Constructing Racial Groups' Identities in the Diasporic Press: Internalization, Resonance, Transparency, and Offset

Abstract

This study examines the ways that the Korean American diasporic press constructs identities of its own ethnic group as well as those of other racial/ethnic groups by employing both quantitative and qualitative research methods. The author identifies three metaframes of diasporic media's representations of interracial relations—(a) internalization/resonance (related to racial/ethnic minorities), (b) transparency (related to Whites), and (c) offset (related to their ethnic members)—as ways that the diasporic media adopt, adapt, and counteract prevailing racial ideologies in their new host country. The diasporic media offset the negative images of their own ethnic members in the mainstream media by depicting the roles of their own group as victims of other racial/ethnic groups. Findings indicate that Korean Americans were frequently shown as victims of crimes (mostly related to Blacks), racial discrimination (mostly related to Whites), problematic laborers (mostly related to Latinos), and business rivals (mostly related to other Asian Americans).

Notes

¹The 1965 Immigration and Naturalization Act abolished national origins quota systems and gave preferences in immigration for family reunification. After this act, Asian immigration dramatically increased (Hraba, 1994).

²Racial formation is the process by which the sociohistorical designations of race are created, manipulated, and destroyed. Racial formation explains the definition and redefinition of specific race identities (Omi & Winant, 1994; Winant, 1994).

³In terms of race/ethnicity-related issues or events, objectivity or neutrality would be considered to follow the predominant ideologies of the general market-oriented journalists.

⁴According to the U.S. Census Bureau in 2000, there are five metropolitan areas where the Korean population is concentrated; Los Angeles–Riverside–Orange County (272,498), New York City–North New Jersey–Long Island (179,344), Washington DC–Baltimore (80,592), San Francisco–Oakland–San Jose (65,218), and Chicago–Gary–Kenosha (49,972).

⁵In this study, news stories include regular news articles, editorials, columns, and opinions.

Note. χ² for crime versus noncrime = 22.16, df = 4, p < .001 (five racial/ethnic groups considered). χ² for crime versus noncrime = 0.59, df = 3, p = .90 (four racial/ethnic groups considered). NGO = nongovernmental organization.

⁶In general, newspaper journalists use a series of prominence cues such as story placement, length, headline size, and pictorial treatment to attract attention to a certain news articles and to frame certain issues/events.

⁷These characteristics are (a) distinct residential patterns, (b) high levels of educational attainment, (c) economic affluences, and (d) familial orientations.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sang Y. Bai

Sang Y. Bai (M.A., Syracuse University) is a doctoral candidate in the School of Journalism, University of Texas at Austin. His research interests include mediated portrayals of minorities in terms of race, class, and gender, functions of global media, and agenda-setting effects of news coverage.