Bias of the American Mass Media

Bias Media 1
Running head: BIAS MASS MEDIA

Bias of the American Mass Media
Race Issue Paper
Drake Glasen
English 111
Jacqueline Cason
Ms. Cornell

4/05/2006
Bias Media 2
The Bias of the American Mass Media
Race and gender codes are constructed from cultural histories, beliefs, and most influentially, the media. According to Omi, (1989) people use race and gender to help identify with a person and how they should relate to others. This way of identifying people's characteristics is highly susceptible to falling into stereotypes. That is why media coverage can have such a profound effect on people's views of other races and cultures. DeMott (1995) argues that Hollywood creates an utopian view of race relations, and that movies such as Lethal Weapon and Driving Miss Daisy promote a positive view of cultural togetherness that is actually false. But DeMott fails to acknowledge that many Hollywood movies and much of American news media depicts minority races in a sadly negative light. DeMott is correct in his thinking that the mass media plays a crucial role in white America's views of other cultures and races, and that the media's interpretation of cultures and races is what people are shown. Sadly, however, that interpretation is often skewed and racist.
In current headlines, a company from the country of Dubai has been trying to acquire rights to American ports. This subject raised much debate over foreign involvement in the American economy. The prime reason for the Dubai ports deal failure was the outcry from Americans at letting a Middle Eastern country control American ports. This mentality sadly stemmed from pure ignorance and a racist view of Middle Eastern peoples. In a recent article Friedman (2006) discusses the fact that Dubai is "the sort of decent, modernizing model we should be trying to nurture in the Arab-Muslim world" (Friedman, 2006) Dubai is a country building itself using a peaceful and worldly
Bias Media 3
approach, not violence... [continues]

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