New Readings for Oct. 5. “Raising Kevion” (handout) “From Bad to Worse” in Media and Black and White

http://domin.dom.edu/faculty/jjenks/cas420/index.htm

Fall 2004

DOMINICAN UNIVERSITY

ROSARY COLLEGE OF ARTS & SCIENCES

CAS 420

Race, Religion and the News Media

T/Th 8:30-9:45 a.m. 

Main Library 310B

NOTE: Watch this space! Over the semester we may add or drop readings or topics, so pay attention in class and periodically check the web syllabus.

Instructor:

John Jenks

Office:

Lewis Annex 3A

Office Hours:

1-2 p.m. Monday, 10-11 a.m. Thursday or by appointment

Office Phone:

708-524-6932

 

Course Description

The American news media influence our ideas about race, religious identity, and racially charged issues through their reporting and framing of stories on politics, social issues, terrorism, crime and a host of other topics. Students will read extensively about the American media’s performances, and look at the problems in dealing with race in the hiring, assigning and promoting journalists.

  • Instructional Method: Lecture, reading and discussion.
  • Assessment: Research papers, examinations, quizzes, assignments, quizzes.
  • Workload: Students should anticipate two hours of outside work every week for every hour of course credit. Three credits equal six hours of outside work per week.

Journalism majors should “intensify” the class by adding one extra credit hour, which will consist of reporting and writing a story or package of stories that will localize and highlight some of the issues discussed in this class.

Objectives

  • To understand how the American news media reports race. We will achieve this through reading, discussion and a full-length paper analyzing some aspect of the media-race nexus.
  • To understand how the American news media reports, or fails to report issues of religious faith and religious identity.

Course Requirements

This class will primarily be reading and discussion. Attendance and completion of assigned readings will be obvious and vital first steps. In addition, the class will require the following:

  • Regular quizzes on the recent readings.
  • Occasional assignments focusing on contemporary developments
  • Take-home exams. A midterm and final will draw on readings and discussions to address the “big” questions about race, religion and media.
  • Research papers. There will be two research papers – one on the theme of race, the other on religion. You will choose the topics in consultation with the professor

Texts

  • Entman/Rojecki,  The Black Image in the White Mind
  • Dennis/Pease, The Media in Black and White
  • Staff of the New York Times, How Race is Lived in America
  • Course Reader (available in the Stepan Bookstore)

Web-Based Resources

The Chicago Reporter produces the best local analysis of racial issues, and also produces the annual, thematic Chicago Matters series. For contemporary racial issues within the media, check out the web sites for the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, the National Association of Black Journalists, and Asian American Journalists Association. For issues of religious faith and identity in the media, check out Beliefnet.com.

Protocol

  • Honesty: Using material from others – whether web sources, books or classmates – without proper citation is plagiarism. Reports, assignments and research papers with plagiarized material will not be accepted. Substantial plagiarism will lead to a zero on that assignment, a report to your adviser and other serious problems. Fabrication of sources and information is also unacceptable. In other words, do your own work.
  • Deadlines: Deadlines are not an abstraction. You need to turn in your assigned work at the assigned time, or earlier if you anticipate an absence. Late work may not be accepted; if it is there will be a reduction in grade. Unless otherwise noted, the deadline is the beginning of class on the due date.
  • Punctuality. Class starts on time, tardiness will hurt your grade and walking in late is disrespectful to others in the class. So, show up on time.
  • Thoroughness: You have to complete all of the major components of the class – midterm, final, research paper and national profile to pass the course. Make-up exams will be offered only under extreme circumstances – your hospitalization or a death in the immediate family.
  • Miscellaneous: Beverages are OK in class. Snacks are not. If you have a phone with you, turn it off before class starts.
  • Have fun.

Grading Standards

A – 90-100% – Writing is clear and organized coherently. The paper/text effectively discusses the topic. It has no spelling or grammar errors. There are no inaccuracies.

B – 80-89% – The paper/exam is cohesive and well organized, although it may have some minor spelling or grammatical errors. It covers almost all the important information and follows proper format.

C – 70-79% – The paper/exam is disorganized and contains many minor errors, with some pertinent information missing or problems with formatting.

D – 60-69% – The paper/exam ineffectively discusses the topic; it is not coherent or understandable. It contains an unacceptable number of spelling or grammar errors. There are inaccuracies. The paper/exam does not follow proper format.

F – Below 60% – The paper/exam contains major factual errors related to the topic. The information presented is completely incorrect. The paper des not meet the requirements in page length, focus or format.

Grading

Quizzes

15%

Assignments

10%

Class Participation

10%

Attendance

5%

Race/Media Paper

15%

Religion/Media Paper

15%

Take-home Midterm Exam

15%

Take-home Final Exam

15%

 

Important Dates:

Oct. 28

Race/media research paper

Nov. 2

Take-home exam due

Dec. 9

Religion/media research paper

Dec. 14

Take-home exam due

Course Calendar

Date

Topic

Assignment

Aug. 31

Introduction 

 

Sept. 2

What is Race, Part I?  

