Communication and Media

Communication and Media



Communication and Media

Introduction

It is often observed among newspaper executives that when they are requited to make a commitment to amend their ways whenever controversies are hit, they are very apt at making quick and effective decisions as well as further promises to change, a perfect example of which is the speed with which they added color graphics as well as lifestyle sections to the pages of their newspapers. However, controversies are hardly known to follow up on the topic at hand, and often stray from their original purpose for the sake of more interesting and racy topics. A prime example of this is when news paper leaders were told to adapt to the politically charged decisions taking place in the late 70's, where the disintegration of people of color was no longer tolerated and organizations were told to take a pledge in order to hire more African Americans or members of the Hispanic community, among others. This, compared with the speed with which editors and newspaper moguls would adapt to racist comments, showed a great dissatisfaction of the media in the late 70's and the entirely turbulent 80's. In this paper, I will discuss the entirely too important problem of racism and its portrayal in media nowadays, as it is surely a topic that is provocative and is worthy of contemplation.

Discussion

It was considered a mark of inferiority at first to hire black people to be among members of staff, and bullying and racism was as much a part of society as entertainment seems to be. The American Society of Newspaper Editor's attempt to hire more minorities in their communities was received with mixed feelings. The goal was to hire minorities in numbers that equal to the percentage of these minorities within the national population.

This goal was somewhat achieved, with minorities making up almost 12 percent of the newspaper and print media community, but there is a long long way to go till one can honestly be proud of the way minorities are represented in print media. The same can be true for electronic media as well, with racial minorities making up a small number in American as well as British television and film. That is not to say that there is misestimating among the number of minorities represented, but the number is far from equal. Add to that the fact that most of the tv bosses as well as juries in Hollywood and other film related bosses are usually white men in or above their fifties, and this fact becomes a lot more harrowing to the minorities in media. Magazines face a lot more racism in terms of the representation of minorities, with little diversity among the type of people who are allowed to join the art and design communities as well. There are but a few top executives in media who are people of color, and this in itself is a big achievement judging by the constant struggle faced by new actors or artists ...