Why Diversity in Media Matters

March 1st, 2016 By: Alayna Rhodes

Image

Minority groups are extremely underrepresented in todays mediaInstitute for Diversity and Empowerment at Annenberg released, Comprehensive
Annenberg Report on Diversity in Entertainment which revealed that, in 2015, minority
racial groups represented 28.3% of all speaking characters on screen while 36.3% of
Americans are a part of a minority racial groups. But this isnt the only injustice, males
outnumber female characters on screen 2:1 and about 2% of all speaking characters
are LGBT.
But, why does this matter? Shouldnt a show not be affected by whether it lacks
diversity or not? Thats where youre wrong. Diversity in media is important because of
how groups that are under-represented in the media aren't given a voice to project who
they are to other people. So really, diversity in media enriches the viewers experience
with a show, movie or other media form.
Representation (or rather, lack thereof.) of certain groups of people in an
area or country, such as the US; shows biases of the people who inhabit it and
are creating our media.
"The major media-particularly, the elite media that set the agenda that
others generally follow-are corporations selling privileged audiences to other

businesses. said Noam Chomsky in Necessary Illusions: Thought Control in

Democratic Societies. This quote very much shows how the media does almost
try to sell the idea of what audiences will generally think of as perfect, therefore
revealing their prejudices. This is the exact reason why; even though people
argue that media represents a fantasy world so it doesnt matter if there are
diverse characters, it very much perpetuates the intolerance of our society today.
Minority groups feel left out of media since they are underrepresented.
Simone Ritchie, a freshman at the SUNY Purchase school who self-identifies as
biracial, said she never remembers seeing characters on television who looked like
her.
When I was asked to draw pictures of myself, I would always give myself a head
of blonde hair until I was about six years old, Ritchie said. Why did I want to do this?
Because I thought that being blonde was way prettier than having dark hair. However,
part of me likes to think that if the movies and TV shows I watched showed a more
accurate representation of who I was, I might have been more willing to embrace who I
was at a younger age.
We need diversity in media because if we dont have it, minority communities will
have trouble embracing themselves for who they are. Children need role-models that
they can relate to, if they dont have that much then they will start to alienate
themselves.
Representation of minority groups is equally important to that of groups with
representation because it provides a voice for people and overall improves the
experience of the consumer.

Reference:
Heusinkveld, Olivia. "WHY DOES MEDIA REPRESENTATION MATTER?"Wake Mag.
N.p., 23 Mar. 2015. Web. 2 Mar. 2016.
Cort, Carlos. "A Long Way to Go: Minorities and the Media." CML. N.p., n.d. Web. 2
Mar. 2016.
Smith, Stacy L. "Comprehensive Annenberg Report on Diversity in Entertainment." USC
Annenberg. N.p., 22 Feb. 2016. Web. 2 Mar. 2016.