Diverse interpretations: The “relevance”; of race in the construction of meaning in, and the evaluation of, a television news story

The concept of relevancy is used to analyze differences between African American and European American viewers’ readings of a TV news investigative report documenting discrimination in the housing industry. In 17 focus group discussions (8 Black, 9 White) lasting about two hours, four key relevancies were discovered: the relevancy of oppression, the relevancy of the problem of racism, the relevancy of the characters in the news story, and the relevancy of home ownership. By investigating the relevancies of race and racism as they became clear in the group discussions, a subtle form of racism, passive racism, was discovered in even the most liberal of this study's White viewers.

Key terms:

• Relevance
• television
• TV news
• journalism
• audience
• interpretations
• evaluations
• modem racism
• passive racism
• racism
• African American
• Black
• White