Focus: Diversity

ABSTRACT: In 1994, economist Abdel Güerere classified telenovelas as Venezuela’s most important non-traditional export and envisioned a prosperous future for this media product. In 1999 the country produced 8–12 telenovelas a year. Today no telenovelas are produced in Venezuela and the country’s once powerful telenovela industry is virtually invisible in the international market. Based on […]

This paper won First Place in the Faculty Paper Awards also known as the Robert L. Stevenson Open Paper Competition. It also won Best Paper in African Journalism Studies Award. Abstract: Drawing on an African feminist autoethnography framework grounded in a decolonial philosophy of Bilchiinsi, I present critical reflections on my experiences as an African scholar conducting […]

Abstract: Using standpoint epistemology and critical mass theories this study examines outcomes of the 2012 ProQuote [ProQuota] initiative in Germany demanding at least 30% women in leadership per newsroom. In-depth interviews with 53 journalists in 21 newsrooms show that ProQuote boosted women’s ascension into leadership by triggering and sustaining a debate about gender in newsroom […]

Abstract: The 1980s featured a niche slate of syndicated shows prizing nostalgia, sex, consumerism, and camp–and often in children’s programming! First-run syndication in this era was rife with the queer erotics of characters, featuring rippling muscled toons like He-Man and Masters of the Universe, The Transformers, and ThunderCats alongside the spandex-clad American Gladiators and the […]

Abstract: When television programs are translated for global audiences, languages are changed, but so too are constructions of diverse identities. Characters who are Black, Indigenous, or people of color (BIPOC) undergo transformations in order to be intelligible outside of their original national contexts; such transformations might reinforce these characters’ difference or eliminate it, effectively whitewashing […]

Abstract:  Sport around the world is principally organized around masculinity, and women athletes are often afforded limited coverage in sports media. In this study, I examined media representations of two Chinese female athletes of different status in China, a nation in the midst of a social transformation and a sports-reform initiative: state athlete, Ding Ning, […]

Abstract: This paper presents the case of Black Girls RUN! (BGR), an Atlanta-based organization and social movement with a grassroots and community-driven approach to changing fitness-related ideology and health outcomes within the Black community. Using an interdisciplinary approach built built upon tenets of media studies, cultural studies, Black Feminist Thought, and health promotion theory, this […]

Abstract: Recent years have seen changes to the video game industry and the image of video game players. There are more games on the market and larger variety of ways to play those games. Yet, despite market shifts, authors such as Shaw (2012)demonstrate that there are still tensions surrounding gamer identification. Even as next-generation systems […]