MEDIA: REPRESENTATIONS of ETHNICITY

In the 1950's-1970's black people were often not shown on TV or in film. They did not work on the News or present radio programmes. The times they were shown on TV, they were often stereotyped in a negative way. They were shown as criminals or shown only to be singers, dancers, athletics or musicians - they suffered from symbolic innihilation, by which they were marginalised by the media. Until 2007, Eastenders was criticised by the Commission for Racial Equality for not representing the true ethnic make up of the East End of London. Eastenders then, thankfully attemped to represent the diverse nature of society, as a microcosm. The Masood's for example, go through a range of different life events that dont just focus on ethnicity (miscarriages, divorces etc).

Since 2001, there has been an orchestrated growth of 'Islamophobia', a fear of Islam and Muslims. In many news reports, the word 'terrorist' follows Islam, as if to suggest that the majority of the islamic community are infact a danger to society, despite the fact that many of these people hold differing values, beliefs and cultures. The media then amplifies the extent to how these ethnic minority people are actually a threat to us, reinforcing people's negative…