Dr. Vince Filak: The Importance of DEI in Mass Communication

In part 2 of a 2-part podcast on trends in Mass Communication (listen to part 1 here, part of the Sage College Publishing Podcast channel), best-selling author and educator Vincent F. Filak emphasizes the value of DEI in broadening perspectives and fostering student engagement and growth. He highlights more inclusive teaching strategies and integrative approaches to representing diverse experiences.

Transcript

Victoria Velasquez, Product Marketing Manager for Psychology at SAGE Publishing: 0:00

Welcome to episode two of sages focus on Mass Comm podcast. For those of you who missed Episode One, I'm Vicky Velasquez, the Product Marketing Manager for Communication and Media Studies at SAGE Publishing. And I'm joined again by SAGE author Vince V loc. In this installment, we'll discuss the importance of diversity, equity and inclusion in education, and specifically how D AI is being incorporated into the study of mass communication. If you missed part one, you can find that listed in the SAGE college publishing podcast. Thanks for joining me for another episode. Vince.

Vince Filak, Mass Comm Professor and Sage Author: 0:38

It's always great to be here. Thank you. Thanks for having me.

Victoria Velasquez, Product Marketing Manager for Psychology at SAGE Publishing: 0:41

Yeah, it was really great to talk to you last time about the state of the mass communication field. Today, I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts on di and mass communication.

Vince Filak, Mass Comm Professor and Sage Author: 0:52

That sounds great. I'm looking forward to it.

Victoria Velasquez, Product Marketing Manager for Psychology at SAGE Publishing: 0:55

So let's go ahead and get started. So why do you think di is important in education?

Vince Filak, Mass Comm Professor and Sage Author: 1:02

Well, I think that on the most basic level, the concept of diversity, equity, and inclusion is really about getting the broadest possible set of perspectives on an array of topics that matter to us, you know, hold of us in society. And these core values help us to better understand not just our own view on an issue, but how others view it and why they view it that way. Now, I think this allows for us to kind of question our own views, to either recalibrate how we think about an issue based on what other people are introducing to us, or in some cases to solidify our own sense of what we tend to believe, because we're testing our ideas against those competing ones. When we keep our focus really narrow, I think we eliminate perspectives from people who might not be have, say, our social group, or race, or abilities, our gender, or sexual orientation, or any one of a number of other areas. And what we do at that point is we eliminate our ability to grow and learn in an effective way. So maybe to put it another way, I only know what it is to live the life that I have in my own skin and kind of with my own soul. So I have no way of knowing if it's, you know, the best way or the worst way to do that. But it's pretty much what I've got, I need those other people who have experienced life in their own ways to kind of help me to understand more about society on the whole and kind of where I fit and how I fit into it. And what that really allows me to do is to grow and change in a much more effective way than if I just kind of keep plodding along with my head down. Now, from a student perspective, I think that broadening the pool of perspectives, and the topics, and the coverage can really help that student better relate to the material that directly impacts them. So I'll pull back for a moment and give you an example in a much simpler way. If you go back to the first book that I wrote, it was dynamics and Media Writing. So it was for Media students in news, paper kind of web kind of style writing, there was broadcast, there was public relations, there was advertising and so forth. And when I got here, and I started teaching of the book that was provided for me before I wrote one, it kind of had all these important things for anybody in any area of media. But it only talked about newspapers, really, it was like newspapers, or the Golden God there is none higher, and they kind of shortchange public relations and advertising and either marginalize them or disparage them. So when I was using that book, and I was introducing a topic, say, tight or writing or interviewing or something, and I had a PR or an ad kid in that class, and they were using that book, they'd look at me and say, Yeah, but I'm not going into news. This doesn't matter to me. Well, yes, it really did matter to you. But I couldn't point to something in that book that said, here's you, here's how this skill is going to apply to you. And because I couldn't do that, that really fell on deaf ears. So when I wrote the dynamics, immediate writing book, I wrote it as a much more inclusive text using examples from all media types and all platforms so that students could read the book and see an important skill and go, Oh, yeah, that's me. That's my area. I understand that better now. So if we want to then shift back towards that broader discussion of DEI, if we don't have a table in which a wide wide array of diverse people are present, and equally included, students can look at a topic that would clearly matter to them and say, Yeah, but that's not me. And that's not really helpful to anybody.

