Andrew Rosenthal

There was a reason why Edmund Burke famously called the press “The Fourth Estate” of government during a debate in Parliament in 1787 and why it remains true. For all its self-proclaimed and often real independence, the press is as much a part of the power systems that run society, politics, and the economy as the executive, the legislature, and the judiciary; political and social organizations; the police; churches; and corporations. With that in mind, this course will examine the role of the press (now newspapers, radio, TV, and an endless array of digital outlets) in the creation and perpetuation of anti-Black racism in the United States. Even with the most well-meaning attempts to stay above the fray, the media is not merely a passive pipeline for events and data. They construct the news and, in doing so, are as much as part of the institutions of racism as any other group with power and privilege in a racist society. How do the media reflect the social, economic, and political currents of the day; and how, in turn, do the media influence them? This is not a practicum class in journalism, but we will study and ask questions about journalistic practices, institutions, and language structure to see how the language and agenda of racism were reflected in journalism. Do journalists, in turn, perpetuate that language and, in fact, foster it either wittingly or passively? Do the media help sustain overt and systemic racism, even as many cover, with obvious approval, things like the civil-rights movement of the 1960s and the Black Lives Matter movement of today? Readings for this class will include large parts of two books: The History of White People, by Nell Irwin Painter, and White by Law, by Ian Haney Lopez—but will primarily be original news and opinion content from the late 19th century until today. Students should be prepared to consume media coverage every day—mainstream and otherwise and from left, center, and right—and bring examples to class on a weekly basis to discuss with the group. Class participation is vital in this class, along with an eagerness to read widely and to do research. There will be two short essays and, of course, the mandatory conference project.

During the New York Civil War draft protests, the publisher of The New York Times, a founding member of Lincoln’s Republican Party, put Gatling guns in his office windows on Printing House Square and announced that any protester who approached his building would be shot. This seminar will explore what the American media have done since then in covering and analyzing civil unrest. Hyperbolic? Not really. We will start with a discussion about what exactly constitutes civil unrest in the first place and then look at how the media have defined civil unrest over the decades and presented it to their readers, listeners, and viewers. We will explore, among other things, antiracism protests; antiwar protests; protests on behalf of women’s rights and gay, lesbian and transgender rights; and, on the flip side, public protests against alcohol consumption, against abortion rights, against gun regulation, for segregation, and finally, the attempted coup on January 6, 2021. We will look at what is covered, who is covered, what language is used, who is quoted, and who is not quoted to explore the impact of news coverage on protest movements and the impact of those movements on the news coverage. We’ll read newspapers and magazines; watch television reports and documentaries, movies, and TV shows; and explore the role of social media and its corporate owners. You’ll need research skills; we will be looking at original media sources that may be more than 100 years old or 10 seconds old. Students will be required to read, watch, or listen to at least two news sources a day and will be responsible, on a rotating basis, for sharing their findings with the class. There will be two 1,500-word essays, as well as your conference paper. Most readings will be in the media, but there also will be some reading from scholars who have studied the subject and framed it for our purposes. This should be challenging and a lot of fun.

There was a reason why Edmund Burke famously called the press “the Fourth Estate” of government during a debate in Parliament in 1787 and why it remains true. For all of its self-proclaimed and often real independence, the press is as much a part of the power systems that run society, politics, and the economy as the executive, the legislature, and the judiciary; political and social organizations; churches and corporations. With that in mind, this course will examine the role of the press (now newspapers, radio, TV, and an endless array of digital outlets) in the creation and perpetuation of anti-Black racism in the United States. Even with the most well-meaning attempts to stay above the fray, the media is not merely a passive pipeline for events and data. It constructs the news and, in doing so, is as much a part of the institutions of racism as any other group with power and privilege in a racist society. We look at the flow of American history and its constant current of anti-Black racism, from the pre-Civil War to the present day, through the prism of the nation’s evolving news media. How does the media reflect the social, economic, and political currents of the day? And how, in turn, does the media influence them? This is not a practicum class in journalism; but we will ask questions about journalistic practices, institutions, and language structure to see how the language and agenda of racism were reflected in journalism. Did journalists, in turn, perpetuate that language and, in fact, foster it, whether wittingly or passively? Did the media help sustain overt and systemic racism, even as many covered—with obvious approval—things like the civil rights movement of the 1960s and the Black Lives Matter movement of today? Most American news organizations have stopped using the overt language of racism, although new descriptions are just as bad in some cases. But beyond that, is there an inherent racism of language? Has modern English, for our purposes as used in the media, been another lever of systemic racism? How do news reporters navigate the current world of propaganda and disinformation in which truth is said to have no value? Readings for this class will primarily be original news and opinion content from the late 19th century until today. We will analyze the structure and nature of media coverage using specific events: the racist massacre in Tulsa; lynching and Jim Crow; the police-instigated violence in Watts in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1990s; the FBI’s Cointelpro attack on the Black Panther Party; Black Lives Matter protests; the war in Vietnam; football players and other athletes demonstrating for equal rights; and others. The seminar will conclude with each student teaching his/her research project to the class, using the framework of our work together during the semester.