African American Women in the News ― Gender, Race, and Class in Journalism

African American Women in the News offers the first in-depth examination of the varied representations of black women in American journalism, from analyses of coverage of domestic abuse and "crack mothers" to exploration of new media coverage of Michelle Obama on Youtube. Marian Meyers interrogates the varied, complex, and often contradictory images of African American women in various news media through detailed case studies of both national and local news, the mainstream and black press, and traditional news outlets as well as new digital news platforms. She argues that previous studies of African Americans and the news have largely ignored the representations of women as distinct from men, and the ways in which socioeconomic class becomes a determining factor in how black women are portrayed by the press. Meyers proposes that a pattern of paternalistic racism, as distinct from the "modern" racism found in previous studies of news coverage of African Americans, is more likely to characterize the media's treatment of African American women. Drawing on critical cultural studies and black feminist theory, Meyers suggests that the cultural myths and stereotypes of African American women we see in the news belies a far more complex and contradictory issue, located at the intersection of race, class and gender.

African American Women in the News is ideal for courses on race and news media, and for professional journalists and students of journalism who seek to improve the diversity and sensitivity of their journalistic practice.

Marian Meyers is Associate Professor in the Department of Communication and an affiliate of the Institute for Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies at Georgia State University.