OLPD Research Roundtable: Affirmative Action, the Media, and the Politics of Fear

OLPD Research Roundtables are monthly, informal presentations and discussions by members of the OLPD community—all are welcome!

For this roundtable, Professor Karen Miksch will discuss her new research project looking at media coverage of the 2023 U.S. Supreme Court affirmative action rulings. She will begin the talk by providing a brief legal, historical, and social overview of the Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard and UNC Court opinion. Earlier mixed methods research she and colleagues conducted on media framing of race-conscious affirmative action will be discussed (e.g., Miksch & Pedelty, 2010), as it provides context for the current study. 

Her talk will then focus in on preliminary results of the current study finding that higher education journalists are giving more weight and attention to criticisms of race-conscious policies and programs by anti-affirmative action advocacy groups than those who support affirmative action. That is, although the Court only ruled on higher education admission policies, news coverage has framed the case as outlawing all affirmative action (i.e., hiring and pathway programs) and that any diversity and equity programs risk being sued. 

David Altheide’s (2006) theory of the politics of fear provides a useful lens to analyze the current news framing of affirmative action as he highlights how media coverage can lead to policies based on panic and fear. Implications for policy and participants practice will be discussed.