- Email: [email protected]
Race, myth and the news
Public Relations Review
Christopher I?. Campbell Race, Myth and the News Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc., 173 pp., $18.95, 1995 Christopher Campbell’s purpose in Race, Myth and the News is to “identify both the blatant and the subtle ways in which race is mythologized in the news” (p. 136). After conducting qualitative, interpretive analyses of televised coverage of the 1993 Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Campbell concludes that television journalists contribute to the persistence of racism by maintaining stereotypes, promoting marginality, and proffering myths of assimilation. After briefly acknowledging time restraints and economic pressures faced by television journalists, Campbell charges that “when it comes to race the watchdog is snoozing comfortably in its doghouse” (p. 136). For students and professionals beginning to explore and expand their own conceptions about televised news coverage and race, this book may be insightful. By introducing the reader to such ideas as preferred readings, myth of marginality, myth of assimilation, and enlightened racism, this text provides the reader with the tools needed to scrutinize news coverage. Indeed, the first step to eliminating racism in news coverage is recognizing its varied forms; in this regard Race, Myth artd the News contributes to an understanding of race in journalism. For the scholar, however, the text offers few original insights. The book’s major weakness is its method of the study, which does not empirically allow for Campbell’s sweeping conclusions. The author’s indictments of broadcast news are based on a convenience sample of 28 television stations observed on Martin Luther King Jr., Day in 1993. From that sample, Campbell provides qualitative, interpretive readings of televised news segments selected for their demonstration of his thesis. While Campbell’s readings are insightfully conducted and presented, he draws conclusions about the broadcast news media that, though perhaps accurate, go beyond the evidence. Joye C. Gordon Nicholls State University Rita Kirk Whillock and David Slayden, eds. Hate Speech
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 294 pp., $22.95 paper, 1995 One of the most important issues facing public relations educators and practitioners is what to do when faced with “hate speech.” Rita Kirk Whillock and David Slayden attempt to widen the study of “extreme oppression” by examining it and its function across a variety of contexts. The book’s goal is worthy. Its execution, however, gets in the way of making a real contribution to understanding and neutralizing hate speech. 206
Vol. 22, No. 2
Christopher I?. Campbell Race, Myth and the News Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc., 173 pp., $18.95, 1995 Christopher Campbell’s purpose in Race, Myth and the News is to “identify both the blatant and the subtle ways in which race is mythologized in the news” (p. 136). After conducting qualitative, interpretive analyses of televised coverage of the 1993 Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Campbell concludes that television journalists contribute to the persistence of racism by maintaining stereotypes, promoting marginality, and proffering myths of assimilation. After briefly acknowledging time restraints and economic pressures faced by television journalists, Campbell charges that “when it comes to race the watchdog is snoozing comfortably in its doghouse” (p. 136). For students and professionals beginning to explore and expand their own conceptions about televised news coverage and race, this book may be insightful. By introducing the reader to such ideas as preferred readings, myth of marginality, myth of assimilation, and enlightened racism, this text provides the reader with the tools needed to scrutinize news coverage. Indeed, the first step to eliminating racism in news coverage is recognizing its varied forms; in this regard Race, Myth artd the News contributes to an understanding of race in journalism. For the scholar, however, the text offers few original insights. The book’s major weakness is its method of the study, which does not empirically allow for Campbell’s sweeping conclusions. The author’s indictments of broadcast news are based on a convenience sample of 28 television stations observed on Martin Luther King Jr., Day in 1993. From that sample, Campbell provides qualitative, interpretive readings of televised news segments selected for their demonstration of his thesis. While Campbell’s readings are insightfully conducted and presented, he draws conclusions about the broadcast news media that, though perhaps accurate, go beyond the evidence. Joye C. Gordon Nicholls State University Rita Kirk Whillock and David Slayden, eds. Hate Speech
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 294 pp., $22.95 paper, 1995 One of the most important issues facing public relations educators and practitioners is what to do when faced with “hate speech.” Rita Kirk Whillock and David Slayden attempt to widen the study of “extreme oppression” by examining it and its function across a variety of contexts. The book’s goal is worthy. Its execution, however, gets in the way of making a real contribution to understanding and neutralizing hate speech. 206
Vol. 22, No. 2