Can You Hear Us Now: Inclusivity in the Media

Guests include UNC Chapel Hill Basketball Players Armando Bacot and Deja Kelly.

This episode gives voice to non-traditional minority students who have returned to college, an often overlooked group for various reasons, including nationality, gender, race, ethnicity, age, socioeconomic background, etc. People from this group experience marginalization from broader society, and in many cases, at institutions of higher learning, and have decided to reenroll in school despite bei...

This episode explores the mental health of students on UNC's campus. Mental health challenges on campus come in various forms, such as ADHD, depression, anxiety, grief, and more. We look at how mental health is stigmatized and why it is vital to change these perceptions. An issue that hits very close to home for UNC students is the suicide tragedies that happened last year and how the university r...

In the past twenty years, we have seen a revolution of mass media in the United States. People used to only see celebrities on screens, on stage, or maybe at an award show. Today, fans are able to track every move of their favorite celebrities, and subsequently criticize every move. While the media has always discussed an actress's appearance or who she is dating, this new level of access has put...

Guest Liv Reilly discusses why representation matters in children’s movies, specifically Disney/Pixar movies. Reilly also describes how people find identity and inspiration from popular movies and how live-action reproductions should reflect the growing and changing era in which it is produced.

Ariel, Annabeth Chase, and Snow White. What do all of these characters have in common? Disney opted to cast non-white actors for these upcoming roles, prompting backlash. Most namely, young Leah Jeffries, playing Annabeth Chase in the forthcoming Percy Jackson series, has had to deactivate from social media due to the outpouring of hate. Moreover, R&B singer Halle Bailey has also received a bunch...

Madilyne Nguyen-Acosta at Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Sony Music Entertainment, discusses diversity within the music industry and record labels, as well as recruiting new talent in today's corporate landscape.

We talk to Hannah Turner at Welcome House Raleigh--a temporary housing ministry for refugees and immigrants needing housing when they arrive in the US. Hannah discusses the common misconceptions about immigrants and refugees and the discrimination they face. She is knowledgeable about what immigrants and refugees go through when they come to America and as they work to build a life here.

Guest:  Kelly Starling Lyons

Guest:  Zoey Locklear

Guest:  Tamara Gibbs Franklin

Guests include Taylor Coffey and Markie McRae

Guest include:  Von Diaz, writer, documentary producer, and author of Coconuts and Collards:  Recipes and Stories from Puerto Rico to the Deep South.  Diaz is also a Professor of the Practice in the American Studies Department at UNC Chapel-Hill Kim LeQuire of Kornegay Family Farms.

“What I hope is that we encourage more people with disabilities to join the news industry. I hope we build a pipeline to help them thrive.” -Eric Garcia, journalist “To be honest, you’re never going to do a great job of covering disability unless people with disabilities are represented in your newsroom.” -Kristin Gilger, director of the National Center on Disability and Journalism

It's the simple truth that people carry implicit biases with them as they go about their lives in the world. But what happens when we bring these biases into the technology we consume? Algorithmic bias is the systematic and repetitive errors of a computer or web algorithm which create clear prejudice based upon race. Such algorithims prioritize one specific group over the other along the lines of...

With the world moving forward progressively in terms of acceptance, persons who were born biologically as a male and transition to identify as female are now allowed to compete in sports along their identity. Though there is science behind this transition and guidelines in place about the necessary steps that must be taken with hormone therapy and the like, there is still much controversy over the...

“Sport is a microcosm of society. Every aspect that happens in sport regarding race also happens out in the world.” -Jen Fry    

This final episode explores the disparities in the media with regards to the discussion about drugs and addiction, particularly across different races and socio-economic classes. These storytellers want to examine how the War on Drugs was framed as a primarily Black and brown issue, while the opioid crisis is portrayed as a public health problem.  ​ ​ ​

From the Guests I always thought that the person who had been charged with the crime, his or her story was equally compelling.” -Thomasi McDonald (2:06)  The question is what’s the value of reporting that crime. The way that I look at it sometimes is what am I offering the viewer? How am I educating that by sharing this story, is this an important story?” -Amanda Lamb (8:13) “In general, unless yo...

From the Guests “What I would like to see is respectful coverage where somebody’s sexuality, gender identity weren’t focused on as something different. But we’re not there yet,” Rhonda Gibson, James H. Shumaker Term Professor at UNC Hussman  "I have sometimes felt that the spaces journalists operate in don't invite conversations surrounding the queer identity and how we cover the queer identity,"...

From the Guests “I think it's really important for newsrooms to recognize that sexual violence is a lot more common than they think it is. When I was 19, I was actually selected for a jury for a rape trial, and I got to see some of the voir dire where they're selecting the jurors. And they would ask them, Do you know any rape victims? And like, almost all of the men said, I don't know, anywhere vi...

From the Guest “If you think you completely understand somebody because they’ve been portrayed in such a flat way, then it’s easy to think you have mastery over them.” - Sarah Bloesch

From the Guests “It's important to have those central messages if you're trying to push for change through a system that's already in place. Because a system that's already in place, likely has the power that you don't as an activist group. You're trying to gather people first to make change in the system. But if you don't have clear and concise control over your message, then you have no ability...

From the Guest “As DEI officer, I think it’s important to give people those tools and to be as transparent as possible because these things did happen, and we can only grow if everyone knows that they happened.”

“Just having a diversity course should be like a core requirement. You are not leaving the Hussman school until you are educated on how to be an effective reporter or PR person for all these different communities that you are gonna interact with.” -Alexis Jamison 21:29