Media's Influence and Positive Campaigns
Media, in general, has been hailed for being pertinent in enabling globalization and easing communication. Moreover, different forms of media have been quite instrumental in allowing for positive campaigns such as campaigns pertaining to environmental conservation, creating awareness about various issues such as healthy living and advocacy for peace among others.
Misuse of Media for Stereotyping
Nonetheless, the media have been misused and continue to be misused by different actors to propagate destructive stereotypes about certain groups of people. Unfortunately, in this case, different forms of media have a wide reach such that propagating such stereotypes could have a ripple effect that can be hard to contain for a long time.
Examining Media's Role in Reinforcing Stereotypes
In order to give a much precise perspective on how the press can be or have been used to reinforce stereotypes, this essay reflects on two literal works, "Frames of [continue the paragraph] "
Reference
” by Michael Eric Dyson and “Where the Women Are” by T.L. Taylor.
Dyson’s “Frames of Reference” is a good portrayal of blacks and whites amidst a natural disaster. Specifically, Dyson evaluates how the media received and reported the actions of the black people amidst hurricane Katrina and how similar actions by whites were portrayed. Essentially, the media painted blacks as thieves and looters for collecting items from grocery stores (Dyson 123). Notably, whites did the same thing but the media reported this issue as taking items they found in the stores to survive. Dyson states: “In this case, the captions say it all: the young black man loots his groceries, the white youth find theirs” (Dyson 123). Dyson shows how the media ignored the heartache and pain that most victims, black and white, of the hurricane Katrina had, and focused on reporting allegations of murder and theft, which hardly happened during this devastating time (Dyson 123). Recently, there have been more cases of racial profiling, one of them being the incident at the North Carolina Community swimming pool. Apparently, a white man was alleged to have called the police on a black woman on allegations that she lacked identification to prove she resided within the area (Perez). To a large extent, media is to blame for frequently portraying black people as individuals that are poor and ones, who ought to be feared and isolated.
Besides reinforcing stereotypes against race, different forms of media reinforce stereotypes on gender as well. Taylor explores the perception and notions about women in the gaming industry. She states: “By focusing on women’s absence from the gaming culture, research ignores the voices of women and girls who engage with computer games” (Taylor 93). Further, she notes that the typical perception is that only boys and men engage with computer games (Taylor 93). Generally, a case where women are involved in playing computer games is considered to be an anomaly, which can be attributed to the wrong standards regarding male and female roles. It is however interesting to note that despite the persistence of such stereotypes, a recent study by and Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA) showed female gamers in the US and Korea make up about 39% to 50% of total number of gamers (Taylor 93). In a nutshell, stereotypes are often misleading and they often tend to draw people’s attention to the perceived inabilities of certain groups of people, especially when such stereotypes are advanced through different forms of media. Unfortunately, the true nature and capability of such groups remain lost to those that have put unwavering faith in information passed through media.
Works Cited
Taylor, Tina L. “Where the Women Are.” In Play Between Worlds: Exploring Online Game Culture (pp. 93-124). MIT Press, 2009.
Dyson, Michael E. "Frames of Reference." In Miller, James S. (Ed.), Acting Out Culture (pp. 123-132).
Perez, Chris. "White Man Calls Police on Black Family at Neighborhood Pool." Nypost, Jul. 2018. https://nypost.com/2018/07/05/white-man-calls-police-on-black-family-at-neighborhood-pool. Accessed 13 July 2018.
