As a major element of societal multicultural education, the mass media disseminate information, images, and ideas concerning race, ethnicity, culture, and foreignness. The multicultural media curriculum functions whether or not media makers actually see themselves as educators and whether or not viewers are aware of the role of media as sources of knowledge and information. The media curriculum on race and ethnicity has been examined by scholars from four analytical dimensions: (1) content analysis; (2) control analysis; (3) impact analysis; and (4) pedagogical analysis. Content analysis reveals that the media are involved in the transmission of information, correct or incorrect, balanced or biased. Research has also demonstrated that media impact varies among readers, viewers, and listeners, with the race and ethnicity of recipients often playing a significant role in this media-audience learning relationship. The critical role of the mass media has important implications for school multicultural education. Schools need to develop ways to explore and assess the impact of the media to strengthen multicultural educational pedagogy and curricula. (Contains 163 references.) (SLD)