The Department of Communication and Journalism at the
University
of
New Mexico
offers undergraduate majors and minors in communication, journalism and mass communication for liberal arts and career preparation. Our teaching explores the social skills, societal dynamics and professional environments of communication with an emphasis on the understanding and appreciation of diverse messages and meanings.
In 2005, our department formally adopted a set of professional values and competencies mandated by the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications (ACEJMC) that drive our curriculum, teaching and program assessment. Included in these values is “the demonstration of an understanding of the diversity of groups in a global society in relationship to communications.” Our department has a comprehensive plan for creating an inclusive and supportive environment that emphasizes cultural diversity, including sexual orientation. Diversity issues are integrated into the curriculum and every course syllabus states a respect and appreciation for diverse perspectives.
While the value of diversity permeates every course to some degree, 14 courses in the journalism major — including electives — have it as one of their primary objectives. News writing and reporting courses incorporate discussion of LGBT issues as part of a course unit devoted to multicultural reporting. In addition, courses in the history of media, media criticism and multiculturalism include this material through required readings, class discussion and writing assignments. For instance, students in media history courses read a chapter on media and cultural identity in “Media/History/Society: Cultural and Intellectual Traditions of
U.S.
Media” by Janet M. Cramer that deals specifically with the history of the LGBT press.
Class discussions in news writing and reporting courses draw on a chapter on multicultural sensitivity in the assigned textbook (Carole Rich, “Writing and Reporting News”). While this textbook does not directly deal with LGBT issues, we find that the author's guidelines to dealing with differences can be applied across contexts. To complement the chapter, writing lab exercises draw on the lesson on language and stereotyping included in the media writing handbook assigned for class (Brooks, Pinson and
Wilson
's “Working with Words”). Here, students can access more specific information on the ways stereotypical constructions of LGBT people are perpetuated through language. Most useful for the introduction of issues of relevance to LGBT communities is an analysis of NLGJA and its Web site. The site allows students to familiarize themselves with issues of concern among professionals in the field. This site is helpful because it fills existing gaps in textbook materials. Finally, students are required to write a multicultural feature as one of their class assignments. They can choose any angle on cultural difference, including LGBT issues.
In addition to integrating these issues within the curriculum, an elective titled “Multiculturalism, Gender and Media” specifically deals with issues of diversity and the role of media in the production and interpretation of symbols, images and ideologies regarding cultural diversity in
U.S.
society. This includes issues related to sexual orientation. Class periods that address this issue include course readings from academic journals and readers, including Linda Holtzman’s “Media Messages: What Film, Television and Popular Music Teach Us About Race, Class, Gender and Sexual Orientation” and “Up From Invisibility” by Larry Gross.
