Locating Whiteness in Journalism Pedagogy

Perceptions of Cultural Competence Among Students, Staff, and Faculty in a School of Journalism and Mass Communications

“…JMC Schools should encourage all students, staff, and (especially) faculty to complete such cultural competence–specific training/courses. In her observations of news writing classes, Alemán (2014) reported that certain teaching practices reinforce students’ current worldviews and prevent students from challenging their beliefs or stepping out of their comfort zone: “journalism pedagogy precludes future journalism practitioners from unlearning white privileged assumptions and perceptions of race, racism, and diversity” (p. 86). In the present study, participants’ high perceived levels of cultural competence and misperceptions of racial/ethnic diversity may indeed suggest that they are not questioning their privilege.…”

“…JMC studies that have evaluated the cultural competence outcomes of certain courses/projects seem to assume that faculty have high levels of cultural competence while students do not. However, as Alemán (2014) reports, some practices in “current journalism pedagogy may be understood as perpetuating whiteness and promulgating a worldview that excludes the perspective of racially disenfranchised communities” (p. 86). Given (a) the tense climate and culturally insensitive incidents on many campuses, ranging from comments to physical attacks in and out of the classroom, (b) the importance of cultural competence for JMC professions, and (c) the efforts some non-JMC disciplines have taken to address cultural competence matters, it is crucial to explore how JMC students, faculty, and staff perceive their own levels of cultural competence.…”

Who Are the “Journalism Kids”? Academic Predictors of Journalism Participation in Secondary Schools

“…It is possible that minority students do not perceive journalism education to be meant for them. Research has suggested that college journalism education has a bias toward a middle-class white experience (Alemán, 2014). At the high school level, Marchi (2012) likewise found minority students express disillusionment with mainstream media that failed to follow through on ideals of fairness and objectivity.…”

The Trump Presidency, Journalism, and Democracy

“…The norms that dictate news practices-from objectivity to selection of sources to decisions about what constitutes news-are forged from the invisibility of whiteness, which makes them seem wholly unconnected to racial dominance (e.g., Dolan, 2006;Heider, 2000;wilson, 1995). Indeed, U.S. journalism pedagogy is a study in whiteness, where aspiring reporters are schooled in "diversity" from the perspective of white dominance (Alemán, 2014).…”