M019 Shaping The Image Of Black America

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Running head: SHAPING THE IMAGE OF BLACK AMERICA 1

Shaping the Image of Black America

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Running head: SHAPING THE IMAGE OF BLACK AMERICA 2

Television is a media used my most people and it is actually believed that more than half

of the world’s population spends most of their time watching television. This is an informative

media but can also be used to misinform or even divide a nation on the basis of their political

affiliation, religion or even their racial differences as discussed below.

In the 1950’s and 1960’s, television portrayed black Americans as an inferior race

(Entman, and Rojecki, 2001). This ranged from the way television broadcasts and programs

deliberately denied black Americans the opportunity to feature in any of the programs since they

were deemed inferior. Even when black Americans featured in some programs, they held social

domestic roles which in essence were servant roles and were displayed as simple and lazy. Racial

stereotyping was common and any programs that featured black Americans risked losing

sponsorships and gained lower ratings since they were highly criticized by the white viewers

who were the larger population. This was outright racism and there was need to take action to

bring about equality.

In the late 1970’s, the Civil Rights Movement improved the situation by holding

demonstrations expressing their dissatisfaction in the coverage on television broadcasts (Entman,

and Rojecki, 2001). This worked to sensitize people on the racial discrimination in America.

This is when ‘Roots’ a dramatic and vibrant program was aired on TV tracing the African

ancestry. This program revealed the talent in the Black American and was regarded a great

success to date. This was unlike earlier television shows like ‘Good times’ which focused on

discrimination against black families and how they sought solace from humor and this left a

negative impact on viewers.

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Running head: SHAPING THE IMAGE OF BLACK AMERICA Shaping the Image of Black America Institution Affiliation Date 1 Running head: SHAPING THE IMAGE OF BLACK AMERICA 2 Television is a media used my most people and it is actually believed that more than half of the world’s population spends most of their time watching television. This is an informative media but can also be used to misinform or even divide a nation on the basis of their political affiliation, religion or even their racial differences as discussed below. In the 1950’s and 1960’s, television portrayed black Americans as an inferior race (Entman, and Rojecki, 2001). This ranged from the way television broadcasts and programs deliberately denied black Americans the opportunity to feature in any of the programs since they were deemed inferior. Even when black Americans featured in some programs, they held social domestic roles which in essence were servant roles and were displayed as simple and lazy. Racial stereotyping was common and any programs that featured black Americans risked losing sponsorships and gained lower ratings since they were highly criticized by the white viewers who were the larger populatio ...
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