Stereotypes In Journalism

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As the world becomes more diversified and more in touch globally, it seems our world gets smaller. Therefore, it is important to have a representative of different races, ethnicities, gender, ages, and lifestyles in the newsroom. This brings different viewpoints, stereotypes, coverage, and more accurate portrayal of those groups in journalism. Stereotypes help organize our knowledge and beliefs about different social groups. People of different groups want to be represented and see stories relevant to them, and it is important for everyone to be informed of issues that span across groups. Stereotypes can be described as generalization or an assumption that people make about the characteristics of all members of a group, based on an image …show more content…

The main reason supporting this fact is because they provide us with a simple way of thinking . According to Walter Lippman (1992, p.16) “ the real environment is altogether too big, too complex, and too fleeting for direct acquaintance. We are not equipped to deal with so much subtlety, so much variety, so many permutations and combinations. Although we have to act in that environment, we have to reconstruct it on a simpler model before we can manage with it” (Lind, 149.) Even though stereotypes can be hard to get rid of, it's not an impossible act. There are some ways that can help reduce the influence of stereotypes on day to day life. For example: one can focus on every person as an individual, learn to look at things from the other person's prospective, adopt a more humble tentative attitude about the accuracy of our judgments as well as take opportunities to neutralize stereotypes when we hear …show more content…

The textbook provides a great example for this statement. In their research, Dome, McCoy and Torres wonder whether stories about race-related issues such as immigration could prime racial perceptions of relevant groups even if race was not specifically mentioned (Lind,p 22.) The mass media can easily affect the linkages people make while regarding these issues. Often the way mass media presents the issue can influence whether people would use stereotypes to understand the issue or

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