Why the Media's Role in Issues of Race and Ethnicity Should be in the Spotlight

In everything from the policies that regulate media industries to the practices of the organizations that produce the messages to the usage patterns of the consumers that choose them, mass media are implicated in real-world interracial/ethnic dynamics. Yet, despite the obvious associations between media and issues of race and ethnicity, a comprehensive effort aimed at documenting and addressing these links has not been undertaken. The current issue, Media Representations of Race and Ethnicity: Implications for Identity, Intergroup Relations, and Public Policy, endeavors to do just that. The merits of such an effort are articulated in this introduction to the volume alongside a review of the current state of the research in this domain.

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