Course Reader: Cose, “Can a New Race Surmount Old Prejudices?” Jacobson, “Introduction: The Fabrication of Race” How Race is Lived, “Best of Friends, Worlds Apart” 

 

Sept. 7

What is Race, Part II

Course Reader: Arana, “The Elusive Hispanic/Latino Identity”; Rodriquez, “Hispanic” Media in Black and White, Dennis, “Racial Naming”; Handout, “‘African-American’ Becomes a Term for Debate”

Sept. 9

Symbolic Racism

Entman/Rojecki, Black Image, pp. 16-59

 

Sept. 14

Symbolic Racism and the Media 

Entman/Rojecki, Black Image, pp. 60-77; Media in Black and White: Dates, “Warping the World”; Wong, “Covering the Invisible Model Minority” Course Reader, “Network Brownout 2001”

Sept. 16

Conservative Critique

Course Reader: “Race Issues,” Alterman, pp. 112-114, “Coloring News Collides”

 

Sept. 21

Covering Race a New Way: Playing, Praying and Working

How Race is Lived: “ Introduction, “Shared Prayers, Mixed Blessings,” “At a Slaughterhouse,” “The Minority Quarterback,” and “Why Harlem Drug Cops Don’t Discuss Race”

Sept. 23

Covering Race a New Way: Growing Up, Making Deals and Finding Authenticity

How Race is Lived: “Which Man’s Army,” “Who Gets to Tell a Black Story,” “Growing Up, Growing Apart,” “Guarding the Borders of the Hip-Hop Nation”; Course Reader, “Black and White in Color”

 

Sept. 28

Crime & Drugs

Entman/Rojecki, Black Image, “Violence, Stereotypes and African Americans in the News”; Media in Black and White, “Coloring the Crack Crisis”

Sept. 30

Echoes of OJ Simpson

Course Reader: “When You’re a Credit to Your Race, the Bill Will Come Due,” “The Black and White Press,” and “Rage and Denial”

 

Oct. 5

Poverty Race and the “Inner City”

Entman/Rojecki, Black Image, “Benign Neglect”; “Raising Kevion” and Media in Black and White, “From Bad to Worse”

Oct. 7

Affirmative Action

Entman/Rojecki, Black Image, “Affirming Discord”

 

Oct. 12

Politics

Black Image, Black Power; Course Reader, Smith, “Who’s Afraid of Louis Farrakhan?”

Oct. 14

Race in the Illinois Senate Race

t.b.a.

 

Oct. 19

TV: Advertising and Entertainment

Entman/Rojecki, Black Image, pp. 144-181

Oct. 21

White Press/Black Press

Media in Black and White, “Is the Media White?; Course Reader: “The Black Press: Past and Present,” “More Than a Music Channel,” “BET’s Lifestyle Choice”

 

Oct. 26

Spanish Media and Markets

Course Reader: “The ‘Latino Initiative’,” “El Nuevo Herald,” “Being a Latina Journalist,”’ “The Evening News in Espanol,” and “The Latino Puzzle Challenges the Heartland”

Oct. 28

Immigration

Media in Black and White, “Immigration, the Press and the New Racism”; others t.b.a.

 

Nov. 2

Racial Politics and Struggle in the Newsroom

Media in Black and White, “Seething in Silence”; Course Reader: “You’ve Got to Be Carefully Taught,” “Race Plays a Decisive Role,” “Linking Content and Credibility,” and “Opening Windows”

Nov. 4

Racial Politics and Struggle in the Newsroom

Course Reader: “Blacks in the Newsroom,” “The Only or the Lonely,” and “Daring to Write Our Secrets”

 

Nov. 9

Religious Roots, Secular Fruits?

Course Reader: “Whose Prerogative?” “Unsecular Media,” “Across the Great Divide: Faith,” and “Who’s Counting?”

Nov. 11

Religious Media

Course Reader: Kennedy, “Redeeming the Wasteland”; Stafford, “When Evangelicals Look in the Mirror”; “Mother Angelica: Nun Better”

 

Nov. 16

Catholic Priest Sex Abuse: Cover-up or Overkill?

Course Reader: “The Priest Scandal,” “Abused by the Media”

Nov. 18

Evangelicals in  Politics: From the Moral Majority to the Religious Right

t.b.a.

 

Nov. 23

Mel Gibson’s Passion, anti-Semitism and the News Media

Course Reader: “The Passion’s Passionate Despisers,” “The Backlash Passion,” “The Passion of Marketing,” and “The Furor, The Fizzle”

Nov. 25

Thanksgiving

 

 

Nov. 30

Arabs and Muslims in America: Obscuring the Differences

Course Reader: “100 Questions and Answers about Arab-Americans,” “Can This Image be Saved?”

Dec. 2

Islam in the Media: Communities of Interpretation

Course Reader, “Communities of Interpretation”

 

Dec. 7

Islam in the Media: A Clash of Civilizations?

Course Reader, “Islam and Muslims in the Mind of America”

Dec. 9

t.b.a.

 

 

10:30 a.m. Dec. 14

Final Exam Due

 

 

Last updated Aug. 29, 2004