A Talk on Critical Race Media Literacy Lead by Dr. Christine McWhorter

By Zara Abiog, Irene Ghosh, and Srivi Ramasubramanian | October 5, 2026

On September 24th, 2026 the CODE^SHIFT Lab welcomed Dr. Christine McWhorter to the Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. A tenured professor of Broadcast Journalism from Howard University, Dr. McWhorter spoke about Critical Race Media Literacy (CRML), drawing on ideas from her new book, Building Critical Race Media: Countering the Narrative. Her talk touched on three main arcs: why it’s necessary, how racial power operates through media scholarship, and what CRML looks like in practice. 

Dr. Christine McWhorter’s book: Building Critical Race Media: Countering the Narrative

So, what exactly is CRML? At its core, Dr. McWhorter describes it as a set of skills that help people understand, evaluate, and challenge racial harm in the media. It begins with the understanding that racial harm is already woven into the media we consume and that at this moment, the work functions as a corrective rather than a reaction, addressing harm that is already in the system rather than treating it as a lapse. This is because specific coalitions, organizations, and funding are mobilized around race, and because race runs throughout the entire narrative pipeline, from ownership and hiring to production, distribution, and representation. She highlights that CRML is a strand of media literacy that talks about ideology, institutions, class, race, gender, and disability and that we tend to notice race only at the level of representation or conflict. However, CRML encourages us to trace the problem back further to explore who controls and frames the stories before it is presented to an audience. 

Dr. McWhorter talking about CRT | Courtesy of Dr. Srivi Ramasubramanian

Dr. McWhorter opened her public talk by stating that at this moment, algorithms amplify outrage, Artificial Intelligence (AI)-generated content grows harder to distinguish from reality, and journalists face retaliation in the attempt to hold power accountable. Furthermore, we exist in a re-uprisal of blatant, brazen racism, with support for Black and Brown communities greatly diminished in schools, media, and public life. Countering that requires diverse, well-rounded representation of racialized groups and media literacy through a critical race theory lens so we can show how power structures the media. 

Subsequently, McWhorter examined the scholarly foundations underpinning CRML, namely political economy, media effects, and cultural studies. Political economy demonstrates that whoever controls the means of communication controls the narrative. She referenced the growing media ownership held by technology oligarchs as well as Hollywood’s unwillingness to produce a Black romantic comedy until another film had proven its success in the market, noting that Black audiences had consistently supported this demand, yet it has gone unnoticed by those in power. Media effects theory demonstrates that media instructs through gatekeeping, agenda setting, and framing. For example, she cited the case of Nolan Wells, whose disappearance received mainstream coverage only after his body was discovered, a significant contrast to the attention given to missing white individuals. Cultural studies perspective demonstrates that representation actively constructs meaning rather than merely mirroring reality. This is illustrated by COVID-era posts that praised essential workers as heroes rather than advocating for improved protection as well as the coverage of Hurricane Katrina in which Black residents were described as looting while others were described as simply finding food. 

Courtesy of Dr. Srivi Ramasubramanian

McWhorter further argued that algorithms and AI, however novel they may appear, often propagate old racial beliefs, specifically narratives of incompetence, at a much faster speed and larger scale. She recounted a personal experience in which ChatGPT doubted that the Associated Press (AP) had been removed from the White House press pool, suggesting that AI believes the story America tells about itself: that it’s a fair and just place where such occurrence would be impossible. 

Courtesy of Dr. Srivi Ramasubramanian

Dr. McWhorter closed her presentation by reframing the concept of representation as a systemic question: “Who gets full, complete, in-depth and well-rounded worlds to live in?” It’s a question that resonates not only to media scholars, but to anyone engaging with media, whether as a consumer or creator. As she stated, AI and algorithms are fairly new, but racism is not. Learning to recognize this entrenched issue within new technology is what CRML is for.