Victoria Velasquez, Product Marketing Manager for Psychology at SAGE Publishing: 4:48

Right? Again, you want your students to be engaged with what they're learning and they want to see their experiences reflected. I mean, that's an anything we read. I know for me if I'm watching Even a show or reading a book, you want to relate to the characters or to the peoples, the same with education I imagined?

Vince Filak, Mass Comm Professor and Sage Author: 5:07

Absolutely. And I think that the more that any individual can see themselves represented as part of a larger hole of broader representation, they can then say, All right, I'm buying into the broader concept that's being discussed here, as opposed to well, that's for somebody else. That's not for me.

Victoria Velasquez, Product Marketing Manager for Psychology at SAGE Publishing: 5:31

Especially when talking about the intro Mass Comm course where you might have mass comm majors to you might also have students from other majors and disciplines. So you want them to be just as engaged with the content?

Vince Filak, Mass Comm Professor and Sage Author: 5:45

Absolutely. And engaging students can feel difficult. But again, I go back to what I talked about, with audience centricity. So when I see the audience, I think, to myself, who is out there, and what is of interest or necessity to them? And then how can I take this information and help them to value it, and apply it to what they do and who they are? And that really increases engagement, as opposed to, I'm gonna lecture off the same notes I've had since about 1999. And these things are gonna stick or they're not, and I don't have to carry their way. It's just going to be on the test.

Victoria Velasquez, Product Marketing Manager for Psychology at SAGE Publishing: 6:28

Yeah. We briefly talked about social media in part one. But related to this topic, what role does social media play in terms of DEI? Do you feel it's largely positive or negative?

Vince Filak, Mass Comm Professor and Sage Author: 6:42

You know, that's a tough one. Because this topic is really big. And there are a lot of moving parts within that kind of a question. So it's really hard to say, in any kind of definitive way, what I can say, is that I think in a lot of ways, social media has value in di, in the same way that it has in so many other areas that have often been marginalized, because it allows people the opportunity to have a voice, and to have that voice amplified through that power person to person communication. And that can then be shared amongst people for the benefit of a larger group. Now, that said, you know, the old adage goes, a lie can run a mile, while the truth, it's still lacing up its shoes. So when people have a very narrow view of what the eye is in their mind, or if they have a general hostility towards any topic, social media can really do a lot of damage to people. Because if they're not willing to think critically about a topic at hand, they can kind of end up in this negative bandwagoning on a topic, regardless of what it is. But, you know, I think in a lot of ways, they don't really have a very true understanding of what it is or why we're discussing it. And so I think that that's important. When it comes to social media, again, to be a critical thinker, understanding anybody with an internet connection, and an idea can step up to the mic. So we now have to think a lot harder about who is saying what, and how real that really is.

Victoria Velasquez, Product Marketing Manager for Psychology at SAGE Publishing: 8:13

Yeah, not taking things, you know, just for face value, again, having that kind of critical consumer lens, right, when you're looking at media.

Vince Filak, Mass Comm Professor and Sage Author: 8:22

Right. If we don't have the ability to question what we're seeing, you know, we can very easily be manipulated. And or we can very easily miss out on opportunities that are really important to us. But we're told no, no, don't bother looking over there. And if we just kind of carry on as we carry on, we miss a lot.

Victoria Velasquez, Product Marketing Manager for Psychology at SAGE Publishing: 8:47

And how have you seen DEI evolve in the classroom?

