This paper examines how pre-service teachers (PSTs) come to understand the role that media plays in perpetuating and reinforcing stereotypical views of marginalized groups through engagement in weekly news groups. This study sought to look at how critical media skills influenced the ways PSTs interacted with media content. Findings suggest that by critically engaging in controversial current event topics that participants began to recognize the value and importance in finding multiple and reliable sources. They also began to question and interrogate the problematic ways that race and racism are portrayed in and through the media.