Marginalisation of Ethnic Minorities in Contemporary Media Essay

Media as a whole has evolved alongside with the growth of technology, that give us new ways to interact with each other with social sites like Facebook, Twitter, etc… It also gives way for individual to get more information to get in touch with our culture. But often times, some of the information were given to us by media can be ignored and interpret it differently than the original meaning, especially the depiction of minorities in media. It is hard to watch any form of media in today's society without seeing some kind of injustice toward minorities or the representation portrayal of that particular minorities in the form of entertainment value without being analytical and invoke some kind of negative reaction toward that kind of representation.

Over half of Americans, 63.8% to be exact, feel they are not equally represented in the media (Horton 1). Being a kid and not truly knowing what to believe in when everything portrayed on the media is confusing can lead to segregation, delusion, and low self-esteem. While it is the child’s job to tell people what to display, the media is everyone's tool and what is showed should reflect a large amount of the population. However, other countries do not have this problem, as they excel in the varied media world. In India especially, where a sizeable 94% feel represented throughout their media (Hackett 1), this is done by the overwhelming amount of multiple races in television shows. While the portrayal of cartoons for children in America is

The world we live in today is surrounded by media. The media goes anywhere from the television set in your living room to the browser on your cellphone, and even the radio in your car. In short, we cannot escape the media since it has become a natural part of our everyday lives. This five letter word seems so insignificant, yet it is so powerful. Since we are in touch with media everywhere we go, we always seem to believe everything that is shown to us. Many things are shown in media but that does not necessarily mean that they are always true. There are times in which certain ethnic groups are falsely portrayed. An article from 1998 titled, “No Chicanos on Tv” by Cecilia Alvear, talks about the lack of diversity that one might find in the media. In this case, she mentions that Chicanos are hardly ever shown in the media and that when they are, it is not in a positive way. Alvear mentions that they are only shown when they are being arrested or when there are illegal aliens fleeing. The media as a whole is responsible for the stereotypes,discrimination, and violence minority groups may face due to their portrayal of these races.

After the attacks on September 11, 2001, media approaches have altered. On Television shows and movies, in newspapers and on the radio, there has been an increase in hate crimes targeting Arabs and Muslims. Most coverage today follows a script that represents Arabs and Muslims only in the context of terrorism. Evelyn Alsultany wrote a book called Arabs and Muslims in the Media in 2012. The stories explained the new standards in racial and cultural representations after 9/11.

‘Media discourse is the main source of people’s knowledge, attitudes and ideologies and although media coverage might not generate racism, it can certainly reinforce it. One-sided portrayals and news articles could easily become the reality in the minds of the audience’ (Van Dijk, 2000, pp. 36).

“The media's the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that's power. Because they control the minds of the masses.” said Malcolm X (Kulaszewics Pg 4). The representation of African Americans in media has been a major concern in American culture. One problem we see today in the media is equality. Research has found that African Americans in media have been frequently portrayed in stereotypical occupational roles with negative personality characteristics.

Another way conflict has made the ethnic visibility of muslims portrayed through media is the Jiljab controversy of 2002 (Tarlo 2010). In September of 2002, a 13 year old girl of Bengali origin and her brothers, threatened the head principal of an London high school, for not allowing their sister to wear the hijab, because they said the Shalwar kamiz was not legitimate enough for their sister to express her religious beliefs. This matter was taken to court in 2004 where the brothers and their sister pleaded their case and walked out winners (Tarlo 2010). This controversy attracted major media attention and was featured in newspapers and television documents around the world (Tarlo 2010). This could be seen to exemplify the visibility of muslims in a way that portrays them to be people who ‘actively, publicly and consciously advocate their religious identity’ to the world (Schmidt 2011) showing that due to the conflict that had risen between a girl, her brothers and the school principal the medias effect portrayed this conflict to the whole world, representing muslims in a light that portrayed them as uncompromising and unreasonable, demanding people, which were at odds with ‘western liberal values’ (Tarlo 2010)

Mastro, D. (2015). Why the Medias Role in Issues of Race and Ethnicity Should be in the Spotlight. Journal of Social Issues, 71(1), 1-16. doi:10.1111/josi.12093

I think mass media plays a powerful role regarding segregations in our country today. Look at the report news on television today. When there is a crime in the area, the news anchor will tell you quickly the race of the offender if the offender is a person of color. However, if the offence was not committed by a person of color, you will never hear the race of the offender mentioned. Are we putting fear in the hearts of the viewers of a certain race or we trying to identify a suspect.

Race is often described as “Distinct group of people whose members share certain inherited physical characteristics such as skin colour and hair texture” (Covington 2000, p. 178). The public perception of crime is shown through ethnicity and stereotypes between different races. Statistics show that ethnic minority groups are overrepresented, because despite making up only 2% of the total population of Britain, black people still make up 15% of the

are retaining the information thrown at us by the media whether we realize it or not and

These shows include: “Modern Family”, “Meet the Browns” and “Glee”. With all the shows being of different networks, I feel like these shows will give me a wide representation of how race is being represented on sitcoms in the 21st century and whether or not media content reflects the realities of the social world.

Everyday people like you or me are affected by media in ways most people are oblivious to. Media shows what they want to show moreover the public is none the wiser. This subconsciously convinces the viewer that what is shown is real and/or the norm. When racial stereotypes are brought into the equation, it can be harmful for one’s self image. With the many forms of media minorities have to face certain stereotypes depending on the circumstance.

The media exaggerates the stereotypes about minorities which then promotes racism. So, no matter what race you are whether your black, Arab, latino, asian or anything else the media will always find a way to create a negative image about how you are portrayed in society. The media has and will always play an influential role in our lives , and that it was always promote racism towards any minority

The media’s representation of blacks is a major source of the racism and discrimination in today’s society. As the internet and television continues to grow as a world-wide phenomenon, people tend to rely on the media to for daily information, and in turn, they rely on it so much that it shapes their perceptions of daily events. People come to view the depictions of characters in the media as a real representation of people, and they use these as examples of how to act in reality. While these images could provide positive role models, the media has influenced society’s behavior with the use of negative stereotypes of blacks. The media associates colored people with the general misconceptions of being “…stupid…disrespectful, violent…ignorant, menacing, untidy, rebellious…[and] uneducated…” (Punyanunt-Carter 2008). Laura Green, a student counselor at Virginia Commonwealth University Qatar with a masters