Representation of the Minority Groups in the Media - Essay Example

Representation of the Minority Groups in the Media American society has grappled with cases of discrimination and racism since time immemorial. Though the situation has greatly improved, there are still significant cases of racial discrimination and prejudice in almost all sectors of life (Ford, 1998). Discrimination of minority groups in the media is a good example of widespread racial discrimination in the society. As a mirror of the society and the lens through which the community sees the entire world, media shapes that perceptions and attitudes of individuals in the society. Evidently, the minority groups in the society are misrepresented and underrepresented in the media. This is because lack equal opportunities in acting, holding important positions in the media, as well as media coverage as the Caucasians. When the minority groups are featured in the media, it is usually about something negative such as crime, poverty, homelessness among other social issues. Thus, when the media spread such news, it gives a negative impression of the minority groups, which defines attitudes and behaviors of other people towards this group. The central question of this research, “what is the extent and trends of representation of the minority groups by the television media?” seeks study how the minority groups are underrepresented and misrepresented in the television media. However, first, this paper explores background information on the topic with respect to several research and reports concerning underrepresentation and misrepresentation of the minority groups. Maneri & ter Wal (2005) discusses ‘minorities and the media’ as a theory and explain that it works in two ways given that the media is a distorted mirror of the society. First, since the mirror provides images through which the public interprets a good part of the social world, possible distortion by the media reinforces prejudice among the public. Second, there is widespread of prejudice in the society, and thus, journalists (who are over 90% White) are likely to reflect the prejudice in their reporting and coverage. For instance, compositions of television newsrooms show unequal distribution of power where Black minority holds non-directive positions creating an opportunity for stereotyped depiction of the minority groups. Similarly, there is an overrepresentation of Black offenders in television news and programs, which is associated with fears of threats supposedly caused by the Black minority to the White majority. The methodology these authors use in ‘minorities and the media’ is content analysis. Content analysis observes media bias using measures of distribution in minority news themes such as position, space, and font size of headlines, and space allotted to minority opinions. In most cases, minority actors are reflected in television programs as speechless people engaged in harmful acts. Finally, the authors also use the theory of social constructionist to explore media underrepresentation and misrepresentation of the minority groups. This approach suggests that facts presented in the news are ideological construction based on consensual meanings of deviance and marginality prescribed by the media via institutional sources. For example, social and political elites are the principal definers who set the limited set of discourse used by the media to make sense of the world. Mon-Turner et al. submits exploring the portrayal of minority groups in the media is valuable because of its social importance and due to the fact that television as a cultural artifact attracts a large audience. As a result, viewers develop either positive or negative stereotyping images of minority groups depending on how racial groups are represented by the media. Further, the researchers argue that images shown to the viewers on major over-the-air channels such as CBS, Fox, ABC, and NBC among other prime time television networks continue to hold the potential to influence the wider society’s perception of both majority and minority groups. Using content analysis as them methodology, the researchers sampled all shows and both minor and major characters for a period of one week. According to the results, 74% Caucasian actors, 5% Latinos, 16% African Americans, 2% Asian Americans were represented in Prime Time television programs (Monk-Turner et al., 2010). This still shows less representation for the minority groups while Caucasians dominate the television programs. Kuhar (2006) conducted a discourse analysis of television reporting on Roma, Muslims, and gays and lesbians. Explaining the basis of the research, the author notes, “Our research subject is therefore, concerned with the media presentations of selected minorities and the question of who speaks, what and how they speak, whose views and interpretations are reproduced by the media discourse, which implicit assumptions about the target groups underlie these media texts, and which discriminatory/intolerant practices are given legitimacy” (p.126). In the month of February 2006, there 194 texts broadcasted relating to Muslims. However, the extensive attention given to this group was as a result of controversial topics about Muslims and Islam such as cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed published in a Danish Paper. This topic even caused an outbreak of protests on freedom of speech among other religious issues. Similarly, in the same period of February 2006, there were 41 and 14 texts addressing issues concerning Roma and gays and lesbians respectively in the media. In statistical analysis of the texts, researchers found out that they had numerous elements in common across the minority groups that warranted the media coverage. These include controversy, criminalization, violence, and creating the picture of a problematic group. Moreover, analysis revealed that the in media’s construction of reality, the texts lacked context. For instance, when reporting on Muslims, the reportage focused on their reactions while ignoring background to the reactions or historical context to the issue. Finally, the issue of generalization also surfaced whereby the media attributed stereotypical personal traits to all members of that particular group. Racial profiling and stereotyping of individuals by the media is one of the chief contributors to the negative attitude and perception on minority groups. Welch (2007) explains that a prevalent representation of crime in American society is that it is committed by young Black men. Thus, the relationship between crime and race is embedded in the public consciousness so much that quoting crime is same as mentioning race. The author notes that