Vince Filak, Mass Comm Professor and Sage Author: 8:52

You know, I think there's a lot...over the time that I've been in the classroom, when I started looking back and realizing how much of my life I've spent in a classroom, it really spans a lot of areas. But there are two bigger ones that I think are important that I can really kind of put a finger on. The first is as instructors, we're now more aware of it than we ever were before, which allows us to better set up our classes, you know, even in the smallest ways. And those small ways can even make a big difference. So for example, when I'd be writing a book, and I had to use an example, or I had to write, you know, some sort of, for instance, in there, I would use names with which I was familiar. So I would use John or Jane or bill or Sally or whatever. And you know, that kind of stuff would go in the book and it would go on the ancillary material for instructors. And I remember having one instructor reach out to me and say, you know, do you mind that I'm changing the names in my examples, because I'm teaching students and it's about 80%, Latino, Latina and the Those names aren't as familiar as some of the names that I've been using. And I thought, Well, no, that's great. You know, that's, that's really good. Because again, once you see a reflection of yourself, you're more likely to want attachment and an engagement. And the other thing that was it really never dawned on me at the time, that oh, okay, I thought I was just trying to be universal, it turned out, I wasn't being universal at all. So when I started doing another book, or when I started revising a book, I started looking for names of all sorts of backgrounds, and trying to find these wide array of names that might reflect students of different backgrounds and things along those lines. So, in that awareness, what I really find myself doing is reflecting on the things I did, and the way that I did them. So I could say to myself, Am I really reaching the students where they are, in all the appropriate ways possible? Or am I kind of stuck in my own kind of, well, this is the way I've always done it kind of approach. Now, secondly, I think we've started to be more integrative in our approach to DEI. So it really becomes a little less of what I call a specialty thing. A good friend of mine had a t shirt that I liked, she would wear it a lot, and it said, Black History Month is all year long. And her point was that we shouldn't kind of cordon off parts of the year, or parts of the class or parts of anything and say, Okay, now we're going to learn the race, the gender, the ethnicity, the whatever stuff. And then let's get back to normal stuff. Because in doing that, we really do kind of create these kind of borders, and these barriers to that more integrative inclusiveness that DEI really strives for. So instead, what I've liked to do, and I know that a lot of my colleagues like to do is try to talk about things in a more integrative way. So for example, when I was working through the, the Mass Comm book, you know, it wasn't like, okay, let's cordon off this area for the history of the black press, or let's cordon off this area for black innovative innovators in video games, or let's cordon off this area. For women. What it was was, I started looking at all of the things that were happening simultaneously. But that had often been ignored, or, in other ways, kind of certain people got overshadowed. And I just kind of told those stories together with the idea of these things were all happening at the same time. And these people from all of these different backgrounds, and these, these diverse kinds of experiences, are all playing a role at some level in building what we now see today. So the way I like to think about it is, just because we haven't heard it before, doesn't mean it didn't happen that way. So let's make sure that we're giving the biggest and widest possible view on how certain things occurred, especially in the field of mass communication.

Victoria Velasquez, Product Marketing Manager for Psychology at SAGE Publishing: 13:07

Right, which leads to, you know, more inclusive integrative text and a better experience for your students.

Vince Filak, Mass Comm Professor and Sage Author: 13:16

Do you think so I think that, again, seeing yourself in the things that you're being asked to study really does kind of bring something home in a very different way. But also knowing that there is value in what is being created, or what was being discovered, by whoever discovered it is something that can be very helpful to students. So it's not so much of the again, let's cordon off an area and say, Okay, this was the investment that we made in this particular race, group, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation. And now let's get back to some other stuff. It's more of a way to be able to see who you are as part of the larger society, which is I think, what diversity equity inclusion is all about how we are all part of the same big society and being able to move forward.

Victoria Velasquez, Product Marketing Manager for Psychology at SAGE Publishing: 14:13

Exactly. And speaking of moving forward, where do you see DEI headed in both the near and distant future, both in the media and in the field of mass communication overall?

