Ethnicity

• Minority ethnic groups are frequently represented as taking part in drug dealing, terrorism, welfare fraud, mugging and gang culture
• Black people were more than twice as likely as white people to be portrayed on TV as criminals
• Black boys and black men are portrayed as threatening and dangerous
• Hargrave(2002): 'Black people were more than twice as likely as white people to be portrayed on TV as criminals'
• Reach (2007): 'Black boys and black men are portrayed as threatening and dangerous'
• The media exaggerated the extent of black crime and suggested that black people were more prone to criminality than whites
• This led to a media fueled moral panic over the problem of the 'black mugger' who came to be seen as a 'folk devil'
• The 'black mugger' became a symbol


  It helped to reassert the hegemony of ruling class ideology by distracting the public's attention from wider economic and political crises at the time
• Sociologist Hargrave(2002) found black people were more than twice as likely as white people to be portrayed on TV as criminals
• Hall et al (1978) Neo-Marxist analysis of the media's reporting of mugging during the 1970s showed how the media exaggerated the extent of black crime and suggested that black people were more prone to criminality than whites
• Posing a threat

  Minorities are presented as possessing a culture which is seen as alien and a threat to British culture
• Immigration


  Presented as a threat to the British way of life and the jobs of white British workers
• Media reports of forced marriages and honor killings

  Give a misleading impression of ethnic minority groups
• Muslims and Muslim culture

  Often presented as a threat to British values
• Stories that stereotype ethnic minorities in this way are considered newsworthy
• Posing a threat

  Minorities are presented as possessing a culture which is seen as alien and a threat to British culture
• Immigration


  Presented as a threat to the British way of life and the jobs of white British workers
• Media reports of forced marriages and honor killings

  Give a misleading impression of ethnic minority groups
• Muslims and Muslim culture

  Often presented as a threat to British values
• Stories that stereotype ethnic minorities in this way are considered newsworthy
• As causing social problems, conflict and trouble
• Representations linked to social problems


  • Racial problems
  • Riots
  • Disruption in schools
  • Illegal immigrants
  • Welfare scroungers
  • Lone parents
• These are often presented as due to individual failings rather than as people with social problems generated by things like poverty, discrimination etc
• Asylum seekers are often represented as economic migrants seeking to work illegally, rather than as people escaping from persecution
• Back argues the reporting of inner-city race disturbances are often described as riots which makes them look irrational and criminal. This ignores the fact that these disturbances can often be caused by legitimate grievances, e.g. police brutality or racism
• Periodically the media generate moral panics around immigration, refugees and Muslims
• Developing countries are often portrayed as being run chaotically, suffering from AIDS epidemics, using children as soldiers and labourers, living in famine conditions, always having tribal conflicts, civil wars, military coups etc, and that need white Western populations to help solve their problems for them, such as through aid agencies
• The GMG (2000) found disasters and terrorism were the main categories of news story on developing countries but little explanation was given to the story which led to audiences seeing the developing world as not much more than a series of catastrophes
• The stereotypes above have, in recent years, also been applied to white people from Eastern Europe (Ukranians, Bulgarians, Polish people, Slovakians)
• These groups have been blamed for virtually every problem in Britain and for things that either aren't true or aren't their fault
• Immigrants have been blamed for being benefit scroungers, stealing unwanted clothes and many more absurd, untrue or exaggerated media stories
• These stories may have had a negative effect on audiences, creating and reinforcing the public's racial prejudices