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Media Minority Portrayals

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MEDIA MINORITY PORTRAYALS 2

Media Minority Portrayals

Introduction

Minorities have always been subjected to misrepresentation and discrimination in

American and have therefore played a major role in the fight for freedom and equality. African

Americans living in the United States are the largest number of minorities. Their existence in the

U.S. have over the years been influenced by historical, political and socio-economic factors

which date back in time. Negative public perception which is propagated by the mass media has

been the main are of contention in African American representation. These media houses have

for long been accused of negatively stereotyping African Americans by portraying them as

criminals and perpetrators in crime related activities (Behm-Morawitz et al.,2017, 253).

This picture painted by media houses such as Fox News, ABC and NBC therefore has

stigmatized African Americans, resulting into segregation, which the otherwise the colored

people thought was done with when they attained their freedom (Behm-Morawitz et al.,2017,

254). This negative portrayal of African Americans as a result of media bias is clearly illustrated

in films and movies where black people are usually casted roles that are crime related and, in

most instances, portrayed as villains.

This negative perception is however not only fueled by the whites but also quite a

number of black (film directors and entertainers) persons having been seen to perpetuate the

notion of African American misrepresentation. This is evident in the blacks only films where the

stereotyped society has made them believe that the measure of moral values is determined by

whites. This paper therefore aims to illustrate how African Americans are portrayed by the media

and how the former plays an active role in affecting their existence in America.
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Occupational Roles

A research based on television shows discovered that African Americans in these TV

shows are usually associated with manual jobs which included house maids, newspaper vendors

and cooks at local restaurants and joints. The media has gone to far heights to ensure that this is

the picture the society has of African Americans through their news feeds and publications where

they constantly paint the colored people as servants (Bleich et al., 2015, 860). Africans

Americans in these Tv shows are rarely depicted with highly acknowledged careers and

occupations as opposed to their white counterparts in the same shows since they are viewed as

unprofessional and in most instances uneducated. Media portrayal also shows that African

American can only achieve success in field of sports, athletics, entertainment or music and not

professional careers such as engineers and doctors which are mostly believed to be white people

jobs (Bleich et al., 2015, 861).

Beauty Industry

Research shows that beauty industry through the media has painted the white/European

woman as the standard measure of beauty. This misrepresentation by the media has resulted in

African American women struggling to fit and get to the standards of beauty that has been set by

the media and society at large (Behm-Morawitz et al.,2017, 260). Most of them have therefore

been forced to even go to extreme measure of changing their body image having been subjected

to discriminatory tendencies by the society. Thus, they believe that they are only equal to the

white women and may even get a fair treatment when their skin color or body image closely

resembles that of the white women.

Hip Hop Music

The media has led the society into believing that Hip hop music normally affiliated with

the African American society aims at propagating violence contrary to the belief of the blacks.

For instance, during the East Coast–West Coast hip hop rivalry, which was a squabble between

artists and fans of East Coast and West Coast hip hop scenes (Bleich et al., 2015, 865). The

media is believed to have played a major role in perpetuating and escalating this dispute as A

New York times Magazine known as VIBE featured Notorious B.I.G. and Puff Daddy with the

headline “East vs West. The media therefore as a result of this incident laid out information to

the public that hip-hop music aims at propagating violence and most media houses even reduced

the airplay being given on HipHop music (Bleich et al., 2015, 865).

The black persons themselves through hip-hop music videos and lyricism have portrayed

black women as sexual objects through their dressing codes and as a result most of their content

are not aired on mainstream media since they do not meet the societal moral accords.

Negative Personality Characteristics

African American are depicted by the media as having negative characters and behaviors

that are not morally accepted by the society. The media therefore in most instances portrays them

as violent, ignorant and disrespectful and this has thus negatively stereotyped the black people as

the society believes the content they view on the media (Van Doorn, 2015, 144). This has in turn

resulted to them being viewed as second class citizens and therefore not accorded the same rights

as the whites, for instance ,during the L.A riots of 1994, the jury acquitted four police officers of

the Los Angeles Police Department for allegedly using excessive force while they were arresting
MEDIA MINORITY PORTRAYALS 5

Rodney King, an instance which had been videotape and broadcasted widely across America

with claims that they acted in self-defense (Van Doorn, 2015, 150).

Television News and shows

Most television shows are biased and thus misrepresentation is prevalent since these news

reports and tv shows overrepresent blacks as perpetrations of crime and violence. For instance.

where Fox news’ show, On the Record with Greta Van Susteren guest Pat Buchanan stated that

racial hate crimes in the black community are 40 times more frequent that in the white

community. A fox news report in 2013 during after an Australian teenager got shot, termed the

incident as racial since the suspects apprehended were African Americans (Tukachinsky et al.,

2015, 19).

African Americans in Tv shows have been portrayed as low-class citizens who live in

poverty and substandard conditions and thus paints a stereotypic picture of them thereby making

them a subject of discrimination. Most of these tv show also introduce black male characters as

representation of violence and crime. Films and movies that are made by blacks with most of its

casts being black people find a hard time to get a media outlet that can partner with them to air

their shows (Tukachinsky et al., 2015, 22). This is due to their stereotypic beliefs that black films

propagate crime and violence even if the film in question adheres to moral accord of the society.

There is also discrimination in the casting of films especially in Hollywood since whites are

given the first priority when auditioning for film roles whereas blacks people are given little or

no consideration at all

This misrepresentation and minority portrayal by the media influence the general societal

perception of the African Americans. News media portrayal of black people may result in
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hostility towards blacks owing to the stereotypic tendencies brought about by the negative image

painted by the media about black people. African Americans may also be subject to

discrimination which can be seen by the limited airplay accorded to black people content or even

inequality in advertisement opportunities (Tukachinsky et al., 2015, 23). These negative media

portrayals also work against positive relations between the society and African Americans who

are mostly viewed as second class citizens, associated with violent criminal acts.

Conclusion

In conclusion, media misrepresentation and minority portrayals has played a major role in

the characterization of African Americans and their position in the society. Media portrayals has

negatively stereotyped black people painting an image of crime and violence and as such has

greatly influenced the lives of African Americans having subjected them to segregation. The

black people are therefore subjected to discrimination in terms of employment, police brutality

and services accrued to them thus they have been forced to live as second class citizens in

America. However, African Americans also play a role in their misrepresentation by the media

as can be seen through their dressing, mannerisms and way of life thus creating a certain picture

of black people in the society. Therefore, minority portrayal plays an important role in shaping

the lives of African American living in the United States.

References

Behm-Morawitz, E., & Ortiz, M. (2017). Race, ethnicity, and the media. The Oxford handbook

of media psychology, 252-266.

Bleich, E., Bloemraad, I., & De Graauw, E. (2015). Migrants, minorities and the media:

Information, representations and participation in the public sphere. Journal of Ethnic and

Migration Studies, 41(6), 857-873.

Bleich, E., Stonebraker, H., & Nisar, H. (2015). Media portrayals of minorities: Muslims in

British newspaper headlines, 2001–2012. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 41(6),

942-962.

Tukachinsky, R., Mastro, D., & Yarchi, M. (2015). Documenting portrayals of race/ethnicity on

primetime television over a 20‐year span and their association with national‐level

racial/ethnic attitudes. Journal of Social Issues, 71(1), 17-38..

Van Doorn, B. W. (2015). Pre‐and post‐welfare reform media portrayals of poverty in the United

States: The continuing importance of race and ethnicity. Politics & Policy, 43(1), 142-

162.