connected and one another. Building relationships does not fit the current 24/7, tight-budget news operation, but failure to do so will further corrode the public’s trust in the news media.

Teaching Corner

Conducting News Audience Research

Description. Now in its fourth year, the News Audience Research Paper Award recognizes the best AEJMC conference paper that researched the audience for news. Accepted 2017 AEJMC conference papers that have researched some aspect of the news audience are automatically eligible to be reviewed by a specially appointed committee for this important award. The author of the winning paper will receive a cash prize and certificate at AEJMC in Chicago.

There is no separate submission process for this award. Papers on the news audience should be submitted to the division, commission or interest group that is the best fit for the paper. After the review process has been completed by each group, accepted papers will then go through a separate review process for the News Audience Research Paper Award.

Eligibility. Research papers eligible for this award should use audience-focused methodologies to provide insight about news audience engagement, attitudes, uses and gratifications, avoidances, socialization, etc. They may focus on news audiences in general, news audiences by platform, content or mobile device, news audiences defined by race, ethnicity, gender, generation, ideology, or other social characteristic. New models and theories to provide insight into the audience for news are encouraged. Research about voters’ engagement with news and news attitudes during the 2016 presidential election are especially welcome. Although not required, authors are urged to include “news audience” in their conference paper key words to make accepted AEJMC papers easier to identify for review.

Background: This award was created by Paula Poindexter, University of Texas at Austin School of Journalism, during her 2013-2014 term as AEJMC president to complement her presidential initiative, News Engagement Day, and encourage more research and discussion about the audience for news. The papers are judged on their contributions to understanding the news audience as well as their research design and execution, theoretical grounding, implications for the news industry, and quality of writing. In an effort to focus attention on the best research paper, beginning in 2017, only the top paper on this topic will be recognized with a News Audience Research Paper Award.

Since the award, which Poindexter funds, was first given in 2014, 10 AEJMC conference papers have received the News Audience Research Paper Award.

The 2016 First Place winner was Mark Coddington of Washington and Lee University who talks about his winning paper, “Metrics, Clickbait, and the Anemic Audience: Audience Perceptions and Professional Values among News Aggregators” in a podcast interview conducted by AEJMC’s new Center for News Excellence and Engagement.

A special thanks is given to past reviewers and Maxwell McCombs who has chaired the News Audience Research Paper Award competition since it was created in 2014. For more information, please email paula.poindexter@austin.utexas.edu.

AEJMC Calls

Turning Students into News Junkies

By Raluca Cozma,
Associate Professor and Director
of Undergraduate Education,
Greenlee School of Journalism
and Communication,
Iowa State University
rcozma@iastate.edu

 

 

(Article courtesy of AEJMC News, November, 2016 issue)

During introductions at the beginning of each semester, I ask my students to share who their favorite journalist is. In recent years, more often than not, students can’t name a journalist they admire, not because of a shortage of greats in the field, but because they don’t consistently follow the news. As we celebrated the third annual News Engagement Day this October, I thought I’d share classroom strategies we can use to make students realize that, in order to become successful writers and effective producers of content, they need to appreciate and consume others’ work.  These strategies go beyond the habitual current-events quiz, which often inspires fear more than passion for the news.

Showcase the best. In my reporting classes, I routinely assign reading or watching award-winning pieces across news platforms. Students then get together and dissect the strengths of each piece and articulate what strategies they could emulate in their own storytelling. At the end of the semester, one of their most common comments is how much they appreciated being introduced to inspiring stories they wouldn’t have otherwise invested time in. I’ve noticed dwindling interest in long-form stories like “Frank Sinatra Has a Cold,” but showing a short video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ab0rt_QokBI) about Gay Talese’s writing bunker where the reporter explains the meticulous process involved in his gathering and organizing of hundreds of interviews helps students appreciate the man behind the work. They then seek out the Esquire piece on their own, although it’s unlikely that Ol’ Blue Eyes himself is on any of their iPod playlists. Equally awe-inspiring are several (creative-component) mini-documentaries produced by former master’s students that I play in class. They showcase storytelling techniques of some of the most successful local journalists. Watching them in class not only introduces students to professional role models but also to academic work examples for those considering upgrading their credentials with an advanced degree.

Personalize the news. When behind-the-scenes videos or mini-documentaries are not available, I invite guest speakers (be it young professionals who graduated just a few years ago or veteran journalists with decades of experience under their belt) to share their storytelling techniques and tricks and to share their favorite and most-challenging professional moments and assignments. I find that meeting and hearing from these mentors help students internalize the concepts introduced in lectures as well as become more appreciative of news and news work.

Encourage peer learning. Many reporting instructors create and maintain news blogs to host enterprise stories produced by students over the course of a semester. This increases accountability and makes reporting assignments feel more like a real job than homework. When pitching their story ideas, I ask my students to verify that someone else in the class has not already covered the story they have in mind. For extra credit, after each set of stories is published, I ask students to read at least three stories on the class news site and leave meaningful, constructive feedback.  They are exposed to new stories, get to wear an editor’s hat, and also receive useful comments on their own work.

Nurture appreciation for news in non-reporting courses. In the past couple of years, I started requiring a digital New York Times subscription in my international-communication seminar. For $1 a week (adding up to $16 for the semester), in addition to getting access to the newspaper’s digital archive (which begins in 1851) and its daily coverage of various foreign news events, students can also use resources, such as the Topics section, to conduct research on the country assigned to them. Students’ response has been overwhelmingly positive, and many reported that they kept their subscription after the semester ended.

Play to students’ strengths. Meeting students where they spend most of their time – on social media – is an effective way to encourage engagement with the news. In many classes, I ask students to “tweet their beat,” whereby they need to curate pertinent news content from credible sources in addition to promoting their own stories. Even in my graduate seminar on political communication, I dedicate one weekly class session to theory and research and the other to analysis of media performance, as exemplified by stories students need to find and share on Twitter using a class hashtag. This allows students to perform ad-hoc case studies of the concepts discussed in class and forces them to read several news reports until they find one that perfectly exemplifies a mass-communication theory. I’ve noticed the most impressive impact of this type of assignment on new international students who, by the end of the semester, can expertly discuss differences in various types of U.S. news media and platforms. This type of knowledge then translates into increased ease in formulating research problems for their master’s theses.

These are just a few strategies to engage students with the news. AEJMC’s webpage links to a New York Times piece that lists 50 more ways to teach with current events (http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/10/07/50-ways-to-teach-current-events/). To share your own strategies, please drop me a note at rcozma@iastate.edu.

Teaching Corner