Identifier

etd-07092010-102940

Degree

Master of Mass Communication (MMC)

Department

Mass Communication

Document Type

Thesis

Abstract

Scholars and news media alike acknowledge that one of the main problems in education today is the minority achievement gaps in national testing. Although many education scholars have compiled several in-depth reasons as to why minorities, particularly African-American students, seem to generally lag behind their white counterparts, television news fails to give it’s audiences a comprehensive view of why minority achievement gaps are so prevalent in United States secondary public education. The purpose of this study was to examine where news consumers perceive television news places blame for problems in public education with regards to race. Studying how people perceive where television news places blame for minority gaps in academic achievement will build on the arguments of previous research that minorities are underrepresented as victims of social and political problems. Through a descriptive online survey of quantitative responses, this study assesses respondents’ political affiliations and perspectives, their views on race, racial achievement gaps and television news coverage of those gaps. This study will discuss some of the major research on why African-Americans and other minorities struggle with academic achievement more than Whites and how television news rarely, if ever, covers these issues nor provide context to stories on African-Americans and education.

Date

2010

Document Availability at the Time of Submission

Release the entire work immediately for access worldwide.

Committee Chair

McNealy, Jasmine

DOI

10.31390/gradschool_theses.4256

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