Representations in the Media

Representation:
-Representation is not a replication of reality, it is an interpretations o reality.
-A media representation says something about its subject
-Media images are often: constructed, re-presented
-We trust the media to report 'the facts', complicated by agenda (plan), gate-keepers control what we learn about, owners can also control what messages are sent out
- it can be: stereotype, negative or inaccurate, this is reinforced by the media and accepted by people
- e.g blurred lines video : women are objectified and talked about in a sexual manner with the use of language
-men are seen as dominant, such as in adverts sexualising violence against women

Stereotyping:
- derogatory term, denoting ideas / assumptions about particular groups, usually negative to divide/separate groups
-e.g Jeremy Kyle - the people who go on the show are stereotyped by the audience

Racism:
-what insists on creating divisions, a way of asserting dominance
e.g the slave trade
-xenophobia - intense/ irritation dislike/ fear of people from other countries
-medias portrayal of 'chavs' and people on benefits are often negative due to the medias influence

Limitations of Representations:
- the media have a limited time on air so they may rely on stereotypes in order to shorten down the message that they are trying to put across to the audience, therefor producing representations of certain people.   
- how we treat people depends on how society treats them, as most people follow the general view of society and what they deem acceptable.

Theorists:


Laughey (2009) -  ' construction of reality through language'
Branston & Stafford -  argue that media images never simply present words directly, link to images/how people look
Foucaults - noted the link between power and language
Storey (2012) -  there is only 1 race : the human race. ( Example: Image showing a black woman protecting a white man who was thought to be racist from getting beat up)
Richard Dyer's 'white' - argues that white people aren't necessarily white (symbolically or literally) nor are they pure
Edward Said & Orientalism (85) - western discourse has constructed a 'knowledge' of the east, playing on stereotype and fears to assert a hegemonic control over the east (e.g images we have in our heads of places in the east such as india people may think of slums)