Page Content
Many Canadians would agree that diversity has become an integral component of Canadian identity. Look at our schools and you’ll see multiculturalism in action—visible minorities, now constituting 13.4 per cent of the population1 have increased three-fold over the last two decades.2 Urban (and increasingly small town) school demographics continue to evolve. According to Statistics Canada, by 2016 visible minorities will account for one-fifth of Canada’s population.
The unofficial curriculum
Switch channels for a moment and think of the environment in which today’s youth are immersed. Theirs is the multitasking media generation—as they study, play sports, talk on cell phones and hang out with friends, they are also instant-messaging, listening to music, watching TV, going to movies, playing videogames or surfing the Net—all part of the rhythm of their lives. It is ironic, therefore, that in the huge range of literature about multiculturalism and Canadian identity, human rights and equality, little attention is given to the influence that media has on how children and youth think about themselves and others in society.
The media world of youth has been called the “informal” or “alternate” curriculum, and given its influence on young people, it is worth asking: What is the media telling North American youth about ethnic and visible minority groups? And what effect might the unquestioned acceptance of media realities have on the social development of children and young people?
In 1999, Children Now, a U.S. advocacy organization, surveyed youths’ attitudes and found that children of all races and cultural backgrounds share similar beliefs about the characters they encounter in television programs. Children consistently associated having money and being well-educated and intelligent with white characters, whereas lawbreaking, acting goofy and financial hardships were associated with minority characters.
The media is cool
Let’s face it. The media is cool. What young people see and hear in the media helps them figure out how the world works and who and what is valued as important in our society. If a young person’s own racial group is overrepresented and the values of the racial group are not affirmed by positive inclusion in the news and entertainment media, or if inclusion is generally attached to conflicts, crises or tokenism, the message is clear.
The media and stereotypes
On television, the incidence of visible minority appearance per program is not bad—26 per cent in American TV and 12 per cent in Canadian. It is the amount of on-screen time and nature of portrayals that are problematic. Research shows that minorities are likely to be cast in secondary or two-bit roles, more often in poorly paid occupations and rarely in home settings. The majority of lead actors on TV and in the movies are white.
Videogames are full of predictable stereotypes. Eighty-six per cent of characters are white males. Non-whites are portrayed primarily as aggressors, victims or sports competitors.
Educational opportunities
The media is so much a part of young peoples’ landscape that it is easy for them to let it wash over them without reflecting or questioning. But there is a wonderful opportunity here for educators to get youth to reflect on the differences between the media’s realities and those of the real world and the reasons for this.
Discussing minority representation in media in the classroom serves several purposes. It makes youth think and question the basis of their own attitudes or biases about themselves and others; it provides a safe forum for discussing issues of institutionalized racism, integration and marginalization of new Canadians and it makes young people smarter media consumers and users—all part and parcel of provincial education goals and mandates.
A few eye openers can make the difference in how youth perceive the messages inherent in media productions. One of the main precepts underpinning media literacy is the concept that all media is constructed—for a reason and with a viewpoint—and that each and every media production is the result of hundreds of decisions made by journalists, cinematographers, photographers, editors, directors, producers and owners. Some of these decisions are conscious; some are not. Related to this is the lack of visible minorities behind the scenes in creative positions and in the higher echelons of decision-making. Consciously or not, this lack means that minority experiences are either ignored or filtered through the dominant white culture lens.
A discussion about stereotypes is always instructive. Stereotypes are used by media producers because they provide audiences with a quick and common understanding of a person or group of people. But stereotypes can be caricatures and can transmit simplistic and erroneous ideas about people and perpetuate prejudice and inequality.
Understanding the news industry and the competition that drives it is also instructive. Though new Canadians tend to be overrepresented in news stories about crime and underrepresented as experts, in fact, new Canadians are significantly underrepresented in the Canadian prison system and more likely than native-born Canadians to have higher levels of education. And they are significantly underrepresented as news reporters. More than 80 per cent of evening news stories on ABC, CBS and NBC are reported by whites.
There is good news, however. The last decade has seen a significant rise in minority news anchors in Canada in both the public and private broadcasting systems, and the face of advertising has changed considerably to reflect the actual makeup of our population.
This information is an important consideration when planning curricula and classroom programming to develop empowered and thoughtful citizens for an inclusive society.
About the Media Awareness Network
The Media Awareness Network offers teaching resources examining stereotyping in media, the influence of race imbalances on news reporting, the influence of absent voices in media content and how media portrayals of race and crime may affect attitudes in society. For intermediate and secondary lesson plans on these topics, check out “Diversity Portrayal” in MNet’s Lesson Library, Teachers section. For background essays on media portrayals of ethnic and visible minorities and Aboriginal peoples, go to Media Issues, Stereotyping. For information on MNet’s professional development workshop and self-directed PD tutorial, Exploring Media and Race, contact licensing@media-awareness.ca or visit the organization’s website.
Notes
1Excluding Aboriginal peoples, Statistics Canada, 2001.
2Of the immigrants who arrived between 1991 and 2001, 73 percent are members of visible minority groups.
Other articles in this issue:
