Some groups which are defined as an ìnferior race
become part of the privileged majority “the “whites”.
Other groups such as African, Latino, American
Indian, Pacific Islander and Asian, they are facing
more difficulties while living in America (Manning,
2001).
During the beginning stages of film and media,
where whites people controlled the entertainment
industry, they would choose what images they would
like to portray towards to African- American people.
Since then, they have to struggled to represent their
own stories, beliefs, opinions and identities
(Kulaszewicks, 2015).
Bias, disempowerment and discrimination in
regards to race have been longstanding issues within
several aspects of mainstream media, including
television news, entertainment, and advertising.
During 1939, racial segregation was becoming a
heated topic in the United States (Kulaszewicks,
2015). United states has a history in marginalizing the
black people where number of black men and boys
are being prejudice and underrepresented in the
various media (Partnership, 2011)…outside of sports
games, the representation of African Americans [in
popular video games] drops precipitously, with many
of the remaining featured as gangsters and street
people … (Williams et al., 2009 )(Williams, D.,
Martins, N., Consalvo, M., & Ivory, 2009).
During research conducted by Happer and Philo
(2013), it was established that media can also play a
role in shaping behavior, legitimizing certain courses
of action but can also insert doubting confusion into
debate (C Happer & G. Philo, 2013).
Drew’s research (2011) is focused on how news
media can work to improve racial tensions in society,
which is an optimistic contrast to other research
which discusses the negative effects of media on
public perception of race (Entman, 1992).
Over decades, media has bias, prejudice, and
consits of hatred towards black people. Blacks are
overrepresented as perpetrators of violent crime when
news coverage is compared with arrest rates but are
underrepresented in the more sympathetic roles of
victim, law enforcer as cited in Entman and Gross,
2008 p.98, as cited by Travis L. Dixon &Daniel
Linz ,2000 (Partnership, 2011).
African-Americans are frequently portrayed with
personality characteristics that are stereotypically
negative. The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights
(1977) found that African American television
portrayals typically depicted the following
stereotypic personality characteristics: inferior,
stupid, comical, immoral, and dishonest as cited by
Dates.1990 (Carter, 2008) as cited in Watson 2009
that African American have been stereotyped as
violent and impulsive sexual predators (Weaver Jr,
2016). Black males are targets for negative coverage,
but it is further concerning that all Americans are
liable to be impacted in ways that affect their racial
perception (Kulaszewicks, 2015).
In Barlow (2011), Dean Larry Davis from the
University of Pittsburgh was quoted stating that,
“Overwhelmingly, White Americans learn about
African Americans not through personal relationships,
but through images shown by media. Unfortunately,
Blacks too consume these same images”(Barlow,
2011)
University of Michigan Professor, Richard Allen,
discussed findings that African Americans who were
highly exposed to media, television, were more likely
to report lower self esteem (Luther, C., Ringer Lepre,
C., & Clark, 2012).
Oliver concluded through studies that Black men
were misidentified by all participants in this specific
study as violent criminals (Oliver, 2003).
Grant (2012) conducted qualitative research also
examining how Black males are represented in the
media. The research concluded that Black men are
represented by media as “the common criminal of this
society”(Grant, 2012).
Mostly, people trust the news that provided by the
media either offline or online media. It is necessary
for American consumer to trust the news amidst the
spread of fake news, and consumers are more vocal
about whether or not they have faith in a source to
report news correctly (Watson, 2020). Credibility and
accuracy is become essential to engage news
consumer. Cited by Happer and Philo (2013), Media
impacts our beliefs, assumptions, public ideology, as
well as our experiences (Kulaszewicks, 2015).
Media affects in our perception for what happens
in the world, as cited by Happer and Philo (2013) "the
media – offline and online – play a central role in
communicating to the public what happens in the
world. In those cases in which audiences do not
possess direct knowledge or experience of what is
happening, they become particularly reliant upon the
media to inform them (C Happer & G. Philo, 2013).
The Internet and its numerous online platforms
have become a global arena for the formation,
distribution, and reception of world news, opinions,
and agendas. Thus, one would have expected the
emergence of a global news system serving as the
public sphere. As a consequence, journalism is
becoming more oriented towards news of global
importance from a global perspective (Mario Haim &
Jungblut, 2020).
Black African American Racism: Ethical or Political Issue in America? (as Depicted on America’s Most Popular News Portal During
May-June 2020)
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