Essay On Minorities In The Media

Through out history the media have always had a way of suppressing minorities. In the twenty first century minorities are still being portrayed as gangsters, assistants and the supportive best friend. The media plays an important role in shaping the way we see race and ethnicity around us. For generations whites have always been viewed as superior and privilege, while minorities, like Blacks and Hispanics, have been viewed as inferior. Inequality within society has improved, but the media representation of minorities has a long way to go. From a young age the media has always been our first source of information and a visual example of the world around us. As a young child what we see in movies and cartoons we not only act out, but use to form our
The development of TV stations like BET and Telemundo does not show improvement on minority representation because it’s not geared to the general audience, but people of that culture. The continue lack of Asians, Hispanics and Blacks on primetime television show that their story is still not important in this generation. For Example, the comedy Friends was set in New York City, one of the most diverse cities in the country, but the cast was mostly white. According to Monika Kothari, “There are plenty of other shows that fit the same general mold like Sex and the City and Seinfeld with an essentially all-white cast in large and diverse cities like New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago” (2012). Years after these shows have ended the media still has not improved. For example, the show Girls is set in Brooklyn, New York and the entire cast is white. The only representations of minorities are homeless people or nannies. Anyone who knows anything about Brooklyn knows that it is the second most diverse part in all of New York. Most of the people who live there are from different countries and have developed successful