Critical Investigation Quotes and Books.

To What Extent Is Ethnic Diversity and Multiculturalism Ultimately Celebrated In Contemporary Hollywood Movies, With Particular Reference To "Crash".

• Hartley, John (2002) Communication, Culture and Media Studies London: Routledge
• Creeber, Glen (2004) Fifty Key Television Programs New York: Edward Arnold

"Presenting a successful, middle class, African American family, clearly believing in parental authority, male primacy, old fashioned sexual morales and respect for elders, The Cosby Show." p179

• Gerrard, Jones (1992) Honey I'm Home Sitcoms, selling the American dream, New York: St Martins Press.
• Pam Cook and Miere Bernick. The Cinema Book, London: The British Film Institute.

"Whiteness is constructed as the norm"

"Such films conventionally oppose the chasity and virginity of white womanhood to the vitality and sexuality of the black women" p361

"Lola young argues convincingly that white and black film makers find it hard to challenge stereotypical images of black women"

• Sanders, John, The Film Genre Book (2009) Auteur Leighton Buzzard
• Bignell, Jonathan (2004) An Introduction To Media Studies, London: Routledge p122

"The way in which an individuals actions are determined is by social class, economic position and ideologies of gender or race"

• D, Buckingham (1987) Public Secrets Eastenders and its audience London p56

"black and asian characters in eastenders can be critisised of carrying stereotypical roles"

• D, Buckingham, (1996) Moving Images, Understanding Children's Emotional Responses o Television" Manchester: Manchester University Press

"The crucial question is not wether eastenders black characters are realistic, but how the serial invites it's viewers to make sense of questions of ethnicity"

• Sanders. John The Film Genre Book

"Crash is a dramatic movie, exploring the representations of race and ethnicity with a variety of techniques" p130

Current Google Insights trends: Michelle Obama, Tiger Woods

The name of Michelle Obama is the top trending topic on Google Insights on November 30.

Searches for America's first lady, Michelle Obama, peaked on November 25 after searches for the term "Michelle Obama" on Google Image Search returned an image of Michelle Obama morphed with an ape as the top result.

The term continues to rise in search popularity as people heatedly debate Google's search results. Some suggest Google is responsible for promoting hatred and racism by including the image in its results while others claim removing offensive search results would restrict free speech and would promote an "internet dictatorship."

Professional golfer, Tiger Woods, was involved in a car accident on November 27, driving search queries for his name into the second place on Google Insights' list on November 30.

The search terms with the most significant growth worldwide in the last seven days as measured by Google Insights, recorded on November 30 at 9:30 AM GMT are:

1. michelle obama (+3,950%)
2. tiger woods (+1,500%)
3. adam lambert (+1,000%)
4. black friday deals (+550%)
5. black friday (+200%)
6. google wave (+120%)
7. best buy (+100%)
8. black friday 2009 (+80%)
9. walmart (+60%)
10. target (+60%)

Robert Fisk: Reasons for Alec Collett's death remain buried in Bekaa

It's amazing what a body can do. Back in 1986, after Alec Collett's corpse was videoed swinging from a noose – we had to assume this gruesome piece of cinema showed him, for his face was covered – the Lebanese concluded that the British freelance journalist was killed in revenge for Margaret Thatcher's decision to allow Ronald Reagan to air-raid Libya from airbases in the UK. That's what his killers had told us. Three other hostages – an American librarian and two British teachers – met similar fates shortly after the American aircraft had attacked Tripoli and Benghazi, killing scores of civilians including Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's adopted daughter.

But this week, with the help of British intelligence agents – and why they should have been involved, no one, of course, has explained – Collett's body has been recovered in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley. And praise has been heaped upon the British as well as the Lebanese government by UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon. So one British Government lets the Americans use British bases to kill Libyans – and another British Government laps up the gratitude of the UN for digging up the victim's body.

The details of Collett's original 1985 kidnapping were almost mundane. He was writing about the suffering of Palestinian refugees in UN camps and was returning to Beirut one March afternoon when he was stopped by armed men close to a checkpoint of the Shia Muslim Amal movement (whose boss is now, quite by chance, the speaker of the Lebanese parliament). Collett's sin appears to have been simple: he was carrying two passports, in one of which was an Israeli stamp – because he had also been visiting refugee camps in the occupied territories.

Teachers Face Institutional racist claims

Black and minority ethnic teachers face an "endemic culture of institutional racism" in schools, research found today.

About half of BME teachers say they have faced discrimination during their careers, according to a study by Manchester University and Education Data Surveys.

And seven in ten BME teachers and school heads believe it is harder for BME teachers to gain leaderships jobs in schools.

The study examined the experiences of more than 500 BME teachers working in state schools in England to analyse how discrimination affected their careers and chances of getting senior posts.

It concluded that the majority of BME teachers did not believe that the teaching profession was inclusive.

"Foremost, and most worrying, it is clear that the incidence of discrimination reported by BME teachers and leaders within the school system is indicative of an endemic culture of institutional racism," it said.

The findings show that male BME teachers cite discrimination as the greatest barrier to their leadership ambitions. Among women it was the sixth biggest barrier.

Almost two thirds (65%) of African teachers said they had been discriminated against, compared with two fifths (40%) of Pakistani teachers and a third (34%) of Indian and Caribbean teachers.

Four fifths of those questioned said they were "very" or "reasonably" ambitious, according to the report, which was commissioned by the National College for Leadership of Schools and Children's Services and the NASUWT teaching union and first reported in the Times educational Supplement (TES) today.

The biggest barrier to promotion for both men and women was workload.

Steve Munby, chief executive of the National College, said: "While there is no doubt that some of those sampled had experienced discrimination, which is obviously unacceptable, this does not mean that the system is institutionally racist.

"Although discrimination on the grounds of race was cited by all as in the top ten barriers to achieving career aspirations, workload and confidence were the first and second most cited barriers overall."

NASUWT general secretary Chris Keates said: "This report reveals the true extent of the problem of racism and discrimination which, regrettably, is still all too pervasive in our schools.

"Systematic ethnic monitoring at local authority and national levels must be undertaken to enable BME teachers' career paths to be tracked and the barriers to their progress on the leadership scale to be identified and removed.

"This research is an important start in unlocking the way in which discrimination operates and should help in identifying what needs to be done to create greater fairness and transparency in the way that teachers' skills and potential are recognised and rewarded.

"Institutional discrimination must not be allowed to flourish. It is robbing the schools of too many talented and dedicated teachers and potential leaders."

A spokesman for the Department for Children, Schools and Families said: "It is absolutely unacceptable for any teacher to be discriminated against because of their race, age, gender or religion - there's no place for it in any workplace. Local authorities and employers must deal with it by law - no ifs or buts.

"We know there is more to do to break down the barriers stopping black and minority ethnic teachers from achieving their full potential, as the report highlights.

"That is why we are, through the National College, developing training programmes to support promising BME teachers develop leadership skills and encourage them into leadership roles. With Ofsted, we have set up a scheme for BME school leaders to shadow Ofsted inspectors to help boost confidence and increase aspiration to progress to headship."