Ethnic and Racial Images in the Media

The Portrayal of African Americans in the Mass Media

Anonymous. "A Gallery of Twisted Images: The Black Man Distorted." Rosslyn, 7.1 (1995)42.
For this assignment I’ve chosen to focus on the representation of African American’s in the mass media. I have discovered three legitimate resources in relation to this topic. The first article is called, A gallery of twisted images: The black man distorted. It was written by an anonymous author in Rosslyn: Oct 1995. Vol. 7, Iss. 1; pg. 42. This article focuses on the marginalization of African American’s in Hollywood movies and news media. It discusses how our perceptions of racial minorities are distorted through the stereotypes conveyed in the media. This article serves as a good starting point for research on this topic, as it explores the basic issues required to form an argument on this topic.


Oliver, Mary Beth. "African American Men as 'Criminal and Dangerous': Implications of Media Portrayals of Crime on the 'Criminalization' of African American Men." Journal of African American Studies 7 (1993): 3-18.

The second article I’ve chosen to include is, African American Men as "Criminal and Dangerous": Implications of Media Portrayals of Crime on the "Criminalization" of African American Men. This article is written by Mary Beth Oliver in the Journal of African American Studies 2003, 7, 2, fall, 3-18. Essentially this article discusses how the mass medias depiction of race and crime have a detrimental effect in the creation of stereotyping black men as violent and dangerous. This article would be sufficient for research at a secondary level as it explores the issue of stereotyping of blacks at a more specific level.


Murphy, Sheila T. "The impact of Factual Versus Fictional Media Portrayals on Cultural Stereotypes." The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 560 (1998): 165-78.

The third article, The impact of factual versus fictional media portrayals on cultural stereotypes by Sheila T Murphy found in The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science v. 560 (Nov. 1998) p. 165-78, analyzes how both factual and fictional images of minorities in the media can have an influence on racial and gender stereotypes. This article, above the other three would be the most beneficial to someone writing an assignment on this topic, as it explores the issues of race in the media in depth, and provides evidence through various studies conducted.

posted by Lindsay @ 2:34 PM