Racism in Mainstream Media

7/23/2019 Racism in Mainstream Media http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/racism-in-mainstream-media 1/2 Racism in Mainstream Media Reporting, Values, Public Commentary Introduction: The Settler Nation state Canada is founded on the principles of systemic institutional racism targeting Indigenous Peoples inhabiting land the Settler state desires to possess and exploit for its sole benefit. This is how the Nation state was founded in 18! and how the Indigenous Peoples where marginali"ed# isolated and sub$ugated to ma%e way for the &ci'ili"ation( of the land. Today# mainstream media %nowingly plays an acti'e role in continuing the marginali"ation through the way it reports on Indigenous issues. I say %nowingly because there is ample information a'ailable on Indigenous stereotypes and the mechanics of perpetuation that render any excuses by media as meaningless and disingenuous. )eporting and editing of stories with Indigenous references or on Indigenous issues are fre*uently deficient in ways that foster the perpetuation of harmful stereotypes. +gain there is no excuse for this. There are plenty of %nowledgeable Indigenous People with credentials in both worlds that could pro'ide useful s%ills to publishers to ensure there is true balance and honest representation of Indigenous world'iews in the stories. ,ainstream media also contributes to the perpetuation of harmful stereotypes through social media sites li%e -aceboo% pages and comment sections on media websites. The guidelines and practices 'ary widely from publisher to publisher. The most harmful sites are those that allow the posting of anonymous comments with minimal or uns%illed moderation. The situation has grown so bad and expensi'e to manage that Post,ediaSun has switched to re*uiring -aceboo% credentials before indi'iduals can ma%e postings. C/C in 0ecember 213 placed a moratorium on open comments on Indigenous story content. The comment forums are a hot bed of o'ert and co'ert anti4Indigenous racism. Publishers regardless their disclaimers# ha'e an obligation to not promote hatred or at a minimum expose the identity of those engaging in hate speech. The following presentation will examine the mechanics of how stories are written and how these current methods encourage the promotion of stereotypes. I will show this through the comments that get posted as a direct conse*uence of the positioning and tone of the stories. I will also deconstruct the comments to show

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Transcript of Racism in Mainstream Media

7/23/2019 Racism in Mainstream Media

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/racism-in-mainstream-media 1/2

Racism in Mainstream Media

Reporting, Values, Public Commentary

Introduction:

The Settler Nation state Canada is founded on the principles of systemicinstitutional racism targeting Indigenous Peoples inhabiting land the Settler statedesires to possess and exploit for its sole benefit. This is how the Nation state was founded in 18! and how the Indigenous Peoples where marginali"ed#isolated and sub$ugated to ma%e way for the &ci'ili"ation( of the land.

Today# mainstream media %nowingly plays an acti'e role in continuing themarginali"ation through the way it reports on Indigenous issues. I say %nowingly because there is ample information a'ailable on Indigenous stereotypes and themechanics of perpetuation that render any excuses by media as meaningless anddisingenuous.

)eporting and editing of stories with Indigenous references or on Indigenousissues are fre*uently deficient in ways that foster the perpetuation of harmfulstereotypes. +gain there is no excuse for this. There are plenty of %nowledgeableIndigenous People with credentials in both worlds that could pro'ide useful s%illsto publishers to ensure there is true balance and honest representation of

Indigenous world'iews in the stories.

,ainstream media also contributes to the perpetuation of harmful stereotypesthrough social media sites li%e -aceboo% pages and comment sections on media websites. The guidelines and practices 'ary widely from publisher to publisher.The most harmful sites are those that allow the posting of anonymous comments with minimal or uns%illed moderation. The situation has grown so bad andexpensi'e to manage that Post,ediaSun has switched to re*uiring -aceboo%credentials before indi'iduals can ma%e postings. C/C in 0ecember 213 placeda moratorium on open comments on Indigenous story content.

The comment forums are a hot bed of o'ert and co'ert anti4Indigenous racism.Publishers regardless their disclaimers# ha'e an obligation to not promote hatredor at a minimum expose the identity of those engaging in hate speech.

The following presentation will examine the mechanics of how stories are writtenand how these current methods encourage the promotion of stereotypes. I willshow this through the comments that get posted as a direct conse*uence of thepositioning and tone of the stories. I will also deconstruct the comments to show