Vince Filak, Mass Comm Professor and Sage Author: 14:26

Wow, that's a tough one. Because I really do think in a lot of ways this kind of comes down to how is DEI framed in the larger society, and how is society going to react to that framing? So I gave you my perspective earlier in that idea of what value it has and how it plays and how I tend to see it. And from my perspective and through my lens, I think we are seeing some progress in some ways and We're seeing some regression and others. But if you look back over time, no kind of development of any kind, no kind of growth of any kind was ever just a straight line, especially to change particularly when it comes to a concept as very complex and wide reaching this this, what I can say is that there are things I have seen in my lifetime, that have changed in terms of how the media approach things that do show progress over time. So we don't make random references to people based on their race or their sexual orientation. I was watching a 60 Minutes episode from the mid-to-late 80s. And I was struck by how even then those journalists that a lot of people aspired to be like, we're using phrases or words or descriptors that today would really, you know, kind of stun us and say, Oh, my God, you can't do that. That's not, that's not appropriate. It's not how we treat other people. But at the time, it was, well, this is just the style that we use. I remember reading old newspapers when, you know, somebody would die. If it was a woman and she was married, you wouldn't be referred to as you know, Jane Smith died, it would be Mrs. John Smith died. And we stopped doing that too, for for very good reasons. Now, that's not to say we're where we need to be at all. But I think one of the things that's important is to understand that if we deny that progress actually has occurred in any kind of way, we really do overlook the efforts of so many people who have made these inroads and have worked hard to create a place for themselves and for others. So the phrase we're getting there kind of does apply in some ways, and how far we're getting and how far we have to go? Well, that's often a matter of opinion. But simply put, I think, to answer your question, I'd like to think that in the near future, we're still going to be having debates or discussions over what kind of verbiage to use and what situations how they relate to certain groups or topics or what have you. And I think that that's going to continue to move our progress slowly a one, what I really like to think about in the distant future, is that people will look back at where we are now. And kind of have this moment of wow, that's, that's how they used to be. So I think back to when I was a kid, you know, I I look back at the cartoons that they used to put on reruns from the 1960s. And I'd be watching the Flintstones, and Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble would like, take a break and go behind the house and start chain smoking packs of Winston cigarettes because Winston's the sponsor of, you know, the program, and they're like, "Yeah, this is really great stuff." And they're smoking away. I look at that. And I'm like, I can't believe that that happened. And I guess my hope is that, where we are now, by the time the future kind of gets into that distant future, people will look back at us with this look of incredibility going, Wow, that used to happen. Wow, look how far we've come. That would be nice.

Victoria Velasquez, Product Marketing Manager for Psychology at SAGE Publishing: 18:26

Yes, definitely would be nice. Well, thank you so much, Vince for taking the time to talk to me today. It's such a pleasure to talk with sages authors and get insights from those who are directly impacting students. Do you have any final thoughts or parting words do you want to share before we sign off?

Vince Filak, Mass Comm Professor and Sage Author: 18:47

Sure, I think one of the things that I like to look at is, when we're talking about issues of diversity, equity and inclusion, they really do resonate back to what you were taught as a little kid. Inclusion, make sure everybody can play equity, you know, you treat everybody the way that you would want to be treated, you know, diversity, don't, you know, don't don't push somebody out of the out of the game. Because, you know, you look at them, and you say, Well, you're not like me. I mean, we learned this stuff in kindergarten, and somewhere along the way, I think it just got, you know, overly complex, but in the simplest of forms, it's about being, you know, inclusive to the point of making sure that everybody has the opportunity to express themselves in a way where they feel part of the larger process, and I can't think of a more important thing.

Victoria Velasquez, Product Marketing Manager for Psychology at SAGE Publishing: 19:44

Yes, exactly. Thanks again for a wonderful two part discussion vents. That concludes episode two of SAGE is focus on Mass Comm podcast. Look forward to more content from the SAGE college publishing podcast channel, including more mass comm On focused conversations make sure to subscribe to get the latest updates and we'll see you in the next episode