News and Sexuality

The Accrediting Council of Educators in Journalism and Mass Communications (ACEJMC) recently added sexual orientation to its revised diversity standards. This means that journalism schools seeking accreditation or re-accreditation must develop a curriculum that fosters an understanding of issues and perspectives that is inclusive in terms of gender, race, ethnicity – and sexual orientation. This volume, containing original material written for this text, is designed to satisfy the requirement by the ACEJMC that all journalism departments teach sexual diversity. Moving from description, to analysis, to application, the text includes the history of media coverage of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (GLBTI) issues; and coverage of important contemporary issues in the news, such as "Don′t Ask, Don′t Tell," the rise of GLBTI families, and AIDS.

News and Sexuality: Media Portraits of Diversity is a practical teaching tool that will help educators meet these new accreditation standards by addressing these complex and often controversial issues, providing additional resources, discussion questions, suggested homework assignments, and a glossary of terms. Student journalists must be equipped to bring a general knowledge of sexual diversity issues to the table as part of their professional education repertoire. And any adult who consumes media messages, whether or not they work in media, also must be able to spot inaccurate or biased reporting

Key Features:

• Moves from description, to analysis, to application, putting issues and episodes into context.
• All readings are original and written for this text.
• Contains student study guides within each chapter with resources, including Websites, books, and videos.
• Concludes each chapter with discussion questions, assignments, and activities that bring the issues to life for students.
• Chapter-opening photographs highlight key historical and contemporary events in news media coverage of sexual diversity.
• Includes a style guide prepared by the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association 

Laura Castaneda has been a staff writer, editor and columnist for The San Francisco Chronicle, The Dallas Morning News, and The Associated Press in San Francisco, New York and Mexico. Her freelance work has appeared in The New York Times, BusinessWeek Online, Hispanic Business, Latina, Online Journalism Review, Columbia Journalism Review and American Journalism Review magazines, among others. Castaneda is the co-editor of "News and Sexuality: Media Portraits of Diversity," which was published by Sage Publications in October 2005. She is the co-author of "The Latino Guide to Personal Money Management," which was published by Bloomberg Press in May 1999, and was released in Spanish by Seven Stories Press in 2001. She earned undergraduate degrees in journalism and international affairs from USC, and a master′s degree from Columbia University′s School of International and Public Affairs, and a doctorate from the USC Rossier School of Education. She also was awarded a Knight-Bagehot Fellowship in business and economics reporting from Columbia′s School of Journalism. In 2002, Castaneda was awarded the Association for Journalism and Mass Communication′s 2002 Baskett Mosse Award for Faculty Development. She currently serves as Associate Director of the Annenberg School of Journalism.