Here are someblogs of my classmates I found very interesting and I recomend you to visit.
1) Baia Dzagnidze´s blog is focusing on sex in media and its influences on society ad especially children and teenagers. I found her post about “sexting” very interesting an shocking.
http://sexinmassmedia.blogspot.com/
2) Peter Cizek´s blog is concerned with privacy in media and how different media violate our privacy. Very interesting post is about youtube.
http://meidapeto.blogspot.com/
3) Michal Klicnik´s blog focuses on media censorship. He argues against unjustified censorship.
http://21070-censored.blogspot.com/
4) Oksana Bondar´s blog explains about branding as a marketing strategy. She points out how easy it is to create personal brand today.
http://oksanavsmedia.blogspot.com/2010/05/brand-yourself.html
5) And last but not least I recommend you to visit Michaela Baginova´s blog as her theme is related to mine. It is about stereotyping in media and how harmful it can be.
http://stereotypinginmedia.blogspot.com
Monday, May 24, 2010
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Here are some web pages that may be useful for finding further information on the topic of representation of minorities in media.
Very interesting web page is Media Awareness Network covering issues such as Stereotyping of minorities, ethnic minorities in the news, as well as disabled people, gays and lesbians and many others. Much useful information can be found on this site including statistics and findings of studies.
Link:http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/issues/stereotyping/ethnics_and_minorities/index.cfm
Another good page to visit for more information about demographical structure of the United States of America is America.gov. This page contains statistical information from 2007 Census. The article shows the development of American population since 19th century with the data being represented very clearly.
Link:http://www.america.gov/st/diversity-english/2008/May/20080513175840zjsredna0.1815607.html
For further information on the two current cases presented on this blog regarding representation of minorities in Czech media and political incorrectness Prague Monitor can be visited. Prague Monitor is an English-language electronic daily about the Czech Republic where you can follow both cases.
Link:http://praguemonitor.com/2010/04/16/romani-activist-criticises-childrens-book-racist
Very interesting web page is Media Awareness Network covering issues such as Stereotyping of minorities, ethnic minorities in the news, as well as disabled people, gays and lesbians and many others. Much useful information can be found on this site including statistics and findings of studies.
Link:http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/issues/stereotyping/ethnics_and_minorities/index.cfm
Another good page to visit for more information about demographical structure of the United States of America is America.gov. This page contains statistical information from 2007 Census. The article shows the development of American population since 19th century with the data being represented very clearly.
Link:http://www.america.gov/st/diversity-english/2008/May/20080513175840zjsredna0.1815607.html
For further information on the two current cases presented on this blog regarding representation of minorities in Czech media and political incorrectness Prague Monitor can be visited. Prague Monitor is an English-language electronic daily about the Czech Republic where you can follow both cases.
Link:http://praguemonitor.com/2010/04/16/romani-activist-criticises-childrens-book-racist
Topolánek´s Incorrectness
Former Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek is an author of one of the most memorable cases of political incorrectness in the modern history of Czech politics. His comments for a gay magazine LUI upset homosexuals and Jewish community. On March 20th 2010 Czech tabloid Blesk.cz published video filmed during photo shoot for magazine LUI which led to Topolanek´s demission. Topolánek was asked to describe gays in 5 words; as an example he chose Czech Transport Minister. “I think that Gustav Slamečka gives way when the situation is really, really tough. Fisher, however, is a Jew, he is not a gay and he gives way even earlier. This has nothing to do with him being a gay, it’s his character.”
There can be no discussion on the correctness of Topolánek´s comments since they were clearly politically incorrect and. The question is, were they racist or homophobe? I do not think they were. From the video it is also clear that Topolánek is neither. Even though the comments are offensive, it is only Fisher and Slamečka personally who should feel insulted and not the communities. Topolánek made it clear (even though bit clearer would not hurt) that Slamečka gives away because of his character and not because he is a gay, as well as Fisher does.
This is not an attempt to excuse Topolánek´s comments. I think we can agree that those were at least inappropriate and very unprofessional especially from a politician. But to me, they were just inept comments and not at all so scandalous and hateful as some media reported.
Link to the video:
http://video.novinky.cz/video/doporucujeme/?videoId=9394
There can be no discussion on the correctness of Topolánek´s comments since they were clearly politically incorrect and. The question is, were they racist or homophobe? I do not think they were. From the video it is also clear that Topolánek is neither. Even though the comments are offensive, it is only Fisher and Slamečka personally who should feel insulted and not the communities. Topolánek made it clear (even though bit clearer would not hurt) that Slamečka gives away because of his character and not because he is a gay, as well as Fisher does.
This is not an attempt to excuse Topolánek´s comments. I think we can agree that those were at least inappropriate and very unprofessional especially from a politician. But to me, they were just inept comments and not at all so scandalous and hateful as some media reported.
Link to the video:
http://video.novinky.cz/video/doporucujeme/?videoId=9394
Racist Mikeš?
