This guide should help you:

The Paper

Students will write a culminating 6-8 page research paper, due April 23.

The paper must present and support a sociological argument about a specific contemporary issue of race and gender in mass media.

Papers will combine media analysis of popular media sources and library research (scholarly books and articles) to provide support for a convincing and coherent sociological analysis.

~N. Hasan

I've noticed, through my own personal experiences and in observation of experiences of others, that American society somehow thinks Asian slurs are harmless or it is generally given less consideration than, say, racial slurs and stereotypes of African-Americans. Most recently, I found this phenomenon in the news media.

Yahoo NBA Blog - FOX Sports reporter Jason Whitlock:

Upon beating the Lakers, Mr. Whitlock commented on Lin's performance in a Tweet:

"Some lucky lady in NYC is gonna feel a couple inches of pain tonight."

After much criticism and derision, Whitlock came through with an apology of sorts:

I then gave in to another part of my personality - my immature, sophomoric, comedic nature. It's been with me since birth, a gift from my mother and honed as a child listening to my godmother's Richard Pryor albums. I still want to be a standup comedian.

by Asian American Journalists Association on Saturday, February 11, 2012 at 4:53pm ·

ESPN Fires Writer Over Racial Slur in Jeremy Lin HeadlineRead more: http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/02/19/espn-fires-writer-over-jeremy-lin-racial-slur-headline/#ixzz1n2kFhNYl

On Friday, ESPNEWS broadcaster Max Bretos used the same word and phrase that appeared in the mobile headline hours later. That anchor has been suspended 30 days. A third incident occurred on ESPN Radio New York, but the network said it was not said by an ESPN employee.

"We are conducting a complete review of our cross-platform editorial procedures and are determining appropriate disciplinary action to ensure this does not happen again," the network said on Saturday after the mobile headline caused a stir. "We regret and apologize for this mistake.''

http://www.newsday.com/sports/basketball/knicks/espn-apologizes-for-three-jeremy-lin-slurs-1.3540156

Media distillation:

Yahoo blog

Twitter

Facebook

Fox Sports

Time Magazine Newsfeed

Saturday Night Live spoof