4. Media representations of Ethnicity

Question 1

Outline media representations of ethnicity

Akinti

Answer 1

media reinforces racist stereotypes about minority ethnic groups

Akinti-argues media discussion of BAME focus more on problems like drugs, crime, gangs , educational underachievement

while positive contributions of minority ethnic groups is presented less

Question 2

Outline Van Dijk content analysis study on represenations of ethnicity

Answer 2

Van Dijk-conducted a content analysis looking at newspaper articles,
found stereotypical negative news stories about black people:

• Black people as criminals-
• black boys were associated with negative news values ,tabloid newspapers portrayed black people as criminals, involved in gangs & drugs,
• Moral panics about black people-Hall et al argue the media exaggerate the extent of black crime, & suggest black people are prone to criminality than white people. This led to the moral panic of the ‘black mugger’ in the 1970s, who became seen as a folk devil of the time.
  
  • Black people as unimportant-Van Dijk suggests media reports imply black lives matter less than white people suggesting that the media is institutionally racist e.g violent murders of black ethnic minorities are reported less extensively than killings of white peopleShah(2008) claims BBC engage in ‘Tokenism’ Black & asian actors are cast as presenters or in roles that give the appearance of ethnic equality but as a whole mainstream media pays little attention to concerns
    • black people as abnormal- White middle class culture is presented as normal wheres BAME are presented as abnormal i.g media forms negative stereotypes of cultural practices