The 3 discourses of African-American representation on Television

This article discusses the unequal representation of African-Americans in the media and the passive practice of racism in the industry. It explores three main areas: the percentage of people of color in the media, the underrepresentation of African-Americans, and the limited roles they are confined to. It also examines specific TV shows that perpetuate racial bias and underrepresentation.

Running head: TV STUDIES
TV Studies
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The 3 discourses of African- American representation on Television.
Herman Gray, the Chair person and Professor of Sociology Department at University of
California, had mentioned in his keynote, at the opening of Center for Communication
Difference and Equality, the practices of inequality and racism by the media and through the
media1. He illustrated upon the way the media portrays and visualizes the people of colour and
the way the latter get exploited in the media industry. Gray, in his speech focused upon three
main areas.
Firstly, he talked about the unequal representation of African- American in the media. He
mentioned that the percentage of people of color, who are a part of the national media, is
insignificant if compared to the percentage of white people represented in the media.
Secondly, he illustrated that about 36% of women are a TV staff writers and among them,
only about 15% of the women are women of color. Thus, in both of these points he had shown
the passive practice of racism in the media industry.
Thirdly, he has shown that the African- American is underepresented in the media and
the roles are the saturated ones. They are confined in certain role and therefore, their positioning
in the media industry got branded by those positioning.
Furthermore, in TV series like Chicken soup, there was clear bias of racism advocating on the
interfaith relationship between Jew and a catholic. This show also underrepresented the black
1 Brady, Miranda J., and Melissa Aronczyk. "Branding history at the Canadian museum of
civilization." Canadian Journal of Communication 40 (2015): 165-184.

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population in USA. In shows like Manimal the history of tragic past has been tampered and
underrepresented. In shows like Cops the role of black women has been marginalized.
Definition of CBC and the rationale behind its creation. Three challenges faced by the same
to fulfill its mandate.
CBC, also known as the Canadian Broadcast Corporation, is the largest English
Language Broadcast Television System which is the national public broadcaster of the country. It
operates both the English and French Television networks in the country and also includes the
regional radio and television programs2. Headquarters in Toronto, the broadcasting centre came
into existence in the year 1952 due to the need for the Canadian representation in the radio. At
the very onset of the Canadian radio, it was found that most of the Canadian radio stations are
tuning American songs and there is a dominance of American culture and likings across the radio
stations that were speeding through the country3. Therefore, to reduce the Americanisation, to
counter the American influence and to protect the Canadian culture, the CBC was established.
Since the time of Great Depression, CBC has only focused on generating good quality content
concerning primarily the indigenous issues and information and also including other important
global information.
2 Gray, Herman. "Precarious Diversity."
3 Leavitt, Peter A., Rebecca Covarrubias, Yvonne A. Perez, and Stephanie A. Fryberg. "“Frozen
in time”: The impact of Native American media representations on identity and self‐
understanding." Journal of Social Issues 71, no. 1 (2015): 39-53.

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However, at the start, the company was faced with a series of challenges of which the
following three are the most important ones.
Firstly, being a privately owned company, CBC faced an enormous economic crisis agt
the very beginning4. As the British Broadcasting Corporation and the Canadian National Radio
were the public owned radio stations they were easily getting aided by the Royal Commission on
Radio. Therefore, when these public owned radio stations were earning a fortune, it cost CBC,
quite a fortune.
Secondly, the company faced a public- private debate situation. The AIRD were of the
opinion that to protect the Canadian culture, a public radio station should be formed and further
voiced against the elimination of private ownerships5. They had also approached fo funding, but
due to economic crisis, the confirmation of their appeal got delayed.
Thirdly, and most importantly, while the other public radio stations were experiencing
rapid growth, the CRBC, was suffering from not funding, lacking tactful strategies, ill-
administrative structure, political broadcasts and unresolved decrees.
However, along with the introduction of Canadian Broadcasting Act, situations gradually got
better for the current national broadcasting system.
4 Babe, Robert E. Communication and the Transformation of Economics: Essays in information,
public policy, and political economy. Routledge, 2018.
5 Hilmes, Michele. "The ‘north Atlantic triangle’: Britain, the USA and Canada in 1950s
television." In Transnational Television History, pp. 75-96. Routledge, 2013.

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References:
Babe, Robert E. Communication and the Transformation of Economics: Essays in information,
public policy, and political economy. Routledge, 2018.
Brady, Miranda J., and Melissa Aronczyk. "Branding history at the Canadian museum of
civilization." Canadian Journal of Communication 40 (2015): 165-184.
Gray, Herman. "Precarious Diversity."
Hilmes, Michele. "The ‘north Atlantic triangle’: Britain, the USA and Canada in 1950s
television." In Transnational Television History, pp. 75-96. Routledge, 2013.
Leavitt, Peter A., Rebecca Covarrubias, Yvonne A. Perez, and Stephanie A. Fryberg. "“Frozen in
time”: The impact of Native American media representations on identity and self‐
understanding." Journal of Social Issues 71, no. 1 (2015): 39-53.

TV STUDIES