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Representation Of Race In Media

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Representation Of Race In Media
Representation Of Race In Media

Much of our perceptions of the world are based on narratives and the images that we see in film, television, radio, music, and other media. These are some of the outlets that construct how individuals see their social identities, as well as learn and understand about what it is to be black, white, Native American, Asian, South American, etc. (Dow, Wood, 2006, p. 297). You will get a better understanding of this once you understand the concept of ideologies. Ideologies are what create our perception of the world around us, whether it is political, social, economic, etc. Ideologies are not the product of individual intention or conscious, rather we create our intentions within ideology (Marris, Thornham, 2000, p. 267). These ideologies exist before we are even born; they form the social constructions and conditions that we are born into. But, ideologies are just a practice, and it is produced and reproduced in apparatus of ideological production. The media is a great example of an apparatus of ideological production (Marris, Thornham, 2000, p. 273). It produces social meanings and distributes them throughout society. However, as long as ideologies continue so will social struggles such as racism, which we will discuss in this essay. Media elites represent different races through media based on their ideologies. This has a predominant influence on the social constructions of race and contributes to our understanding of it.

The media is bias. This is due to the bias in the minds of those in control of these media outlets known as the media elites. Harold Innis is a well-known Canadian political economist and a pioneer in communication studies who explores the concept of media bias in depth in many of his writings. Innis believed that bias could be within media itself. He underlined his concern on human biases and how they are incorporated into predominate institutions, organizations and



References: Bullock, K. H., & Jafri, G. J. Media (Mis)Representations: Muslim Women in the Canadian Nation. . Retrieved July 25, 2014, from http://pi.library.yorku.ca/ojs/index.php/cws/article/view/7607/6738 Comor, E. Harold Innis and The Bias of Communication. Retrieved July 25, 2014, from http://sspa.boisestate.edu/communication/files/2010/05/Comer-Harold-Innis-and-Bias-of-Communication.pdf Cottle, S. (2000). Changing Representation. Ethnic minorities and the media: changing cultural boundaries (). Buckingham: Open University Press. Dow, B. J., & Wood, J. T. (2006). GENDER, RACE, AND MEDIA REPRESENTATION. The SAGE handbook of gender and communication (). Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications. Li-Vollmer, M. Race Representation in Child-Targeted Television Commercials. Retrieved July 25, 2014, from http://journals1.scholarsportal.info.ezproxy.lib.ryerson.ca/pdf/15205436/v05i0002/207_rrictc.xml Marris, P., & Thornham, S. (2000). Ideology and Discourse . Media studies: a reader (2nd ed., ). New York: New York University Press. Naiman, J. (2012). The Basic of Modern Societies . How societies work: class, power, and change (5th ed., ). Winnipeg: Fernwood. Saeed, A. Media, Racism and Islamophobia: The Representation of Islam and Muslims in the Media. . Retrieved July 25, 2014, from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com.ezproxy.lib.ryerson.ca/store/10.1111/j.1751-9020.2007.00039.x/asset/j.1751-9020.2007.00039.x.pdf?v=1&t=hy55dkcm&s=168ce183656d0759bf59006337b7eef243174714

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