Perhaps a humorous case of portrayal of minorities in media, or at least the discussions and controversy it caused, is “Lada controversy.” For those who are not familiar with Czech folklore painter and writer Josef Lada, he was born in 1887 in a village named Hrusice, which is closely linked to Lads´s work. He illustrated number of Czech fairytales as well as very famous novel Osudy dobrého vojáka Švejka (The Good Soldier Švejk). The piece that caused the controversy is a classical Czech children book Kocour Mikeš (Mikeš the Tomcat) written in 1934 set in the environment of a typical Czech village of that time.Now, after almost 80 years, some Roma assicoations protest that “Mikeš is racist” and that the book should not be used in schools as a teaching device. Yes, I am talking about a story when Mikeš, the talking cat, was stolen by gypsies. On April 14th 2010 Václav Miko, chairman of association Roma Realita, wrote a letter criticizing the use of book Kocour Mikeš in schools. According to him Josef Lada was a racist and the book represents Roma people very negatively. Especially the part where Mikeš gets stolen, there appears the controversial sentence “dear children, the people were gypsies!”
However this doesn’t seem concern all Roma associations as others such as Romea for example consider Miko´s complaints to be a bad joke. Such comments are close to my reaction when I first heard about the “Lada controversy.” Furthermore, Petr Koubek, secretary to the human rights and minorities minister, said to Czech daily Právo "If we banned a work of art, we would return back to the communist era." And I have to agree, because banning of books like Kocour Mikeš would is a censorship.
But was Lada politically incorrect or even a racist? Probably not; sure, today it is not politically correct to call someone gypsy, but we have to take in account that Lada wrote those words in 1930s when there was not such a thing as political correctness. The one thing to do is to explain children that Lada did not mean to say that all gypsies steal talking cats. :)
Portrayal of Minorities in the Media Essay
The portrayal of minorities in the media much debated topic. Media have an immense influence on society; they teach the society about minorities, ethnic and societal groups. As Harris points out, “sometimes everything we know about some kinds of people comes from television.”(...) In return, the media greatly influence the lives of the minorities.
This is why the portrayal of minorities in the media is worth studying and discussing. Especially the portrayal of African Americans on television has been historically studied the most. However, there are many more minorities that struggle to be represented fairly and objectively in media. Other ethnic groups, disabled or aging people receive incomparably less attention in media as well as in studies concerning portrayal of minorities in the media.
It can be agreed that African Americans are the one minority group that is portrayed the most. And even though the portrayal of African Americans is still far from ideal; they are much less underrepresented that Latinos, Asians, elderly, or disabled people. The journey African Americans have traveled was a long one. Harris agrees with Clarks four chronological stages of the portrayal of minorities in media.
During the first stage, which is called nonrecognition, “the minority group is simply excluded from television.” (Harris) For African Americans that was not until 1950s that they appeared on television. Today the nonrecognition is not so easy due to great number of different kinds of media. Underrepresentation of certain groups, such as disabled people or elderly, is much bigger problem today.
The second stage is the most damaging. During the stage of ridicule, the minority group is being caricaturized and stereotyped. In the case of African Americans this stage began in late 1950s with television shows like Amos and Andy. Currently, as Harris says, Arabs are is the stage of ridicule and in some cases even homosexuals such as in I Now Pronounce you Chuck and Larry.
The stage of ridicule is followed by regulation, in which the minority takes on the roles of “protectors of the existing order” such as policemen, detective or spy (Harris). A memorable movie I Spy from 1960s is an excellent example of African Americans during the regulation stage. Currently Latinos and even much underrepresented group of people with disability can be seen portrayed in this way. Good example for the later is the Avatar movie where the hero was bound to a wheelchair.
The last stage is respect during which the minority should be portrayed “in the same full range of roles” as the majority. African Americans are one of the few groups that have reached this final stage of portrayal in media. Now there is much larger variety of characters portrayed on television, good as well as bad.
Clark’s model of chronological stages of the portrayal of minorities in media was explained and illustrated by recent examples from the mass media. Although this model is not the only and flawless model it sufficiently illustrates how are minorities integrated into the media.
Work cited:
Harris, Richard Jackson. A Cognitive Psychology of Mass Communication. Mahwah, N.J.: L. Erlbaum Associates, 2004. Print.
This is why the portrayal of minorities in the media is worth studying and discussing. Especially the portrayal of African Americans on television has been historically studied the most. However, there are many more minorities that struggle to be represented fairly and objectively in media. Other ethnic groups, disabled or aging people receive incomparably less attention in media as well as in studies concerning portrayal of minorities in the media.
It can be agreed that African Americans are the one minority group that is portrayed the most. And even though the portrayal of African Americans is still far from ideal; they are much less underrepresented that Latinos, Asians, elderly, or disabled people. The journey African Americans have traveled was a long one. Harris agrees with Clarks four chronological stages of the portrayal of minorities in media.
During the first stage, which is called nonrecognition, “the minority group is simply excluded from television.” (Harris) For African Americans that was not until 1950s that they appeared on television. Today the nonrecognition is not so easy due to great number of different kinds of media. Underrepresentation of certain groups, such as disabled people or elderly, is much bigger problem today.
