The Impact of Mass Media on Race Relations - Case Study Example

The impact of mass media on race relations The impact of mass media on race relations In sociology, there are numerous discussionsbased on the role of the press in the society. The mass media play an enormous role in society (Husband, 1974). As a result of this awe-inspiring media focus on gang violence, drug abuse, crime, and supplementary forms of anti-social behavior amid black-Americans, the mass media has fostered a vague and insidious public insight of black-Americans (Wilson, Chao & Gutierrez, 2010). They have played a vast and crucial role in the way white Americans identify the blacks. Therefore, this article will discuss how the mass media have influenced the distorted perception of the black-Americans by the whites. The term mass media refers to the collective media technologies intended to reach a large audience through a mechanism called mass communication (Balkaran, 1999). This includes broadcast media, print media, and internet media among others. This form of mass communication is effective since it reaches a wide audience (Wilson, Chao & Gutierrez, 2010). This shows that mass media has become exceedingly prominent in the recent society. On the other hand, racism simply refers to the different inherent traits in human races that justify discrimination (Bissler, 2012). Racism and racial discrimination may lead to harm of the parties involved. The history circulating around African-Americans has become a struggle for a long time now (Asgeirsson, 1987). This struggle is propelled against oppression and discrimination that majorly rises from the whites (Balkaran, 1999). The struggle arose from mass media influence. It clearly noted that the mass media are still playing a key-role in demeaning and contributing into the African –Americans status as second-class citizens. In order to be well conversant with the connection between racism and mass media, we should study the history of racism first, and relate it to the mass society. In the late 70s, the North American mass media of Canada were contributing largely to the racial fabric of the Canadian society (Asgeirsson, 1987). This forced most of the community organizations to become concerned in relation to the happenings in the state. The Canadian government at the federal and the provincial level were aware of the problem, and they intervened trying to seek remedies to the situation (Balkaran, 1999). They held a conference in Toronto to discuss ways of resolving the issue. There was meaningful change made by the federal government (Husband, 1974). In this period, the media still had a strong influence to the people. Those who were working in the media each had a peculiar responsibility. They claimed that they had a role to influence the society positively. However, some of them tried claiming that their role is to reflect objectively to societal issues. The media distinguished the working class and the stereotyped African-American males as gangsters and drug dealers (Balkaran, 1999). They ensured that they focused on the negative aspects of the black community only. Some of the aspects that the mass media relates with the black community include drug abuse, welfare abuse and criminal activity. The mass media also maintains that due to such traits, the black community maintains a cycle of extreme poverty (Bissler, 2012). They have spent much time describing the problems that arise from the backgrounds of the African-Americans. The consequences related to a lethal linkage are cultural decay, political lethargy and economic decline were said to originate from the African-Americans (Husband, 1974). All this consequences were a portrayal that the black community was exclusively accountable for riots and breach of the peace. Therefore, race springs out as a catalyst to the above consequences. The mass media portrays an example of a demonstration that took place in Los Angeles in 1992. About 36% of the people arrested in connection to the breach of peace were from the black community (Wilson, Chao & Gutierrez, 2010). Sociologists have pointed out three factors explaining the influence of the mass media on issues related to the society (Balkaran, 1999). The theories are; limited-effects theory, the culturalist and class-dominant theory (Wilson, Chao & Gutierrez, 2010). The limited-effects theory talks about the media interaction and its influence. The class-dominant theory explains that the owners of media corporations influence the media and project the view of minor elites. Lastly, the culturalist theory combines these two theories and comes up with the criteria that the audiences of mass media play a crucial role in the information passive field. All these theories primarily talk about how the media has influenced the racial differences in the society and their effects to the relationship between the whites and the black society (Wilson, Chao & Gutierrez, 2010). Communication between people has grown to the extent that one can get instant information from other countries so quickly (Asgeirsson, 1987). This comes about by the technological advancement in the mass media world. Since the tense racial climate in the United States of America during the movement on civil rights, race relations were portrayed among the people in the United States (Husband, 1974). This technological growth, therefore, saw to the rapid conflict of races between the whites and blacks society (Balkaran, 1999). This is in relation to the verity that, mass media has a diverse effect on the societal position especially, when it relates to establishing and dissemination of information. Mass media are sensitive chiefly, when dealing with reports concerning cultural, ethnic, and religious relations in the society (Husband, 1974). Moreover, claims tabled show that the press is an industry that promotes the racial conflicts. The amusing thing is that, the media has been surely achieving favorable coverage of social and welfare-related issues. The styles of media presentation