Book ReWews 357

Understanding Ethnic Media: Producers, Consumers, and Societies. Matthew D.

Matsaganis, Vikki S. Katz, and Sandra J. Ball-Rokeach. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE, 201 I.
314 pp. $41.95 pbk.

Reviewed by: Queenie Byars, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
DOI: 10.1 177/1077699012443102

Joumalism and mass communication programs continue to expand support for diver-
sity that is inclusive and reñected in the classroom, work environment, and scholarly
research work. The timing of a new book focusing on the proliferation of the ethnic
media sector during the past two decades is noteworthy. This addition to the literature
adds a new twist to the important discussion on diversity, employment of racial and
ethnic minorities, and the portrayal of minorities by the mainstream media.
In Understanding Ethnic Media: Producers, Consumers, and Societies, authors
Matthew D. Matsaganis of SUNY-Albany, Vikki S. Katz of Rutgers University, and
Sandra J. Ball-Rokeach of the Annenberg School at the University of Southem
Califomia joined forces to present "a far-reaching review and analysis of how ethnic
media affects ongoing negotiations of self-identity." Their initiative led to a course on
ethnic media at USC, and then to the book.
The three professors—one a former joumalist fiom Greece, another a researcher
who grew up in apartheid South Afiica, and the third principal investigator of the
Metamorphosis Project at the Annenberg School—focused on nine areas during their
extensive research of ethnic media. Their comprehensive, 314-page book is organized
into eleven chapters covering history, policy, culture, organization, profession, social
relations, commimity, migration, and globalization dimensions. Most chapters include
objectives, helpful shaded blocks of material labeled "For Further Discussion," plus a
summary and study questions or role-playing scenarios.
The book is so broad that it reads and feels like a multivolume encyclopedia. With
so much material to cover, the authors go through painstaking efforts to structure the
book into five overarching sections: Ethnic Media in Context, The Consumers, The
Producers, Ethnic Media as Civic Communicators, and The Future of Ethnic Media.
Ethnic Media in Context looks at definitions, key terms, and the roles ethic media
play in everyday life and history. The objective is to help readers understand what
historical, social, political, and economic conditions make studying ethnic media nec-
essary. It details the development of ethnic media for immigrant, ethnic minority, and
indigenous groups in different parts of the world and traces their evolution over time.
The timeline follows Gutenberg's printing press in 1439 and details the fn-st ethnic
newspaper published in Europe.
To illustrate the importance of their topic, the authors cite a June 2009 study that
showed that "nearly 60 million Americans of Aft-ican, Latino, and Asian background
get their news and other information regularly from ethnically targeted television.
358 Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly 89(2)

radio, newspapers and Web sites." The Consumers section examines how these ethnic
communities incorporate ethnic media into their lives.
The authors discuss two key ethnic media functions: a connective function to the
news and events of the home country, plus an orientation ñinction to familiarize new-
comers with information on resources, laws, protections, and norms. Ethnic media also
help with the maintenance and creation of ethnic minority identities, the authors say.
Fully 40% of the book is contained in part 3, The Producers, which comprises four
chapters, which examine ethnic media audience trends, why circulation numbers and
ratings mafter, and why discovering these data can be difficult. Later, the authors show
how newspaper competition affects ethnic newspapers. They cover social changes, the
Intemet, and the forces of globalization that affect the sustainability of print and elec-
tronic ethnic media.
A case study, "A Not So Uncommon Story from the Booming Ethnic Media Market
of New York," offers a look at two Greek American daily newspapers—Proini and the
Greek American—and what happened when controlling ovraership was acquired by a
Greek company in Athens. It illusfrates why "producers find it hard to attract advertis-
ing, why advertisers often feel that ethnic media do not serve their needs, and why
researchers find it difflcult to identify trends in media markets where ethnic media are
present."
The fifth section identifies gaps in knowledge and research that will become the
topics of new investigations by researchers and practitioners alike. The authors aftempt
to answer the question, "What Does the Fuftare Hold for Ethnic Media?" Responses
vary, but this statement from James Ho, president of Mainsfream Broadcasting
Corporation, captures the sentiment: "No longer are ethnic media serving the minori-
ties; as minority populations grow, ethnic media are now serving majorities."
As a textbook. Understanding Ethnic Media helps explain how the media become
increasingly important as "definitions of'majority' and 'minority' are challenged and
minorities become majorities in many parts of the world." It is a valuable cross-discipline
book for those teaching and studying joumalism and mass communication, political
science, sociology, and anthropology courses.

Us Against Them: The Political Culture of Talk Radio. Randy Bobbitt. Lanham, MD:
Lexington Books, 2010. 274 pp. $83.99 hbk. $34.99 pbk.

Reviewed by: Christopher H. Sterling, George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA
DOI: 10.1177/1077699012443108

The latest in what is becoming a wider shelf of books on radio talk in this country
examines the format and the role that it plays in both the political process and popular
culture more generally. Among the central questions the author addresses is why
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