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Discrimination and stereotypes in the media
Discrimination and stereotypes in the media
Discrimination and stereotypes in the media
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Any form of media having correct representation of minorities is very rare, but also incredibly vital. Minorities like people of color, people with disabilities, people in the LGBTQIA+ community and women often aren’t portrayed well in media outlets. Correct representation of minorities is very important in the media because it gives a voice to smaller groups, eliminates harmful stereotypes, and it gives everybody an equal chance in professions. With the lack of representation that we have in today’s media, it takes away the voice that smaller groups have to express themselves in a safe environment. The act of being a member of a less represented, or even misrepresented, minority and being able to speak out can help normalize the group to the general public. According to Natalie Dulka, a freshman at Concordia University, ”Diversity in media can be a way for less understood and underrepresented groups, …show more content…
such as trans and non-binary individuals [an individual who does not identify as either male or female], to have a voice with which to discuss and present who they are. It provides a safe space for the trans population to express themselves to a less aware audience without fear of retribution or hate crimes.” Groups that are less understood and have less room to speak out are often victims of hate crimes, because they are not normalized in the media like privileged groups. Since privileged groups have more of a voice in the media, it helps push ideas of inequality and only normalizes those who are born a certain way. It pushes ideas of racism and discrimination when only a privileged group has a voice in media, Peggy McIntosh states that "When we think about racism and discrimination, we often envision acts of deliberate meanness or quantifiable oppression of a disadvantaged group – hurtful words, tasteless jokes, deliberate exclusion from work or school, acts of violence, and so on – but it can just as easily take the form of privileges given to members of a more advantaged group” Often, people of non-oppressed groups are given privileges and advantages that minorities aren’t given, and this can be incredibly obvious in the media. This unfair balance of power is wrong, and having full casts of one privileged race or gender is not only unrealistic, but it is thickening the gap between minorities and other groups. By not giving a voice to smaller groups in media, that is pushing an unfair idea that they do not deserve to be heard. Giving a voice to groups is an important step in representing minorities. Even the representation that is currently present can be inaccurate in historical and stereotypical ways; the mainstream media often pushes incorrect stereotypes and perpetuates ideas that are racist, sexist, and homophobic. CML writes that "First, whether intentionally or unintentionally, both the news and the entertainment media 'teach" the public about minorities, other ethnic groups and societal groups, such as women, gays, and the elderly. Second, this mass media curriculum has a particularly powerful educational impact on people who have little or no direct contact with members of the groups being treated.” This meaning that when there are stereotypes being enforced in media outlets, viewers of those media outlets with start to believe them whether it it subconsciously or not. The stereotypes then contribute towards discrimination of minorities, and overall the negative outlook on anybody “different”. Typecasting is also a major issues in the representation of minorities in the media; typecasting by definition is to “assign (an actor or actress) repeatedly to the same type of role, as a result of the appropriateness of their appearance or previous success in such roles,” or to “represent or regard (a person or their role) as a stereotype.” Acts like typecasting contribute to the harmful stereotypes and misconceptions that are commonly shown in popular media. The little amounts of representation is often stereotypical and historically wrong, which can lead to discrimination against smaller groups like people of color, people with disabilities, and women. Due to the absence of portrayal in the media, it also becomes harder for members of less represented groups to get jobs in fields that involve media. According to the New York Film Academy, only 12.4% of speaking characters 2007-2012 top 500 grossing films were played by African American actors, while 75.8% of those roles were portrayed by caucasian actors.To make matters worse, 40% of the top 100 grossing films from 2012 showed black characters as less than 5% of the speaking cast. Not only were there problems with race, only 30.8% of speaking characters in films from 2007-2012 were acted by women. A mix of typecasting and just a general lack of roles being given to minorities has clearly paved a bumpy path for any member of a smaller group aspiring to star in the media, not to even mention the wage gap. Even behind the scenes, only 40% of the nation’s 1,600 daily newspapers employ any minorities in an editorial staff position. It is incredibly visible that the media only caters towards, or even just simply employs, certain groups. When there are less roles or positions open for women and people of color, then less women and people of color will be employed, it is as easy as that. Getting rid of preconceived ideas and prejudices could fix this problem, and an easy way to do that is through media outlets. With no roles or jobs in media being offered to minorities, it makes correctly representing them a lot harder. Some might say that it is in the hands of parents to expose their kids and others to shows that have diverse casts that don’t exude damaging stereotypes; however this statement is not doable.
It is within the hands of producers to represent minorities in the news and film, because the source of the under-representation lies at the root with them, the ones casting and producing the product being screened and printed. The people producing and creating these shows and films are the ones who are not casting or misrepresenting minorities, causing the amount of female protagonists globally to be as low as 23% (stated by the New York Film Academy). So if the solution is for parents to show films that broadcast diversity, the question is: where can that content be found? With little to no representation of minorities in the media, there is nearly no content to show. In order to give a voice to smaller groups, eliminate harmful stereotypes, and give everybody an equal chance in professions, media containing correct representation needs to be created first, in all
forms. Even though progress has been made in recent years, the battle of representation is not over. In order to stop harmful stereotypes, give everybody an equal chance regardless of race, gender, or sexuality, and to give a voice to smaller groups, there needs to be more diversity in media. If we exclude all of these groups, we are not only doing a disservice to them, but also to us, for we will be missing out on all of the unbelievable stories, breathtaking talents, and creative visions that minorities encase.
