Media Representation

Media representation is the way the media characterizes daily life and news, for example how they show different communities, ideas, events, or topics from a particular perspective or ideology. There is huge power in mass media for influencing society, so it is imperative that they get it right but unfortunately, they often don’t, and there are many people who are treated unfairly in the media like ethnic communities and women.

Many different cultures feel that they are misrepresented in the mainline media, they feel there is a lack of diversity, think about it? most media companies are led by wealthy white straight men so unfortunately a lot of the time, media has limited representations. “A new survey, commissioned by The Runnymede Trust, has found that four out of every five people (78%) thought that the way that the media portrays ethnic minorities promotes racism. This concern was not just expressed by respondents who were from minority ethnic backgrounds. Over two-thirds (76%) of White British respondents thought that the media’s representation of minority ethnic groups fuelled racism. The results were published in the Independent on Friday 10th January 2014.” (UK, 2014)

While the representation of women has changed over the years to reflect social and cultural changes, female stereotypes continue in some media outlets. Women have been misrepresented in the media for years by how society wants them to look and how they expect them to behave. They have been characterized as how men see them. The media focus has concentrated on their emotions, sexuality, and even their relationships with their children or partners. (BBC, 2021) An example of this is how Hilary Clinton and Sarah Palin were attacked in politics. The media coverage of both women focused on their looks, negative for Clinton, and sexualizing Palin. The media coverage also attacked their personalities, calling Palin over emotional because of her close family ties and calling Clinton a bitch, this was insinuating that both women were too emotional and not stable enough to handle a crisis or run a country, trivializing them both to make them seem less powerful. It seemed like the more power the women got the more backlash against them. (Ikastgym, 2015)

In Ireland the representation of women in politics is very low, Ireland is ranked 101^st in the world for women parliamentarians. It is a far cry from 1919 when Constance Markiewicz was elected the first woman in Ireland and the UK to government. We need more women in politics but unfortunately, our women politicians have also been belittled and their appearance attacked not only in the Irish press but also in constant abuse on social media. On the 21^{st of} March 2021, the Sunday Independent published a cartoon depicting Mary Lou McDonald as a witch. “Politicians from across the political spectrum spoke out in support of Mary Lou McDonald and said that it was unacceptable to call any woman a ‘witch’.” (Byrne, 2021) “National Women’s Council of Irelands’ Women and Leadership coordinator Emma De Souza described the witch depiction as being an example of the barriers women face entering politics. “It is a deeply sexist trope used to dehumanize women and is exactly the type of behavior that deters women from going into politics,” she said.” (Duffy, 2021)  “McDonald herself responded to the image, tweeting: “We are the granddaughters of the witches you could not burn – Deal with it #womenpower. ” (Duffy, 2021) Comparisons were made on Twitter about how Joan Burton was also badly treated on social media with trolls attacking her looks and she even received death threats at one point. The former Tánaiste said she was forced to take herself off social media because of the abuse she was subjected to. These types of personal attacks by trolls online and the derogatory depiction in the media would deter most women from entering politics.

 

Bibliography

BBC. (2021). Representation of gender. Retrieved from BBC: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zq6qsg8/revision/1#:~:text=Representations%20of%20women%20in%20the%20media%20have%20developed,how%20society%20expects%20women%20to%20look%20and%20behave.

Byrne, L. (2021, March 22nd). Mary Lou cartoon sparks questions over supporters treatment of Joan Burton. Retrieved from Extra.ie: https://extra.ie/2021/03/22/news/irish-news/sinn-fein-mary-lou-mcdonald-cartoon-joan-burton

Duffy, R. (2021, March 22nd). A deeply sexist trope': Criticism of newspaper witch cartoon of Mary Lou McDonald. Retrieved from The Journal: https://www.thejournal.ie/mary-lou-mcdonald-cartoon-5388125-Mar2021/

Ikastgym, S. (2015, December 03rd). Miss Representation Female Leadership. Retrieved from Youtube.

UK, D. (2014, February 18th). 78% believe the way the media portrays ethnic minorities promotes racism. Retrieved from Diversity UK: https://diversityuk.org/78-believe-way-media-portrays-ethnic-minorities-promotes-racism/#:~:text=Enduring%20misrepresentations%20of%20black%20and%20minority%20ethnic%20groups,of%20the%20most%20diverse%20areas%20of%20the%20country.