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Race and News Revisited
The Content and Effects of Problematically Framing the News
Travis L. Dixon and Christopher S. Josey
ABSTRACT
Over the past many decades, scholars have extensively studied the portrayal of persons of color in the media and its effect on the individual. In this chapter we will devote particular attention to the ways in which race has been framed within the context of news in traditional (e.g., televised or print) and new media (e.g., online). A critical synthesis of the extant literature will be offered for traditional media, followed by a discussion of findings from effects-based studies. Next, we provide an overview of what is known from the study of persons of color in online news, drawing similarities and contrasts where appropriate to traditional media. Lastly, we discuss the shortcomings of current research paradigms, pointing to directions for future research.
Studying Race in the News
Scholars have been interested in the ways that persons of color have been portrayed in the mass media for much of the last century (Greenberg, Mastro, & Brand, 2002; Chapter 13, this volume). Early work focused on how persons of color, most often Blacks, were portrayed in entertainment media such as films and television. More recently, scholars also have turned their attention to detailing the ways in which race is framed by news organizations (Dixon & Azocar, 2006; Dixon & Linz, 2000a, 2000b, 2002; Entman, 1994, 1992; Entman & Rojecki, 2000; Gilliam & Iyengar, ...
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