Television Media Has a Responsibility

¶ … television media has a responsibility to portray minorities in proportion to their numbers in American society

Television media has a significant impact on society today. Unfortunately, the impact is not always a positive one, especially for social and racial minority groups in America. Television advocates claim that while minorities were once unfairly portrayed in the media, or even omitted from it all together, there is now adequate diversity on television. "Historically, the media has not fairly included minorities. Now networks are taking an active role in promoting diversity on TV." (Larner) However, minorities are actually underrepresented numerically in the media, portrayed in negative stereotypical roles, and this has a negative effect on the viewing audience.

There are few roles for Black or other minority characters on television, and the problem is growing. For example, there was a drop from 14.1% to 13.4% in Black characters in prime time television between 1997 and 1998. (Kleinman) the FCC Chairman remarked that growing up, he never saw successful Blacks on TV. Recently ABC boasted about having the broadest range of programming on tv, yet none of their ads featured a single minority.

Network executives admit that colorblind casting never happens, and that characters are assumed to be White unless otherwise specified. Even shows that are in Urban settings, such as "Friends" or "Seinfeld" do not show minorities in the city. Asians, Indians, and Latinos are even less represented than Blacks. "There have been studies showing that there are more extraterrestrials on television than Latinos...who constitute 10.7% of the U.S. population." (Kleinman) Minorities are not seen as profitable, so networks do not bother including them.

When minorities are portrayed on television, it is usually in a stereotypical or negative role. One Latino actress thanked God for stereotypes because otherwise there would be no work for her. (Kleinman) Among gay characters on TV, which are represented well population wise, they are almost always just comedy relief characters. One study showed that "White characters are more often rich and well educated, while characters of color break the law, are lazy, and act goofy." (Kleinman) Additionally, the study showed that young children thought it was important to see people of their own race on television. Another study showed that a majority of children expected Black actors to play negative roles and White actors to play positive roles.

The negative portrayal of minorities in the media affect the way children see themselves and other people, according to studies. Children, and other members of society, both consciously and subconsciously take negative racist stereotypes away from the under representation of positive minority characters on television. Under-representation leads to the impression that there are few opportunities and limited choices available for that group. "The media can grant legitimacy by including people and showing them respect, he argues, and so fair and equal representation is an essential part of a healthy and tolerant multicultural society." (Ure)