Christina Myers always knew her passion was to make a profound impact on other people's lives. What she didn't always know is that it could happen in journalism.
Myers has accepted an offer to join the Michigan State University School of Journalism faculty as a professor beginning in August. The road to this new opportunity for Myers started with the bold move to leave the field of medicine behind in the early 2010s for a career in journalism.
"I have learned and so am thankful that I can reach so many more people through writing," Myers said. "I am most proud about having that peace and confidence to do something new. Journalism has truly changed my life."
Myers will now change MSU students' lives beginning in August, when she continues her research which bridges critical race theory and mass communication theory to offer a fresh perspective on the intersection of media and race.
Myers uses qualitative methods to engage and apply critical race perspectives to examine depictions of the Black experience in mass media in order to understand how implicit racial bias, racist ideologies and stereotypes are present in the messages created by content creators.
"I always say that we can be fair in our reporting while being authentic to our experiences and be able to express a perspective that is unique to us," Myers said. "I want my students to be confident in that and I hope when they leave my classroom that they are."
Myers' interests lie in the narratives created in mass media that relate to music lyrics, news content and sports commentary, as it relates to issues of race and systemic racism, in order to understand these perspectives and how they are suppressed by what she terms majoritarian narratives.
"These are narratives that have been here historically and long held that would try to deduce and suggest what the Black experience is like in the United States," Myers said. "As an instructor, journalist and scholar, I view it as purpose-driven work. I am very intentional about the type of work I do."
Myers said she is aiming to accomplish three things. The first is to confront systemic racism by exposing the societal mechanisms and communication practices in mass media that seek to oppress African Americans, people of color, and other marginalized groups.
Her second goal is to amplify the voices of those who have been systemically silenced in mainstream media by highlighting their authentic experiences through scholarship.
The third aim is to offer through her work an avenue for critical discourse on race to foster equitable communication practices and solutions as well as equitable academic environments. Myers views all of those things working hand-in-hand in the field and in the classroom in order to make societal change and shift in our industry.
While it is important for Myers to ensure that students are able to learn and apply the practical and theoretical skills of mass communication, there is something more important.
"It is even more important for me to help prepare them to be engaged citizens of this world, empathetic to the changing dynamics of our society," Myers said. "I want my students to leave my classroom having a better understanding, feeling that they came into a safe space where we can interact and talk about our different perspectives, be able to lean on our shared experiences to help us approach journalism in a different way."
Myers is excited to be joining what she calls an elite program at Michigan State. "What I am very passionate about and what I am excited about is that there is a real effort toward ensuring that a diverse group of professors and instructors are coming into this space to do the real diversity, equity and inclusion work," Myers said. "I think that often and sadly, after the murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and so many Black lives that have been murdered and taken from us, that there seemed to be this societal awakening or realization that yeah, racism is real and it has always been here and it has always been present, but the pandemic made us kind of sit still and we were forced to see what was in front of us. It is something that we have always experienced, I have always experienced, in my entire life."
Life was supposed to take Myers into the medical field. She had taken the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) and was preparing to enter medical school in the early 2010s, then a point came where she took a pause to decide if that was what she wanted. She believes her undergraduate experience, combined with the work she had started in the medical field, prepared her for the moment she became a Michigan State University professor.
"I don't look at that at all as wasted time," Myers said. "Every interaction, every opportunity has led me to this moment now. It just felt right and I am so grateful I trusted that voice inside."
Myers' journalism career started at the NBC News Channel in Charlotte, North Carolina. Then, she moved to the Associated Press. Her next move was to The State, where she earned the opportunity to create her own beat, called the Equity beat, which focused on the intersection of race, culture and policy.
"That's where I found my voice. That's where I understood, 'This is the kind of journalist I want to be.' I want to be the journalist that speaks to my community, speaks to other communities like mine that have been silenced and feel oppressed and don't feel like they see themselves in the news like they should," Myers said. "That's why I say it is purpose-driven work for me, just having the blessing and opportunity to share my experiences with the next generation of journalists, to show them if I can do it, they can do it."
Myers is especially grateful for her University of South Carolina advisor, Dr. Kenneth Campbell.
"While I'm about to receive my third degree from the same institution, it was not until my first semester of this PhD program that I had the pleasure of taking a course from a Black professor, Dr. Campbell," Myers said. "Representation truly matters and sometimes it takes seeing something or someone to believe it is possible to achieve. More than representation, it is my hope that I inspire my students to one day not only become journalists, but scholars."
Myers defends her dissertation on March 18 and then will make plans to come to East Lansing and look for places to live. As she takes this new career challenge at MSU, Myers carries with her something one of her two brothers told her: A second lost in developing your skills is a second too late in helping someone who could utilize them.
"It reminds me of why I'm doing this," Myers said. "I am not necessarily doing it for me, I am thinking about all my ancestors, all those people that came before that paved this path, that would allow me the opportunity at the University of South Carolina, where it wasn't too long ago where people that looked like me couldn't attend this university, and so I think about that, it reaffirms the purpose about why I am here. It's not for me in this moment, it's to help the next generation."
By Richard Epps