Lecture Explores Media Access for Women and People of Color

The Department of Media and Communication at St. John Fisher College will present the spring lecture, “Different Voices, Different Paths: Media Access for Women and People of Color in the U.S.,” presented by Dr. Rebecca Lind of University of Illinois at Chicago. The lecture will be held at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, March 28, in the Joseph S. Skalny Welcome Center in the James ’71 and Kathleen Leo Community Room, followed by a reception and hors d'oeuvres at 6:45 p.m.

Lind is an associate professor and director of undergraduate studies in the Department of Communication in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She teaches media studies and her publications have focused on media (race and gender in the media, audience studies, journalism, and media ethics) and research integrity. The fifth edition of her book Race/Gender/Media: Considering Diversity Across Audiences, Content, and Producers is due in 2023.

In her lecture, Lind will use Susan Carter’s (2004) set of three models describing women’s access to broadcasting, and expand her models to include racial/ethnic minorities. She will investigate the different historical contexts of female and minority access to commercial broadcasting, and argue that women and minorities have rooted their media access in different models. The intersection of race and gender, combined with an evolving cultural, political, and regulatory environment, has had a powerful influence on which of the three access models were used by women and people of color. 

Lind has held leadership positions in multiple scholarly and professional organizations, and is on the editorial boards of journals such as the Journal of Communication, Critical Studies in Media Communication, Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, and the Journal of Radio Studies.

She has been on the Board of Directors of the Broadcast Education Association, chair of the Mass Communication Division of the National Communication Association, and chair of the Gender Issues Division of the Broadcast Education Association. She holds professional memberships in organizations such as the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, National Association of Television Programming Executives, International Communication Association, Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, National Communication Association, and Broadcast Education Association.

The event is free and open to all students, faculty, staff, and community members. RSVP’s are requested, but not required, here.