Perpetual Racial and Ethnic Disparities in the Media - Essay Example

Perpetual Racial and Ethnic Disparities in the Media Perpetual Racial Disparities in the Media Introduction It is no doubt that USAis a plural nation consisting of people from diverse racial, ethnic, geographical, religious and cultural backgrounds. Ideally, people should never be ashamed of their diversities, but need to be proud of them. If it were this way, US would be a highly inclusive and accommodative society that does not discriminate upon anyone irrespective of their origin. According to historical records, discrimination is an old practice whose origin can be traced to the colonial times when people were segregated based on their races and countries of origin. Despite efforts to eradicate it, racism still remains a contentious issue in the country (Campbell, 2000). Today, racial profiling has been institutionalized because access to essential services like health care, education, housing, employment and justice has been purely pegged on race. The institutionalization of racism has however been propagated by the mass media, which has apparently shifted its role from informing, educating and entertaining the public to the promotion of racism. This paper critically and comprehensively analyzes the extent to which mass media has been used to promote the practice of racial and ethnic stereotyping across the country. Role of Mass Media in the Perpetuation of Racial and Ethnic Stereotypes Just like any other developed nation, USA has a well-established mass media broadly made up of the print, broadcast and online platforms. Whereas the print media consists of newspapers, magazines, journals and books, broadcast media is composed of the cinema, radio, television and video. Online platform which now gains popularity incorporates the social sites and online publications and broadcasts mainly accessed through the internet. Actually, mass media holds a very significant position in the US because it serves everyone. At least, each and everyone have a niche to which they belong. This justifies why mass media has been helpful in providing national identity, reinforcing cultural values, sensitizing the public and providing them with the right kind of guidance that can enable them to fit into the society. Unfortunately, mass media has deviated from its role of positively influencing the society. Instead, it has been used to mislead and misguide the American population and thus totally distorting the way they perceive themselves, their neighbors, their government and the society in general. It is due to such perceptions that a large number of Americans have become so discriminative because it is something that is fully supported and encouraged by the media. This justifies the assertion that mass media has been contributing to the persistence of racial and ethnic stereotyping in the country (Sampson, 2011). The kind of respect and trust enjoyed by media has enabled it to be a very influential tool in the society. Therefore, instead of properly using it to benefit the society, it is used to satisfy the interests of a certain clique or section of the society. It is true that racial and ethic stereotyping, s a practice, has always been promoted by the mass media. The journalists, media practitioners, media owners and media outlets are no longer concerned about the welfare of the public. They merely serve a section of the audience which is of interest to them. By doing this, it means that the mass media do not report everything that happens, but only selects a few instances that can help in sanitizing a section of the society while negatively tainting the rest of the groups. This situation makes it much possible because the ownership and control of the media houses is mainly entrusted on whites. Unfortunately, these are highly racial people who an not report anything positive about the minority groups like African-Americans, Muslims and other immigrant groups who coincidentally have nothing positive to contribute to the society, but only cause trouble and destabilize peace (Rippy & Newman, 2006). The domination of US media by whites also plays a role in the determination of themes, inclusion as well as the portrayal of racial minorities in the cinemas, movies, documentaries, TV shows, programs and prime casts across the country. One of the greatest casualties of negative coverage by the mass media is the Muslims. Although Islam is gaining popularity in USA, its followers are still discriminated. The demonization of Muslims mainly intensified after the 9/11incident in which Muslim-linked terrorists attacked Twin Towers in New York. Although this offensive was committed by hardliner terrorist group, all Muslims have been regarded as terrorists. This has been a very bad experience to Muslims both within and out of US because they have also been branded as terrorists. Unfortunately, the use of these stereotypes has been promoted by the mass media (Rippy & Newman, 2006). Instead of educating the public to avoid discriminating on Muslims, the media has been using its position to mislead Americans hat Muslims are not good people and should not be trusted because they are terrorists and a threat to US and world peace. It is because of this stereotype that Muslim citizens and immigrants are negatively depicted in the mass media, videos, TV shows and films (Cavico & Mujtaba, 2011). A part from Muslims, African-Americans have been enduring a lot of pain from the mass media. As a minority group, the blacks have never enjoyed fair coverage in the media. The whites have taken advantage of their large number to negatively portray the blacks. For a long time, the media has been linking the blacks with all sorts of offenses including violence, street gang, theft, robbery, and rape and drug abuse. A constant coverage of these criminal offenses has made the public to develop a negative perception towards the African-Americans. This is how the media has been contributing to racism in the country. However, such stereotyping has negatively impacted on the African-American community in many ways (Noble, 2007). Most importantly, African-Americans have not been having an easier access to employment opportunities since many employers have been made to believe that they are not good workers, but crime-prone unproductive drug addicts. However, this is not true because research has established that it is a mere exaggeration since African-Americans are not serious law-breakers. Criminal offenses committed by African-American youth only account for not more than 8% of such acts. Such unfair coverage and misrepresentations were evidenced in the country in 1980 during the Miami Race Riots and 1992 during the Los Angeles Riots. During these instances, the media deliberately chose to mislead the public by giving inaccurate figures and wrong information on what transpired during the riots (Campbell, 2000). Similar misrepresentations have been evidenced on several occasions when innocent African-Americans are arrested or indiscriminately shot by police officers. Conclusion In conclusion, mass media is a very important tool that if appropriately utilized, can be instrumental in informing, educating, sensitizing and entertaining the public. These are important functions whose proper implementation can be instrumental in uniting the society and giving it the desired direction. Despite having a highly developed mass media, USA still has a highly segregated society. This is a clear proof that that the country has not properly used its mass media to establish the required cohesion. The domination of the mass media by whites has perpetuated negative coverage and stereotyping on the ‘second-class’ human beings including Muslims, African-Americans and other immigrant groups which are the minorities. Nonetheless, this can come to an ultimate end if measures are taken to promote tolerance and fair coverage. References Campbell, C. (2000) Race Myth and the News. London: Sage Publications. Cavico, F. & Mujtaba, B. (2011). ‘Employment discrimination and Muslims in the USA.’ Journal for Global Business Advancement, 4(3), 279-297. Noble, P. (2007). The Negro in Films. New York: Kennikat Press. Rippy, A. & Newman, E. (2006). ‘Perceived religious discrimination and its relationship to anxiety and paranoia among Muslim Americans.’ Journal of Muslim Mental Health, 1(1), 5-20. Sampson, T. (2011) Blacks in Black and White: A source Book on Black Films. 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