Minority Representation in the Media
Written by: Jacob Davis
In the Western world, the media has a considerable influence over society. However, due to this significant influence, the media is capable of skewing or changing societal views simply by representing and showing certain “ideals.” In this sense, the media is having a negative impact on the lives of minority citizens.
The media, for the purpose of this paper, is referring to all technological means with which people can communicate or entertain, along with the associated fields. For instance, news stations and websites, the film and entertainment industries, social media platforms and staff, etc.
In the United States of America, when referring to race or ethnicity, the majority of the citizens are white i.e. Caucasian. However, minority citizens, according to the 2010 United States Consensus, still make up about twenty eight percent of the entire population, (Pollard and O’Hare). Even though minorities make up a little more than one quarter of the population, the general media does not have an accurate depiction of their numbers.
The lack of proper representation for minorities in the media is leading to a skewed societal image, which has inevitably started causing some friction between the minorities and the “white” majority, (Rigoni). Friction between the two groups has generally been leading to discrimination and exclusion from one group to the other.
A perfect example of this exclusion is the casting of the Broadway musical known as Hamilton. When auditioning and deciding the cast members for the musical, it was explicitly stated that only minority citizens were going to be auditioned and then cast for the various roles; this meant that any “white” citizens, who do make up the majority population of the country and the acting industry, were excluded from these particular roles. Even though this is not exclusion towards any or all minority groups, it is still discrimination from one group to another due to actually trying to specifically make sure the minority groups are included.
A major place that inaccurate representation for minorities is seen is in public media fields and jobs. Examples of these fields are: news and weather stations, advertisement, spokespersons, etc. Specifically, for public media fields like those listed, it is clearly seen that almost all of the people involved fall in the “white” majority group of society. Albeit, there are generally a few minority citizens sprinkled in here and there, there are not nearly enough to represent the twenty eight percent of the population that is considered a racial or ethnic minority.
Along with not having enough representation in these fields of media, along with those of the entertainment and film industries, there is also the issue of having incorrect representation. Incorrect representation would be having only one racial minority group depicted and not multiple or all of them, along with having too few or too many of a specific group depicted as compared to the rest of the cast or staff. This improper and incorrect representation is making it so that minority groups appear to be less numerous and significant, which is leading to these groups being further excluded and “forgotten” by the majority of society, (Deggans).
In the end, the media has a strong influence over society and its overall views of people and various groups. These views have been greatly changed due to this influence, and in the case of minority citizens, not for the better. All of the negative change and views directed towards these ethnic minority groups is simply due to a lack of proper representation and acknowledgment.
Works Cited
Deggans, Eric. “Hollywood Has a Major Diversity Problem, USC Study Finds.” National Public Radio. 22 Feb. 2016, www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/02/22/467665890/hollywood-has-a-major-diversity-problem-usc-study-finds. Accessed 17 Oct. 2018.
Pollard, Kelvin M. and William O’Hare. “America’s Racial and Ethnic Minorities.” Population Reference Bureau. 01 Sept. 1999, https://www.prb.org/americasracialandethnicminorities/. Accessed 17 Oct. 2018.
Rigoni, Christine Larrazet et Isabelle. “Media and Diversity: A Century-Long Perspective on an Enlarged and Internationalized Field of Research.” InMedia. The French Journal of Media Studies, May 2014, https://journals.openedition.org/inmedia/747. Accessed 17 Oct. 2018.