Media Representations of Race and Ethnicity

In everything from the policies that regulate media industries to the practices of the organizations that produce the messages to the usage patterns of the consumers that choose them, mass media are implicated in real-world interracial/ethnic dynamics. Yet, despite the obvious associations between media and issues of race and ethnicity, a comprehensive effort aimed at documenting and addressing these links has not been undertaken. The current issue, Media Representations of Race and Ethnicity: Implications for Identity, Intergroup Relations, and Public Policy, does just that. Media portrayals, media usage patterns, favorable and unfavorable effects of exposure (on diverse audiences), and policy implications, all are examined.

INTRODUCTION
Why the Media’s Role in Issues of Race and Ethnicity Should be in the Spotlight
Dana Mastro 1

SECTION I: MEDIA PORTRAYALS OF RACE & ETHNICITY
Documenting Portrayals of Race/Ethnicity on Primetime Television over a 20-Year Span and Their Association with National-Level Racial/Ethnic Attitudes
Riva Tukachinsky, Dana Mastro, and Moran Yarchi 17

SECTION II: SELF AND IDENTITY
“Frozen in Time”: The Impact of Native American Media Representations on Identity and Self-Understanding
Peter A. Leavitt, Rebecca Covarrubias, Yvonne A. Perez, and Stephanie A. Fryberg 39

Social Identity Threat in Response to Stereotypic Film Portrayals: Effects on Self-Conscious Emotion and Implicit
Ingroup Attitudes
Toni Schmader, Katharina Block, and Brian Lickel 54

Ethnolinguistic Identification, Vitality, and Gratifications for Television Use in a Bilingual Media Environment
Jake Harwood and Laszlo Vincze 73

SECTION III: INTERGROUP RELATIONS
Latinos’ Perceptions of Intergroup Relations in the United States: The Cultivation of Group-Based Attitudes and
Beliefs from English- and Spanish-Language Television
Michelle Ortiz and Elizabeth Behm-Morawitz 90

Media-Induced Elevation as a Means of Enhancing Feelings of Intergroup Connectedness
Mary Beth Oliver, Keunyeong Kim, Jennifer Hoewe, Mun-Young Chung, Erin Ash, Julia K. Woolley, and Drew D. Shade 106

Using Celebrity News Stories to Effectively Reduce Racial/Ethnic Prejudice
Srividya Ramasubramanian 123

SECTION IV: PUBLIC POLICY
Racial and Ethnic Inclusion in the Digital Era: Shifting Discourses in Communications Public Policy
Mari Castaneda, Martha Fuentes-Bautista, and Felicitas Baruch 138

Viewer Ethnicity Matters: Black Crime in TV News and Its Impact on Decisions Regarding Public Policy
Ryan J. Hurley, Jakob (Jake) Jensen, Andrew Weaver, and Travis Dixon 154

Intervening in the Media’s Influence on Stereotypes of Race and Ethnicity: The Role of Media Literacy Education
Erica Scharrer and Srividya Ramasubramanian 170

SECTION V: CONCLUSION
Where We Have Been and Where We Can Go From Here: Looking to the Future in Research on Media, Race, and Ethnicit
Riva Txukachinsky 185

SECTION VI: 2012 SPSSI PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS
Introduction to Maureen O’Connor’s SPSSI Presidential Address
James S. Jackson 199

Embodied Social Justice: Warm Tea, Flexed Muscles, and Enacting SPSSI’s Mission 2012 SPSSI Presidential Address
Maureen O’Connor 202

Dana Mastro (Ph.D., Michigan State University), is a Professor of Communication at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her research documents depictions of Latinos in English and Spanish-language media and assesses the extent to which exposure to this content influences racial/ethnic cognitions as well as a variety of intergroup and identity-based outcomes.

Riva Tukachinsky (Ph.D., University of Arizona), is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication Studies and M.S. Program in Health and Strategic Communication at Chapman University. Her research investigates the psychological mechanisms underlying media effects in the context of social stereotypes, health and psychological well-being.