40 Fleras, Augie and John Lock Kunz. Media and Minorities: Representing Diversity in a Multicultural Canada. Toronto: Thompson Educational Publishing, 2001: 30.
The minorities are vulnerable to the media because the minorities are shot and killed by the police. In the case of Michael Brown, who is a minority, being that he is a young black male, who allegedly was walking illegally in the middle of a street was shot by Darren Wilson a white police officer. In the accounts of what transpired Wilson the police officer said that Brown attacked him in his car, but an eyewitness alleged that brown was shot while holding his hands up in the air and was unharmed(“Police Brutality”). However the headlines in the media are emphasizing race, black vs. white, which is a controversial topic due to the history of black and white people. Do to events like slavery and segregation, yet the media seem to play on race instead of facts. Next, People don’t process or take in the truth. For example, in the case of Eric Garner, people bypass the part of Eric selling illegal cigarettes and all people hear is the Eric was put in a choke hold. The media realize how to exploit the minority faults. For instance the minorities have a low literacy rate. That means a most of the minority population don’t know how to read and write. The media know how to use their power to get an emotional reaction without providing a considerable amount of information and that can cause people to make irrational decisions. Lastly, how the media is affecting minorities because what
The usage of media is huge in nowadays. People rely on different kinds of media to receive information in their everyday life because they are thirsty for the diverse and informative content. However, inaccurate portrayals of people from different races always appear in the media and audience will exaggerate those portrayals by their inflexible beliefs and expectations about the characteristics or behaviors of the portrayals’ cultural groups without considering individual variation (Ting-Toomey and Chung, 2012); in fact, it is also called as stereotypes. According to a study by the Center for Integration and Improvement of Journalism at San Francisco State University (Stein, 2012), racial stereotyping continues to occur in media and the mainstream media's coverage of different cultural groups is full of biased reporting, offensive terminology and old stereotypes of American society. It specifically emphasizes that majority of the stereotyped characters in media will only bring out the dark side of their cultural groups which many of them might not be true, especially for the portrayals of black community: African American.
Race, stereotype, ethnicity, and racism are all around the world and it has become so normal that more often than not people tend to overlook those factors in the social media. As stated earlier the medias main goal is to make money as a result most white Americans is the medias main source of money. Yet, by doing so the media has segregated people by their race and ethnicity in the type of channels and advertisements they have created.
Racial bias in media causes prejudice and discriminatory practices against African-Americans and other minorities groups in America. Today in our society, we are still struggling to overcome racial tension within America because we are over shallow with prejudice and discriminatory images and ideas. Many White Americans feel that the media refuses to report on all crimes committed by blacks against whites, yet report on all crimes committed by whites against blacks. Therefore, they see the media as being not bias. My research will show that African-Americans are over-represented in news reports on crime, and within those stories, they are more likely shown as the perpetrators of the crime than as the persons reacting to or suffering from it. The news media has often been criticized for the way it chooses to portray Latinos and African-Americans.
Racism and discrimination continue to be a prevalent problem in American society. Although minorities have made significant strides toward autonomy and equality, the images in media, specifically television, continue to misrepresent and manipulate the public opinion of blacks. It is no longer a blatant practice upheld by the law and celebrated with hangings and beatings, but instead it is a subtle practice that is perceived in the entertainment and media industries. Whether it’s appearing in disparaging roles or being negatively portrayed in newscasts, blacks continue to be the victims of an industry that relies on old ideas to appeal to the majority. The viscous cycle that is the unconscious racism of the media continues to not only be detrimental to the white consumers, who base what they know about blacks by what is represented in television, but also the black consumers, who grow up with a false sense of identity.
In the modern world, all kinds of oppressions involve a dominant cultural psychology that causes different communities to be suppressed on diverse social, racial grounds. There is usually a hierarchy of oppression in which some communities are perceived to be less valuable than others. However, stereotypes are usually utilized to rationalize this domination and to label individuals on certain type while marginalization is the social process of being demoted to the lower social standing. On the other hand, oppression is any form can be visible at the personal or social level in the media as media reaches several individuals regularly and has the power to influence at all the levels of society and contributing significantly to stereotyping, marginalization and oppression of different communities around the world. The paper aims to critically analyze that in what way media impacts psychology of people by portraying particular communities in the diverse society in such a way that the depiction leads to stereotyping, marginalization and oppression of racial groups. For this purpose, two key resources are used in this paper. One is a web article by Sarah Senghas, named “Racial Stereotypes in the Media” published in 2006, and the second one is an empirical research paper by Elizabeth Monk-Turner, Mary Heiserman, Crystle Johnson,Vanity Cotton, and Manny Jackson, “The Portrayal of Racial Minorities on Prime Time Television: A Replication of the Mastro and Greenberg Study a Decade Later” published in 2010.