The second stage is the most damaging. During the stage of ridicule, the minority group is being caricaturized and stereotyped. In the case of African Americans this stage began in late 1950s with television shows like Amos and Andy. Currently, as Harris says, Arabs are is the stage of ridicule and in some cases even homosexuals such as in I Now Pronounce you Chuck and Larry.
The stage of ridicule is followed by regulation, in which the minority takes on the roles of “protectors of the existing order” such as policemen, detective or spy (Harris). A memorable movie I Spy from 1960s is an excellent example of African Americans during the regulation stage. Currently Latinos and even much underrepresented group of people with disability can be seen portrayed in this way. Good example for the later is the Avatar movie where the hero was bound to a wheelchair.
The last stage is respect during which the minority should be portrayed “in the same full range of roles” as the majority. African Americans are one of the few groups that have reached this final stage of portrayal in media. Now there is much larger variety of characters portrayed on television, good as well as bad.
Clark’s model of chronological stages of the portrayal of minorities in media was explained and illustrated by recent examples from the mass media. Although this model is not the only and flawless model it sufficiently illustrates how are minorities integrated into the media.
Work cited:
Harris, Richard Jackson. A Cognitive Psychology of Mass Communication. Mahwah, N.J.: L. Erlbaum Associates, 2004. Print.
Political Correctness
Is being politically incorrect the same as being racist? I don’t think so. The problem is somewhere else and political correctness can not solve it as it is only covers up the symptoms but does not cure the disease.
There are many critics of political correctness but most of them seem to be concerned only with freedom of speech. Expressions like “Political correctness is a limitation of free speech that is believed to be necessary in order to protect other rights” (filipspagnoli.wordpress.com) or “Political Correctness is the communal tyranny” (physicsforums.com) are very frequent among opponents of political correctness. However, I don’t see this as the main problem of the concept.
Does it really matted if we call Romany people Gypsies or African Americans Blacks? Those are just words. I think that it is not so much question of the word we use, but rather of how we use it and in what context. Of course as far as we are not rude to anyone; but that is a question of social intelligence. The think is that one can say African American and make it sound like a terrible insult.
If negative connotation is what we fear, then politically correct language is not going to solve the problem. First we have to change the way of thinking about the minority in question. If the society thinks badly about Gypsies, they are not going to thing any better about Roma people. And the later will soon have the very same negative connotation.
The only way to go is to change the portrayal of minorities in media to erase the negative and stereotyped image from the consciousness of the majority. Very good example of projects that should be supported is CNN´s series Black in America that shows stories from lives of African Americans.
Links:
http://filipspagnoli.wordpress.com/2009/04/21/limiting-free-speech-24-political-correctness/
http://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=66052
There are many critics of political correctness but most of them seem to be concerned only with freedom of speech. Expressions like “Political correctness is a limitation of free speech that is believed to be necessary in order to protect other rights” (filipspagnoli.wordpress.com) or “Political Correctness is the communal tyranny” (physicsforums.com) are very frequent among opponents of political correctness. However, I don’t see this as the main problem of the concept.
Does it really matted if we call Romany people Gypsies or African Americans Blacks? Those are just words. I think that it is not so much question of the word we use, but rather of how we use it and in what context. Of course as far as we are not rude to anyone; but that is a question of social intelligence. The think is that one can say African American and make it sound like a terrible insult.
If negative connotation is what we fear, then politically correct language is not going to solve the problem. First we have to change the way of thinking about the minority in question. If the society thinks badly about Gypsies, they are not going to thing any better about Roma people. And the later will soon have the very same negative connotation.
The only way to go is to change the portrayal of minorities in media to erase the negative and stereotyped image from the consciousness of the majority. Very good example of projects that should be supported is CNN´s series Black in America that shows stories from lives of African Americans.
Links:
http://filipspagnoli.wordpress.com/2009/04/21/limiting-free-speech-24-political-correctness/
http://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=66052
Ethnic minorities in news
It is a common knowledge that good journalism should be objective, independent and balanced. It is also no secret that members of ethnic and visible minorities are underrepresented and stereotyped in the news.
Latinos in The United States are the largest minority accounting for more than 15 percent of the whole population. According to Media Awareness Network, “of 12,000 evening news stories aired annually by the three major American Networks, only 1% is about Latino people or issues.” That is an enormous difference. “When Latinos are included, they are portrayed negatively 80% of the time.”
It is not only insufficient and biased coverage on minority issues that is so troubling. Ethnic minorities are much underrepresented in the media industry as well. In year 2007 34 percent of the population of the United States were minorities but “only 11.6 per cent of U.S. newsroom staff were members of ethnic or visible minorities” (Media Awareness Network).
Even though this is not an easy problem to fix it has to be done. The question is how to do it. Should there be specific quotas? That does not seem like a very good and democratic solution; but is such an enormous underrepresentation democratic? Should the news content be strictly regulated? This again seems dangerously close to restricting the freedom of speech. There is not one way of solving this problem that would suit to all but sooner or later, and I very much hope it will be soon, this inequality will have to disappear.
Links:
http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/issues/stereotyping/ethnics_and_minorities/index.cfm
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