The Media and Stereotypes
By: Jordan Minchew
By: Jordan Minchew
6th Period
5/16/16
Whether we realize it or not, the media creates and maintains ethnic, racial, religious, sexual, gender-based and cultural stereotypes. However, no stereotype applies to an entire group of people that share ethnicity, religion, race etc. Stereotypes can hurt the relationships between people and groups of people.
Examples
- Many left-leaning media outlets only report on instances where a white cop has shot a black person, but rarely report on instances where a white cop has shot a white person, or a black cop has shot a white person. Based on this, the media has created and maintained the stereotype that all police officers shoot black people, and that this happens several times a day. Believe it or not, that's not true.
- A media outlet suggests that all women are housewives based on the reporter/anchor/writer/editor's work and comments.
- Many cleaning product commercials feature women doing housework, and this trend has existed for at least 100 years, probably more.
- Media outlets may exaggerate or stretch the facts of an event, idea or person. The media has created the stereotype that Donald Trump is a racist, but this is probably true. Trump has brought this on himself because of his comments and ideas.
- The media may make fun of a group of people and their beliefs in order to make the audience laugh, but as they do this, they are creating and maintaining stereotypes.
- You may have noticed that the media reports a lot on Islamic Terrorism and terrorist attacks, but rarely reports on normal, non-radicalized Muslims. This has created the stereotype that all Muslims are terrorists or support Islamic extremism. However, only a very small percent of Muslims are radicalism, and those who are often practice a distorted or misinterpreted form of Islam, one that is far from real, non-distorted Islam.
- All terrorists are Muslim. Not true. The Irish Republican Army, the KKK, and environmental terrorists, to name a few.
Works Cited
- http://krytyka.org/gender-stereotypes-in-mass-media-case-study-analysis-of-the-gender-stereotyping-phenomenon-in-tv-commercials/
- http://www.humanityinaction.org/knowledgebase/557-mass-media-the-construction-of-ethnic-stereotypes
- https://www.jihadwatch.org/2015/12/ny-times-non-muslim-extremists-more-lethal-than-jihadis