Stereotypes In Journalism

As the world becomes more diversified and more in touch globally, it seems our world gets smaller. Therefore, it is important to have a representative of different races, ethnicities, gender, ages, and lifestyles in the newsroom. This brings different viewpoints, stereotypes, coverage, and more accurate portrayal of those groups in journalism. Stereotypes help organize our knowledge and beliefs about different social groups. People of different groups want to be represented and see stories relevant to them, and it is important for everyone to be informed of issues that span across groups. Stereotypes can be described as generalization or an assumption that people make about the characteristics of all members of a group, based on an image

about what they should be like. Even though stereotypes most of the time are wrong, they matter. Many times different groups of people tend to define themselves according to who they are and who they are not. But when it comes to defining people other than themselves they are usually viewed in very negative ways.
Stereotypes can be very hard to get rid of.

The main reason supporting this fact is because they provide us with a simple way of thinking . According to Walter Lippman (1992, p.16) “ the real environment is altogether too big, too complex, and too fleeting for direct acquaintance. We are not equipped to deal with so much subtlety, so much variety, so many permutations and combinations. Although we have to act in that environment, we have to reconstruct it on a simpler model before we can manage with it” (Lind, 149.) Even though stereotypes can be hard to get rid of, it's not an impossible act. There are some ways that can help reduce the influence of stereotypes on day to day life. For example: one can focus on every person as an individual, learn to look at things from the other person's prospective, adopt a more humble tentative attitude about the accuracy of our judgments as well as take opportunities to neutralize stereotypes when we hear

them.
Stereotyping in the mass media can have either a positive or negative effect on its audiences. They can tell us what people of a particular social group are like but also why are they like that. According to Devine and Elliot in their experiment to describe the social stereotypes of Blacks they say “ Blacks are poor, because blacks are Lazy”( Lind, p. 20). Mass media has given each of us a platform to voice over an opinion on all sorts of social and political issues and share information with one another. It also brings out easy ways of communication and provides us with easily accessible means to reach out to people in various parts of the world. Thanks to the technological development, we have been able to obtain a platform that enables us to present ourselves to the rest of the world.
Often times people use stereotypes to understand a political issue, which can also lead to negative consequences for those who are being stereotyped.

The textbook provides a great example for this statement. In their research, Dome, McCoy and Torres wonder whether stories about race-related issues such as immigration could prime racial perceptions of relevant groups even if race was not specifically mentioned (Lind,p 22.) The mass media can easily affect the linkages people make while regarding these issues. Often the way mass media presents the issue can influence whether people would use stereotypes to understand the issue or

not.
A very important stereotype presented in all mass media is the dependency of women upon men. Gender’s unequal norms matter, because these stereotypes affect the economic well-being of men and women in ways that advantage men and disadvantage women. As a result of this women get excluded from opportunities perceived as gender inappropriate. Almost everywhere in the world , the men are described as the primary income earners and decision makers. The authors support this argument in the textbook stating that “women as well as feminists are portrayed in a victimization frame” (Lind 145). Their representation often refers to weakness, crime, fear as well as disfunctionality.
In Conclusion stereotypes can influence our processing and understanding of the mass media even when we are not aware of that. In addition an activation of a stereotype can cause people to act in a manner consistent with the stereotype, regardless if its positive or negative. Such manner can often hurt people due to the fact that they have been wrongly represented or because there was a stereotype used.