Journalism Education Embraces Ethnic Media: As the Oregonian newspaper’s first race and ethnicity beat reporter, Angie Chuang turned to ethnic media outlets to help her stay abreast of community issues and identify sources she should get to know. So when she became an assistant journalism professor at American University in Washington, D.C., Chuang aimed to share the importance of ethnic media with her mostly White studentsIn her ‘Race, Ethnic and Community Reporting’ class, Chuang’s students follow the city’s newspapers, magazines and television and radio stations that cater to particular ethnic groups. They track important issues, such as immigration, to compare coverage in mainstream media with reporting in the ethnic outlets.
“We wouldn’t be doing our jobs if we weren’t paying attention to ethnic media,” Chuang says. “It is part of who we are as a society and what we’re becoming as a city and a country.”
At colleges and universities across the country, the study of ethnic media is growing. Some schools, such as California State University, Northridge, sanction student-written ethnic publications. The University of Georgia and Louisiana State University, among others, host events for ethnic media reporters.