can also prove contentious, due to the influence they have on the public (Bissler, 2012). Moreover, one has to note that the media works on their own agendas, which can at times take different turns and bring other undesired conclusions. There is categorically no doubt that, mass media is the most dominant source of information circulation. The disadvantage with this form of media is that the mass can be ill-informed in regard to contentious social issues (Asgeirsson, 1987). Arguably, this factor is influenced; by the way, an individual decides to interpret information that is presented by the mass media agencies (Balkaran, 1999). It is quite evident that the dominating culture strives to expand its boundaries by fending off challenges from groups it seeks to subjugate (Bissler, 2012). According to many people, the mass media is a reflection of Anglo-views regarding non-Anglo communities. In the United States of America, African-Americans and Latinos are the groups that have experienced most of oppression and discrimination (Wilson, Chao & Gutierrez, 2010). The Anglo-community overlooked the African-Americans and dismissed them in most of the mass media (Wilson, Chao & Gutierrez, 2010). However, to avoid sensibility of the white audience and risking the sponsor’s wrath, network television personnel focused on the blacks and the roles they play in the industry. Some of the roles they played included tap dancing and singing. This is a demeaning gesture to the black society. In the 60s, the plight of the African-American seemed to be the only newsworthy aspect of life (Husband, 1974). The black society was ready to inform the rest of the community on how they faced discrimination and forced themselves to endure in the print media. They portrayed their stories in the form of endless problems. Still today, the blacks are still negatively addressed by the mass media, especially, those from the white countries. The black and white press looks at the action from different views (Asgeirsson, 1987). The articles written by the black media majorly talk about how they underwent oppression from the white society. The blacks are still viewed as inferior. The whites describe the black society as lazy, dumb and dishonest. Some of these portrayals were perpetuated by the CBS series, Amos ‘n’ Andy that is a network television series (Wilson, Chao & Gutierrez, 2010). In this series, there are two white men, who played as the lead actors. The characters were in black-face make-up. They demonstrated the black society in a patently offensive manner (Wilson, Chao & Gutierrez, 2010). They had to control the situation to avoid further misdeeds. In 2001, many organizations came up to stop the discrimination of the black society. Among them, the European Union banned racism together with other forms of social discrimination (Wilson, Chao & Gutierrez, 2010). The discrimination based on the grounds of race, color, ethnic/social origin, language, genetic features, religion/belief, political opinion, property, disability, age and sexual orientation on nationality grounds (Wilson, Chao & Gutierrez, 2010). As an ideology, racism still existed in the 19th century despite numerous efforts to eradicate the vice (Asgeirsson, 1987). Racism became a motivating factor in racial segregation, hate speech and social discrimination. Ironically, anti-racism has become a political abuse instrument. This has forced some politicians to practice it, in an attempt to get votes. Numerous debates over the origin of racism have lacked clarity for a long period. Some use the term racism to describe general phenomena like xenophobia and ethnocentrism (Wilson, Chao & Gutierrez, 2010). However, scholars have come up to distinguish these phenomena from racism as an ideology from scientific-racism. Moreover, hate crime laws and affirmative action are government policy ideas designed to curb and suppress the racial conflict. At the same time, the black race, who are normally called ‘Negros’ by the whites have championed their own supremacy race and the inferiority of the white society (Bissler, 2012). Therefore, what may seem as significant racial differences to some people- hair, facial shape, and skin color – are not of much scientific significance (Wilson, Chao & Gutierrez, 2010). Are they? All factors kept constant people should not despise the power that the mass media has to influence the majority in the society. In conclusion, UNESCO usually marks March 21st as the yearly International Day for racial discrimination elimination (Husband, 1974). In general, UNESCO promotes an egalitarian society without any racial conflict among its dwellers. This event marks the memory of killings made by the police on March 21, 1960 in Sharpeville, South Africa, where student demonstrators died after staging a protest against the apartheid regime in the country (Wilson, Chao & Gutierrez, 2010). Moreover, other movements like the Anti-Apartheid movement and the African-American Civil Rights Movement are also examples of anti-racist movements. It is unmistakable that, in the second half of the 19th century, the cry of Christian belief and the mounting immigration rates were considered intimidation to the cultural control of the whites (Husband, 1974). All the arguments are based on a phony perception of race. We should all live in peace and harmony disregarding the racial conflicts in order to prosper since; we need support from each other to sustain the planet. References Asgeirsson, R. (1987). The impact of the media on race relations. Canada: Ryerson press. Balkaran, S. (1999). Mass media and racism. Yale: Yale university press. Bissler, D. (2012). The harms of crime media: Essays on the perpetuation of racism, sexism and class stereotypes. Boston: McFarland publishers. Husband, C. (1974). The mass media and racial conflict. New York: Davis-Poynter press. Wilson, C., Chao, L. & Gutierrez, F. (2010). Racism, sexism and the media: The rise of class communication in multicultural America. Los Angeles: Sage publications. Read More