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Racial and Ethnic Inclusion in the Digital Era: Shifting Discourses in Communications Public Policy
Author(s) -
Castañeda Mari,
FuentesBautista Martha,
Baruch Felicitas
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
journal of social issues
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.618
H-Index - 122
eISSN - 1540-4560
pISSN - 0022-4537
DOI - 10.1111/josi.12101
Subject(s) - inclusion (mineral) , diversity (politics) , ethnic group , corporate governance , representation (politics) , digital media , media policy , political science , broadband , competition (biology) , sociology , digital divide , cultural diversity , public relations , information and communications technology , gender studies , business , law , politics , ecology , finance , biology
This article examines the representation of racial and ethnic minorities in contemporary U.S. broadband policy, an emerging area of communication policy that attempts to address merging media and telecommunications competition, diversity and inclusion issues for the digital age. A summary of three dominant themes in the literature regarding media diversity outlines the primary concerns of digital media policy. An interpretative policy analysis of the National Broadband Plan sheds lights on how regulators address diversity and access issues in the digital transition, particularly for communities of color. The analysis reveals that unlike prior exclusions of certain racial and ethnic groups in communications infrastructure, the unfolding broadband framework is attempting to be explicit about the inclusion of historically marginalized populations. We argue that the emerging media governance framework is both influenced by the problematic history of media diversity as well as a discursive and material shift that emphasizes market orientations.