Currently there is a long-standing debate dealing with the effects of media. Some believe that the media is just something to indulge or watch and that it has no significant affect on people while others say that has a powerful pull on society as a whole. Research indicates that bias in media articles leads to minorities and women being portrayed in a stereotypical or harsh manner (Hazell and Clarke 3). This leads to African Americans being seen as individuals fit for “lower status occupations,” (Hazel and Clark 7). Black men were also seen as hostile, intimidating figures mainly working as athletes or musicians while women were portrayed as domineering, overly expressive people (Hazel and Clark 9).
For decades now, popular culture has been tainted by the perpetual use of racial stereotypes that come to us through music, television, and film. These reactionary stereotypes are often unaddressed and often permeate the minds of those too young to understand what a stereotype is. Therefore the effects of these conventionalized ideas continue to prevail throughout our society as they are repeatedly swept under the rug. However, although seemingly less common, there are also forms of media with goals of bringing attention to toxic stereotypes while still entertaining their audiences. African-Americans, Arabs, and Latin@’s are three of the most prevalent minority groups represented in the media and by analyzing the films Aladdin, Django Unchained, and the television show Devious Maids, one can become much more aware of the racial stereotypes that they are calling attention to.
The use of media has always been very tactical and representative of a statement or purpose. The issue of race has always been a topic of immaculate exploration through different forms of media. Mediated topics such as race, gender, and class have always been topics represented in the media as a form of oppression. The widely use of media surrounds the globe extensively as the public is bombarded with media daily. There are many different types of media that circulates the public making it widely available to anyone. Media can hold an immense amount of power as it can distort the manner in which people understand the world. In our society the media creates the dominant ideology that is to be followed for centuries in the classifications of race, gender, and class. Media can be a powerful tool to use to display a message which, is how “…the media also resorts to sensationalism whereby it invents new forms of menace” (Welch, Price and Yankey 36). Media makers and contributors take advantage of the high power that it possesses and begin to display messages of ideologies that represent only one dominant race or gender. It became to be known as the “dominant ideology of white supremacy” for many and all (Hazell and Clarke 6).
At the end of the NPR article they discuss the problem between keeping television shows diverse, “without amplifying the problems of stereotyping and prejudice” (Feld). Television shows feel that in order to a successful show with diversity, the people need to be cast-typed or take on every stereotype that is associated with that particular race or gender. The Erigha article discusses how, “many of actors were type-casted, or put in racialized roles, that fit their ethnicity” and some of these people do not necessarily fit that type, “they used Asian Actors as an example, many of the actors that were born in America, were asked to speak in a Chinese accent.”
In today’s society, it is acknowledgeable to assert that the concepts of race and ethnicity have changed enormously across different countries, cultures, eras, and customs. Even more, they have become less connected and tied with ancestral and familial ties but rather more concerned with superficial physical characteristics. Moreover, a great deal can be discussed the relationship between ethnicity and race. Both race and ethnicity are useful and counterproductive in their ways. To begin, the concept of race is, and its ideas are vital to society because it allows those contemporary nationalist movements which include, racist actions; to become more familiar to members of society. Secondly, it has helped to shape and redefine the meaning of
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, however what is considered beautiful by some is not considered as beauty when discussing diversity within the media. Society is based on criticism of judging one’s characters body, shape and or race/ethnics background. In the media the society only sees one type that is only focused on perfection to the mind; however within the United States, it is very typical in that the media lacks ethnic representation, cultural identity and gender inequalities. There are no ethnic representation when it comes to the media world and that the media has been trained to believe that the ethnic groups are not valuable. African Americans and Hispanics writers are the minority group when it comes to a social group. According to journalist Prince and Television critic Deggans “CNN , let go one of its most high-profile anchor of color, Soledad O’Brien, replaced her with a white man, Chris Cuomo. Wolf Blitzer gave up one of his hours to another white man, Tapper. Though Zucker met with both National Association of Black Journalists and the National Association of Hispanic Journalist to try and address their concerns, there has been no overt sign from CNN that it is bringing on any more anchors of color, ”(Mirkinson p.1).
Race and ethnicity are two terms that are constantly used in today’s society. Understanding these terms can help people to recognize that color of skin or color of hair does not define a person. These terms connect with history, social interaction, and the overall make up of a person. However America is constantly obsessed with labeling people by the way that they look or the way that they act. America seems to encourage the terms race and ethnicity and continue to divide people into categories. It is interesting to comprehend these terms because they are not going to disappear any time soon. Race and ethnicity are apart of America’s history and will be a part of the future.
I personally think that the media should not place a huge barrier in between the genders because it only creates extreme confinement and hinders people from their full potential. Overall, it is evident that the media has played an important role in representing gender and stereotypes in our society.