one of the significant contributors to this stereotyping of Blacks is the media. This is because the media provides accessible messages and information that paint Blacks negatively as criminals and offenders, which in turn, shapes the public’s perception about crime, as well as resulting justice practices. While examining other studies, the author states, one study argues that Blacks are “demonized” by the faces chosen to depict criminality in crime television news stories” (p.281). To clarify this, the case of sniper killers John Allen Mohamed and Lee Boyd Malvo convicted in Washington D.C. received enormous television coverage, substantial political energy, and consequently, stirred public quest for government action. As it turned out, the two were young Blacks, and furthermore, the name Mohamed was further associated with Muslim making the racial connection even deeper. The author also describes a theory relating to media and minorities by stating, “Research on media influence has concluded that Blacks are indeed more likely to appear as criminally threatening on local television news, suggesting that this may encourage the social construction of threat in relation to Blacks” (p. 286). Likewise, racial profiling and stereotyping is evident in children’s television programs and advertisements. Reynolds (2014) claims that in commercials viewed by children, the minority groups are usually portrayed negatively and underrepresented. This forms their affects their perceptions of ethnicity, as well as their behavior towards people of other ethnic groups. In a survey of 340 commercials aired on popular kids channels such as Toon Disney, Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, and The CW during after school-hours and Saturdays, the research found out that Asians and Hispanics were highly underrepresented. On the other hand, African Americans showed significant representation, but other ethnic groups were represented in lower status than the Caucasians. Cottle also argues that the media use race to differentiate social groups based on physical appearance, income capabilities, innate intelligence, and other dispositions. However, Cottle describes several research that shows progress on representation of minority groups in the United States and the United Kingdom over the years. The research further uncovers the theory that changing political agendas and ideas of racism, multiculturalism, and assimilation have been responsible for the development of TV representations over the years. This means that political campaigns and policies have tried to champion for positive representation of the minority groups by using them to advance their political agenda. Similarly, increasing activism against racism and enhanced integration and multiculturalism have also contributed to a change in perspective regarding media representation of the minority groups. Nevertheless, significant progress is yet to be recognized, as Cottle puts it, “there has been little change in the area of representation. Opening a magazine or book, turning on the television set, watching a film, or looking at photographs in public spaces, we are most likely to see images of black people that reinforce and reinscribe white supremacy” (p.9). Television is found in almost every home and it reaches a wider audience than any other form of media. Thus, it is a popular societal tool that defines the attitudes and behaviors of the public; as a result, how they represent the minority groups determines how other people will act towards this group. Intolerant opinions about Muslims are widespread among people all over the world, more so, with the instances of terrorism becoming more frequent. When one mentions a Muslim, immediately what comes to mind is ‘a terrorist’. This is the formation of the television media because of negative reporting on Muslims, which depicts all of them as terrorists. A study in Denmark by Hussain (2000) is a good example of how television popularize intolerant opinions about Muslims. Using discourse analysis and empirical investigations, the study exposed reproduction of prejudiced discourse by the media with Muslims being the primary victims. The theory that emerges from this research is that the media contributes to the construction of mental models of ethnic events due to themes and topics discussed in the daily news flow regarding ethnic issues. Further, Schemer (2013) explores how political campaigns reflect on racial attitudes and the involvement of media in shaping these attitudes and behaviors. Racial bias and negative reporting encompass the media towards minority groups. As a result, the public develops negative attitudes towards the minority groups leading to support for policies that restrict minority groups such as immigration regulations. Giving a theoretical explanation, the researcher states, “racial bias in the media is likely to automatically cue negative evaluative thoughts about minorities because news reports commonly contain elements that have a negative racial connotation” (p.11). This gives a reliable picture of why the public has developed a negative attitude towards the minority groups and branded them criminals, aggressors among other labeling terms. No doubt, media are a reflection of Whiteman’s world as noted by Pierre (1999). The author notes, “In American society, by reproducing the ideological hegemony of the dominant white culture, the mass media help to legitimate the inequalities in class and race relations” (p.1). This means that the television programs and news coverage filters Hispanic and Blacks images through racial conceptions and fantasies of the majority White culture. Consequently, the researcher believes that this action prohibit the acknowledgement of the rich and resilient Hispanic and black culture that exists in the American society. Television programs and news coverage reaches many people than any other form of media. Clearly, television programs and news coverage are oriented towards fulfilling the needs of the majority groups while ignoring those of the minority groups (Ferle & Lee, 200). Consequently, television is the foundation of the widespread negative attitudes and perceptions towards the minority groups. Exploring the extent and trends of misrepresentation and underrepresentation of the minority groups is essential in understanding the extensive discrimination in the media and changes that have occurred over the years regarding racial prejudice matters. Additionally, my research question aids towards the understanding of the causes of and forces that fuel underrepresentation of the minority groups by the media, which helps in identifying possible solutions to this problem. References Read More