Regarding black audiences: Qualitative approaches to studying black media consumption

Many scholars and social commentators have turned a critical eye toward representations of African Americans and racial issues across many genres, including news and political advertising (e.g., Dixon and Linz 2000; Entman 2000; Gilens 1999; Mendleberg 2001; Valentino 1999) and sports, advertising, and entertainment media (e.g., Dates and Barlow 1990; Gray 1995; Riggs 1991). These important critiques of content and assessments of media effects reveal an unsatisfying array of Black images in mainstream media with the exception of a few bright spots of innovation and inclusion of Black talent. Similarly, those who study the effects of negative racial representations and deployments of racialized political messages find that White audiences come away with skewed views of African American life and/or malformed opinions that reinforce harmful stereotypes.