Ethnicity

• Cumberbatch et al

  Looked at representations of ethnicity on programmes

  • found people from ethnic minorities who held a speaking role were representative of the general public = content analysis, pluralist
  • some groups were over-represented (Black African Caribbean groups) but some were under-represented (South Asian groups)
  • found people from ethnic minorities were more likely to be on entertainment shows, represented on factual shows as interviewees
  • representation in major roles is limited, ethnic minorities less likely to be presenters or lead roles
• New technology means there's more specialist shows catered for specific ethnic minorities and they're ran by people from these minorities however, there's not many people in power in mainstream media
• Van Dijk

  Tabloid newspapers sometimes stereotype some ethnic groups as being a problem/threat

  • made a detailed content analysis of headlines in 5 papers
  • argued there's often an association in the headlines between ethnic groups, violence and negative language = ethnocentric
• Cottle

  Media portrayal of ethnic minorities reinforced views of non-whites as ‘others’

  • criticised media portrayals of multiculturalis, glosses over problems such as power imbalances between different ethnic groups and historical effects of colonialism and racism
• Hartmann and Husband

  Analysed children’s responses of media

  • are with low ethnic mix = children believed negative media stereotypes, linked race to conflict
  • area with high ethnic mix = children rejected media stereotypes in favour of their own experiences
  • audience response to ethnic minority stereotypes varied depending on real life experiences of the audience