Aryeh Response to Larson Part 2

This reading was pretty interesting. I've always had misgivings about how the news media warps stories into its generic format. I like that the book provides some specific examples and goes into quite some detail on those. For example, I liked the book's discussion of the L.A. riots, because it talked about several aspects of the issue from the way the story was framed in headlines to the types of "experts" provided on network news programs. This approach worked for me, because it truly proved the book's general thesis regarding the pervasive marginalization of non-white groups in mainstream media. There were, however, some aspects of the book that I would have liked to see covered in more detail. For example, I attended college in Miami and lived there for several years; this book really did not go into enough detail regarding Spanish-language media in Miami. In many areas in Miami, Spanish-language media is much more prevalent than English media. I think this is a situation that could have been covered in more detail, because it's such a unique case. A single page in the book's larger chapter on Hispanic narratives was not enough to really help readers understand this issue, and if I were editing the next edition of this book it would be the first thing I would look to include.

Once again, I was happy to see a chapter devoted to Asian-American stereotypes, as racism against Asians seems to be rarely discussed not only in society but even these types of investigations. I'm glad the book brought attention to the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII, and I was dismayed to find out about how the government exploited Japanese American publications during that time period. It's possible that I am affected more by this because my girlfriend is Asian and I spend a lot of time with her, but I have seen and heard a lot of racist speech against Asians in the media as well as in my daily life, and it's something the press rarely covers. As stated in the book, Asians are almost never mentioned in the media. I was rather disturbed by the statistic that there were almost zero stories about Asians in the New York Times for some sixty years. Still, I'm glad that we have our class where we can raise these issues and discuss them.