William E Yousman, Ph.D.

Dr. Yousman’s research and teaching interests are focused on the relationship between media images and stories and the construction of ideology. In particular, he writes about racial representation in news, social media, and popular culture and the role media play in both reinforcing and challenging white supremacy.

He is the author of Prime Time Prisons on U.S. TV: Representation of Incarceration, which examines the distorted images of prisons and prisoners found in news and dramatic television programs and the impact of these sensationalistic stories on public opinion about crime and punishment.

His 2014 book, The Spike Lee Enigma: Challenge and Incorporation in Media Culture, explores ideology and political economy in the films and career of one of America’s most controversial and well-known filmmakers, arguing that Lee has been both a progressive and conservative force in Hollywood and the wider culture.

Professor Yousman is also a co-editor (along with his SCMA colleague Dr. Lori Bindig) of one of the most widely adopted anthologies in media studies: Gender, Race and Class in Media, a collection that curates cutting-edge theory and research on issues of power, identity, and ideology in popular culture.

He serves on the boards of the Action Coalition for Media Education, and the Global Critical Media Literacy Project, and the steering committee of the Union for Democratic Communications. Yousman is the former Managing Director of the Media Education Foundation and he is a regular panelist on WNPR’s Colin McEnroe Show, discussing the intersections of popular culture and politics.

Expertise 

• Media Literacy
• Media Ethics