Understanding Black and Ethnic Representation in British Media - Essay Example

Explain how the notion of stereotype helps in understanding black and ethnic representation in British media, citing at least two examples: The United Kingdom as a multicultural society has had its fair share of criticisms since the post Second World War period. The British media – both print and electronic mediums - has also been criticized for its reluctance to discuss openly issues of race and ethnicity in its programmes. The advent of new mediums of communication too has not made a significant contribution toward racial conciliation in Britain. The tendency of the native British to maintain their unique cultural identity has had pervasive effects. In the political front, Britain is still holding on to Pound Sterling even as the rest of Europe is integrating economically and thereby becoming stronger. In the social realm, “the issue of racism has become a latent one, lurking behind media discussions and TV programmes such as the recent five-part "BBC White Season" which focused on what the BBC termed ‘the disappearing White Britain’, and the medias examination of the 40th anniversary of the infamous speech by the controversial Tory politician, Enoch Powell, who spoke about ‘rivers of blood’ if immigration into the UK was not halted” (Biney, 2008). The rest of this report will present evidence supporting the aforementioned assertion, as well as explaining how the concept of stereotype helps in understanding black and ethnic representation in British media. In spite of London gaining a reputation for its cosmopolitan demography, the issues of race and ethnicity have not been superseded. With the formation of the European Union and the attendant flux of immigrants from the Continent, British cosmopolitanism is met with an unprecedented challenge. Despite scholarship and research studies suggesting the contrary, the mainstream media seems bent on perpetrating xenophobic fears among the native population. The media portrays Eastern European workers in a particularly unfair way. For example, despite statistics from government agencies showing that “Britain has accommodated the huge influx with comparatively few real, as distinct from perceived problems--and crime has actually fallen in England and Wales by 9% in the past recorded year”, newspapers carry disproportionately high reports on petty crimes committed by Eastern European workers. It is true that the erstwhile communist bloc countries of Eastern Europe have low literacy levels and that they come to Britain in search of low-paying manual work (Biney, 2008). But the British media has unfairly extrapolated the low socio-economic profile of these ethnic groups to indicate criminal tendencies. Hence, the stereotypical image of Eastern European workers as dependant on government welfare and depleting available jobs for British citizens is simply not true (Biney, 2008). A careful analysis of reportage of political events in British media throws light on the underlying stereotypical assumptions. In the February of 1994 Malaysian government made an announcement forbidding its internal agencies from signing contracts with British corporations. This ban applied only to government agencies, allowing commercial enterprises to continue their trading activity with British firms. Nevertheless, the ripple effect of this ban was bound to adversely affect many British firms in subsequent years. The British media was obviously supportive of its advertisers and hence it took up a biased editorial stance. While the media exaggerated the deficiencies of the Malaysian institutions and culture, it simply ignored the unethical practices of British companies. For example, the refusal of the British firms to accept the conditions of the ban meant that their representatives resorted to offering bribes to secure contracts for the lucrative Pergau Dam project. Although the ban was lifted in the September of the same year and things returned to business as usual, it did reaffirm the underlying hypocrisy and unfair stereotyping of other ethnic communities. In other words, the Pergau Dam Affair showed that “despite its own malaise, Britain has not abandoned notions of brown Muslim inferiority; that the British media tends to focus on Muslim poverty and fanaticism, but not on moderation and success” (Hack, 1994). A partial antidote may be to show that Britain remembers Malaysias past and respects its present ambitions, regardless of differences over political culture. Similarly, some critics have asserted that the BBC is systematically biased in favour of Christianity and against Islam. This assessment was prompted by the public broadcaster’s dress code policy for newsreaders. According to Mark Thompson, the former Director General of the BBC, “the BBC does not object to newsreaders wearing small religious symbols, whether crosses, crescents or Stars of David. But we do not believe it would be appropriate for a newsreader to wear a veil over the face, not because we favour one religion over another but because we believe it would distract from the presentation of the news” (Thompson, 2006). To be fair to the BBC, the criticisms of ethno-religious bias in this case does seem far fetched. But such instances are exceptions rather than the rule. This phenomenon of convenient type casting of entire communities and groups extends beyond the realm of race and ethnicity and into gender as well. For example, there is a tendency in British media to label young women who are found guilty of violent offences as ‘ladettes’. The media houses believe that this is a consequence of the new set of attitudes and behaviour adopted by some women characters in television programmes. It should be remembered that “these images explicitly portray female aggression as an instrumental act in contrast to the traditionally expressive stereotype of female aggression” (Muncer, et. al, 2001). Hence, in conclusion, it is apt to bring attention to the following words uttered by Robert Winder in his book Bloody Foreigners: The Story of Immigration to Britain, "Ever since the first Jute, the first Saxon, the first Roman and the first Dane leaped off their boats and planted their feet on British mud, we have been a mongrel nation. Our roots are neither clean nor straight: they are impossibly tangled. Why, then are we so fond of believing that British-ness consisted of some smooth and harmonious racial archetype until the post-war arrival of several million black and brown faces from the Tropics? Overseas settlers have been coming here for centuries“. (Biney, 2008) References: Alia, V., & Bull, S. (2005). Media and Ethnic Minorities. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Thompson, Mark, Bias, the BBC.And Why I Will Not Allow Newsreaders in Veils. (2006, October 29). The Mail on Sunday (London, England), p. 42. Biney, A. (2008, June)., Britain Skin Colour Still Matters: Racism in Britain Is Now Disguised in Language Such as Diversity, Immigration and Citizenship, and Is Thus Far More Sophisticated, Subtle and Slippery in Identifying. but as Ama Biney Finds out, the Colour of Ones Skin Still Very Much Matters in Britain Today. New African 86+. Hack, K. (1994, November). Decolonization and the Pergau Dam Affair. History Today, 44, 9+. Holliday, A., Hyde, M., & Kullman, J. (2004). Intercultural Communication: An Advanced Resource Book. New York: Routledge. Muncer, S., Campbell, A., Jervis, V., & Lewis, R. (2001). "Ladettes, " Social Representations and Aggression. 33. Rees, P. (1997, August 1). Worlds Apart. New Statesman, 126, 32+. Read More