Introduction
Laura Castañeda, Richard Ness, Joe Saltzman
Abstract
Welcome to Volume 11 and 12 of The Image of the Journalist in Popular Culture Journal (The IJPC Journal).
We start off with two peer-reviewed articles whose objectives are to fill in strategic gaps in the study of the image of the journalist in popular culture.
Patrick Ferrucci, chair and professor of journalism at the University of Colorado-Boulder, offers a “theoretical model for understanding journalism in film.” He attempts to unearth a more nuanced understanding of how journalism is represented in film by creating a theoretical model of depiction. To accomplish this, his study includes a textual analysis of 27 films about journalism released between 1940 and 2019. This theoretical model for journalistic depiction in popular culture provides future researchers with a framework to apply, both qualitatively and quantitatively, in humanistic and social science research.
Darren Chan and Alexis Haskell from Temple University find in their article, “Newspeople of the world: a transnational comparison of fictional newsrooms and female journalists in drama between Taiwan and the United States,” that current research of fictional journalists in visual media has a blind spot: they tend to oversample American media, which produces insights applicable to only one national context. In their study, they compare two 2019 journalism drama series, The Morning Show from the United States and The World Between Us from Taiwan. They point out that both shows feature a female protagonist in a broadcast newsroom, but the American show is more focused on individualism, ambition and power, while the Taiwanese show wrestles with ethics and integrity in a hyper-competitive, oversaturated media market. They conclude by calling for more transnational research into journalistic representations.
There is virtually no research when it comes to the image of the Black journalist in popular culture. In a special IJPC section – The Image of the Black Journalist in Popular Culture – we offer the first attempt to analyze what that image is in film, television and novels through academic and professional perspectives.
Christina L. Myers, an assistant professor at Michigan State University, goes back to the origin of film to write about “Countering the Frame: Black Journalists and the Politics of Representation in Silent Film.” This groundbreaking article examines the representation of Black journalists in early 20th-century silent film, focusing on a small but significant group of race films produced by African American filmmakers. She points out that while white-produced silent films often perpetuated harmful stereotypes of Blackness through caricatures and Blackface, race films offered radically different portrayals of Black professionals, including journalists. Using Critical Race Theory—particularly the concept of counter-storytelling—this study explores how Black filmmakers used journalism as a narrative tool to challenge dominant racial ideologies and to assert Black intellect, resilience, and civic agency. Ultimately, this essay contends that portrayals of Black journalists in silent-era race films served not only as corrective narratives but also as preliminary affirmations of Black cinematic authorship. These films continue to be vital artifacts for comprehending the intersections of race, media, and historical memory—and for tracing the enduring legacy of Black storytelling as both cultural resistance and creative reclamation.
Journalist Susan Smith Richardson takes a close look at “Committing Journalism While Black: Colorblind Casting and the Portrayal of Black Journalists.” She points out that the Hollywood studio system has made just a few feature films about Black journalists, and those movies don’t reflect most Black journalists’ experiences. Instead, the films are typically vehicles for crossover Black stars cast in roles that white actors could play. The color-blind casting obscures the marginalization Black journalists have historically experienced in newsrooms. African Americans have fought— and are still fighting— to be valued in white legacy media. They seldom get plum assignments or prestigious beats, like the characters in the films reviewed for this article. While well-intentioned, the films don’t address the challenges Black journalists face in accessing the same opportunities as their white colleagues, leaving audiences with a skewed view of the status of Black reporters and editors in U.S. newsrooms.
Miki Turner, a professor of professional practices at the University of Southern California, points out that the plight of the Black journalist in movies has been “spot on in some cases, particularly in the two films discussed” in “When Hollywood Gets It Right.” To gather more insight into the two films – Livin’ Large! and Heat Wave – and what it was like for real Black reporters during the 1960s, 1980s, 1990s and the turn of the century, Turner interviewed several of her former journalism colleagues as well as the director of Livin’ Large!, the writer of Heat Wave, and some TV writers, producers and show runners. Their collective perspectives and reflections were critical in helping her separate fact from fiction, particularly why some Black reporters, like the fictional Dexter Jackson in Livin’ Large! are still unable to sometimes tap into their own authentic voices in the stories they want to tell.
Meredith Dr. Clark, associate professor of race and political communication at the University of North Carolina, offers a case study on the depiction of Black journalists in popular culture by focusing on Khadijah James (played by Dana “Queen Latifah” Owens), founder and editor-in-chief of Flavor magazine on the Fox Network show, “Living Single” from 1993 to 1998. The study focuses on how Khadijah’s existence paradoxically extended oppressive controlling images of Black-collar entrepreneurship while contrasting norms of race, gender and sexuality that often oversimplify the realities of iconic Black women journalists.
Journalist Regina Maria de Sousa Dias Soares from Brazil offers the first study of “The Image of the Black Journalist in Brazilian Popular Culture.” She examines the stereotypes, narratives and media depictions that significantly shape and influence public perceptions of Black journalists in Brazil. By thoroughly analyzing these images and their impact, the study offers crucial insights into the ongoing discourse surrounding racial representation, diversity and equity within Brazil’s media landscape.
We hope to publish more articles in the coming months for this special section on “The Image of the Black Journalist in Popular Culture.” Articles about the image of the Black journalist in novels, television and other aspects of popular culture are currently being written by scholars across the country.
