Ethnicity

• Ethnic minorities are ____represented in senior media roles 


  Under
• Hall says ethnic minority groups are filtered through what?

  The white eye - white middle class dominated media establishments
• What did the British film institute (2016) find in UK films between 2006 and 2016

  within the 45,000 acting roles, only 0.5% were Black British Actors
• What did Cumberbatch et al (2014) find in a content analysis of the most popular TV programmes in 2013-14

  • just over 1 in 7 roles was filled by a person from an ethnic minority group
  • Black African Caribbeans were over-represented
  • South Asians were under-represented
• What did Malik (2002) find where African Caribbeans were more likely to be found in Programmes

  In programmes dealing with social issues, music, sport, light entertainment and comedy, rather than in heavyweight roles such as experts or in subjects of serious nature or big budget films
• How do Asian viewers feel about their representation in media?

  They feel stereotyped and misrepresented
• What specific complaints did Asian viewers have about media portrayals?

  Negative stereotyping and unrealistic portrayals
• What did Asian viewers think about the portrayal of their communities?

  They found it simplistic and negative
• What did the viewers complain about regarding negative stereotyping?

  It did not reflect their real lives
• What are the main concerns of minority ethnic viewers regarding media representation?

  • Lack of realistic portrayals
  • Negative stereotyping
  • Simplistic representations
  • Ignoring cultural and religious differences
• How are Black and Asian people stereotyped as deviants, law breakers and threats

  Hargrave: Black people were 2x more likely than white people top be portrayed on TV as criminals

  Watson: notes that moral panics often result from media stereotypes of black people as potentially criminal

  Reach: black boys and young black men are often portrayed as a dangerous and threatening group with their lives focused around drugs, guns and gangs
• How are ethnic minorities stereotyped as posing a threat

  Ethnic minorities possessing a culture that is seen as ‘alien’ and a threat to British culture
• How are ethnic minorities stereotyped as causing social problems, conflict and trouble

  linked to racial problems, ethnicity related riots, disruption caused by underachieving black students in schools, illegal immigrants, welfare scroungers, lone parents etc
• How are ethnic minorities stereotyped as having limited talents and skills

  Often showed in low paid work, as educational failures, rarely portrayed as academic or professional successes
• How are ethnic minorities stereotyped as having problems internationally

  Glasgow Media Group: study of British TV coverage of developing counties and audience reactions to it

  • found disaster and terrorism were the mains categories with little context or explanation given
  • Audiences perceived developing countries very negatively
  • Audiences left with a view of the developing world as not much more than a series of catastrophes
• Define Xenophobia

  Prejudice against people from other countries (applied more to white people)
• Define Islamophobia

  An irrational fear and/or hatred of or aversion to Islam, Muslims or Islamic culture
• How have Eastern Europeans also been stereotyped by the British press? (Dowling, 2007)

  In the 2000s, immigrants from Eastern Europe were bing attacked and blamed in the media for being benefit scroungers, lone parents, drunken drivers etc- blamed for social issues
• What events increased Islamophobia in British media ?

  9/11 2007

  7/7 London Bombings 2005

  Manchester arena bombing 2017

  London Bridge attack 2018
• How do pluralists explain ethnic stereotypes in the media

  Reflecting the news values of journalists and providing material that media audiences want

  Cattle (2000) media representations of ethnicity encourage media audiences to construct a sense of their identity by defining who ‘we’ are in relation to who ‘we’ are in terms of us and ‘them’, securing white identity and superiority
• How do negative stereotypes and the scapegoating of minority ethnic groups protect the interests of the ruling class, according to neo-marxists

  Ethnic minorities are vulnerable to discrimination, while at the same time reinforcing cultural hegemony of the dominant white ideology and the alleged supremacy of white culture 

  Scapegoating of ethnic minorities for the social and economic problems experienced by white workers divide black and white workers by fuelling racism. Diversity attention away from structure of inequality in society 

  Protects the interests of the dominant social class- media generated moral panics 
• How are media representations of ethnic groups changing?

  • More representation of black and other minority ethnic groups across all forms of media 
  • Greater policy commitments in tv to recruit more people from ethnic minorities 
  • More media targeted at Black and Asian audiences 
• What is the impact of new media on representations of ethnicity

  The new media, of which young people from minority ethnic backgrounds are greater users of new media than average in the UK, means that they have greater access to things like YouTube and TikTok to put their own views across and counter negative ethnic stereotypes