The Pub Hub

I. Karl Marx's Legacy
1. Ruling interests are made the common interests of all society
2. Ruling interests can only become “common” if made universal: “It is not the consciousness of men that determines their being, but on the contrary it is their social being that determines their consciousness.
The major bias of any writer

II. Hegemony
Root: from the word “Hegemon,” the ruling group, a state power; Conquerors in Hebrew times
Definition: Fluctuating state of dominant ideology; also, the ongoing struggle to gain the consent of the people to a system that would govern them.
Antonio Gramsci: Hegemony is a “condition in process” in which a dominant class does not merely rule a society but leads it through the exercise of “moral and intellectual leadership.”
Assimilation: hegemony is maintained by dominant groups and classes, negotiating with and making concessions to subordinate groups and classes.
Two forms of control:
1. Coercive Control: threat of force
2. Consensual Control: willful or voluntary actions to assimilate
Hegemonic Negotiation: Theory of how culture changes as opposing ideas are encountered by the dominant ideology. The critical charge of an opposing idea is often softened or negated as it is incorporated within the dominant ideology.

III. Privilege (Allan Johnson)
Privilege: What exists when one group has something of value that is denied to others simply because of the groups they belong to, rather than because of anything they’ve done or failed to do.
Two types of privilege:
1. Unearned entitlement: when a designated group receives something that should be available to everyone: public safety or equality at work.
2. Conferred Dominance: takes unearned entitlement a step further by giving one group power over another.
Path of least resistance: the path we take when someone says something that we may disagree with, for the sake of comfort, avoiding conflict or the “common good.”
-Not confronting someone about a crass joke
The myth of choice: the “privilege” of choosing or not choosing to care about race issues, while others are reminded that they’re different every day.

IV. Representation
Common representations of non-whites in the media
1. Primitive stereotypes
2. Violent
3. Sexually promiscuous
4. Victims
Tokenism: the process of choosing just enough diversity to avoid confrontation
Stories define what is “normal” (a former D-Group news story described multicultural small groups as "getting colorful," reflecting a "lack" of color prior to it and inferring that "white" is the "norm")
The Buddy movie mentality: social issues get simplified in news stories to individual issues. Go deeper and find the social implication.
Cornel West: “For liberals, black people are to be ‘included’ and “integrated” into “our” society and culture, while for conservatives they are to be ‘well behaved’ and ‘worthy of acceptance’ by ‘our’ way of life. Both fail to see that the presence and predicaments of black people are neither additions to nor defections from American life, but rather constitutive elements of that life.”

V. Ethnicity
The power of naming:
1. Naming can generalize (Asian) or expand (Japanese)
2. Black vs. African American: one has been considered narrow while the other can include people groups that do not belong (namely, Africans)
There's no need to mention unless relevant to the story
Terms to be skeptical of: majority, ghetto, common good, the public and inner city.
When in doubt about terms and approaches, contact advocacy groups in the area
Crime: minorities are often featured in crime stories; equal representation is needed in every area of coverage
Easy rule: treat each person as an individual
Keith Woods: “Coverage of ethnic and racial minorities still reflects too many festivals and football games and not enough family issues or finance.”

VI. Women
Sources: make sure to include female sources in general stories (good rule to check the slant of your story based on sources in general)
Gender inclusive language: avoid referring to positions in male terms-spokesman, founding fathers or congressman, mankind, etc.
Lose the chauvinism: avoid Wild at Heart stereotypes: if you think that men should be the romantic pursuer and head of the house, that's fine, but the newspaper does not condone traditional views of gender relationships; objectivity requires a nonbias view.
Respect: don’t refer to women by their first names
Use of adjectives: would you refer to a man as “confident” or “feisty”
Gender vs. sex (male/female)
1. Sex: Biological
2. Gender: Social construction of expectations for each sex

VII. Sexual Orientation
1. Know APU’s position, but realize students may disagree with it
2. Be conscious of language to protect ALL students
3. Use "orientation" not “preference” or “alternative lifestyle”; preference implies choice and it's not the paper's job to engage that argument.
4. Use the term "Gay and lesbian community" or "gays and lesbians" instead of "homosexuals" or "homosexual people."
5. Use “homosexual” or "same-sex" in reference to medical or sexual circumstances
6. Use of different terms
LGBTQ: Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning.
Transgender is not synonymous with gay or lesbian.
Transvestite does not refer to sexual activity but cross-dressing
Queer is commonly used in academia and as an all-encompassing term (sometimes controversial)
LGBTQ issues are not just “white” issues though the term and movement has been accused of ostracizing minorities.

VIII. People with Disabilities
1. Not handicapped or a disabled person, but a person with a disability. Why?
2. Only use these terms when interviewee uses them for self-description
Too vague: “mentally challenged,” “visually challenged” or “physically inconvenienced”; Considered condescending
Don’t evoke pity: Avoid “afflicted with” or “suffers from” and simply say what they have
Hearing Impaired vs. deaf
The deaf, hard of hearing, late deafened

In all cases, when used in stories, do the research and find out from sources