.
We start off with two peer-reviewed articles whose objectives are to fill in strategic gaps in the study of the image of the journalist in popular culture.
Patrick Ferrucci, chair and professor of journalism at the University of Colorado-Boulder, offers a “theoretical model for understanding journalism in film.” He attempts to unearth a more nuanced understanding of how journalism is represented in film by creating a theoretical model of depiction. To accomplish this, his study includes a textual analysis of 27 films about journalism released between 1940 and 2019. This theoretical model for journalistic depiction in popular culture provides future researchers with a framework to apply, both qualitatively and quantitatively, in humanistic and social science research.
Darren Chan and Alexis Haskell from Temple University find in their article, “Newspeople of the world: a transnational comparison of fictional newsrooms and female journalists in drama between Taiwan and the United States,” that current research of fictional journalists in visual media has a blind spot: they tend to oversample American media, which produces insights applicable to only one national context. In their study, they compare two 2019 journalism drama series, The Morning Show from the United States and The World Between Us from Taiwan. They point out that both shows feature a female protagonist in a broadcast newsroom, but the American show is more focused on individualism, ambition and power, while the Taiwanese show wrestles with ethics and integrity in a hyper-competitive, oversaturated media market. They conclude by calling for more transnational research into journalistic representations.
There is virtually no research when it comes to the image of the Black journalist in popular culture. In a special IJPC section – The Image of the Black Journalist in Popular Culture – we offer the first attempt to analyze what that image is in film, television and novels through academic and professional perspectives.
Christina L. Myers, an assistant professor at Michigan State University, goes back to the origin of film to write about “Countering the Frame: Black Journalists and the Politics of Representation in Silent Film.” This groundbreaking article examines the representation of Black journalists in early 20th-century silent film, focusing on a small but significant group of race films produced by African American filmmakers. She points out that while white-produced silent films often perpetuated harmful stereotypes of Blackness through caricatures and Blackface, race films offered radically different portrayals of Black professionals, including journalists. Using Critical Race Theory—particularly the concept of counter-storytelling—this study explores how Black filmmakers used journalism as a narrative tool to challenge dominant racial ideologies and to assert Black intellect, resilience, and civic agency. Ultimately, this essay contends that portrayals of Black journalists in silent-era race films served not only as corrective narratives but also as preliminary affirmations of Black cinematic authorship. These films continue to be vital artifacts for comprehending the intersections of race, media, and historical memory—and for tracing the enduring legacy of Black storytelling as both cultural resistance and creative reclamation.
Journalist Susan Smith Richardson takes a close look at “Committing Journalism While Black: Colorblind Casting and the Portrayal of Black Journalists.” She points out that the Hollywood studio system has made just a few feature films about Black journalists, and those movies don’t reflect most Black journalists’ experiences. Instead, the films are typically vehicles for crossover Black stars cast in roles that white actors could play. The color-blind casting obscures the marginalization Black journalists have historically experienced in newsrooms. African Americans have fought— and are still fighting— to be valued in white legacy media. They seldom get plum assignments or prestigious beats, like the characters in the films reviewed for this article. While well-intentioned, the films don’t address the challenges Black journalists face in accessing the same opportunities as their white colleagues, leaving audiences with a skewed view of the status of Black reporters and editors in U.S. newsrooms.
Miki Turner, a professor of professional practices at the University of Southern California, points out that the plight of the Black journalist in movies has been “spot on in some cases, particularly in the two films discussed” in “When Hollywood Gets It Right.” To gather more insight into the two films – Livin’ Large! and Heat Wave – and what it was like for real Black reporters during the 1960s, 1980s, 1990s and the turn of the century, Turner interviewed several of her former journalism colleagues as well as the director of Livin’ Large!, the writer of Heat Wave, and some TV writers, producers and show runners. Their collective perspectives and reflections were critical in helping her separate fact from fiction, particularly why some Black reporters, like the fictional Dexter Jackson in Livin’ Large! are still unable to sometimes tap into their own authentic voices in the stories they want to tell.
Meredith Dr. Clark, associate professor of race and political communication at the University of North Carolina, offers a case study on the depiction of Black journalists in popular culture by focusing on Khadijah James (played by Dana “Queen Latifah” Owens), founder and editor-in-chief of Flavor magazine on the Fox Network show, “Living Single” from 1993 to 1998. The study focuses on how Khadijah’s existence paradoxically extended oppressive controlling images of Black-collar entrepreneurship while contrasting norms of race, gender and sexuality that often oversimplify the realities of iconic Black women journalists.
Journalist Regina Maria de Sousa Dias Soares from Brazil offers the first study of “The Image of the Black Journalist in Brazilian Popular Culture.” She examines the stereotypes, narratives and media depictions that significantly shape and influence public perceptions of Black journalists in Brazil. By thoroughly analyzing these images and their impact, the study offers crucial insights into the ongoing discourse surrounding racial representation, diversity and equity within Brazil’s media landscape.
We hope to publish more articles in the coming months for this special section on “The Image of the Black Journalist in Popular Culture.” Articles about the image of the Black journalist in novels, television and other aspects of popular culture are currently being written by scholars across the country.
.
