Unfair Representation: How well and how fairly do you believe African Americans, Latinos, and other ethnic groups are represented in American media?

While the representation of different ethnic groups have progressed over the last several decades in American media, there is still room for improvement. Over the years, depictions of races in mass media have lead to both positive and negative stereotypes. In the early days of mass media, the majority of coverage was only geared towards white people. In addition, the small amount of representation of different ethnic groups other than Caucasian was usually racist and full of prejudice.

For example, according to IMDB.com, the radio program "The Amos n' Andy Show" was the only show about African Americans, but it was outrageously voiced by white actors. Later, the television version of that show was cancelled when, "the NAACP complained of how they believed blacks were being depicted on this show"(www.imdb.com). In the decades to follow, depictions of minorities did increase and became more realistic, balanced, and positive.

However, even today, the media unfortunately still focuses more on covering Caucasians' perspectives. For example, my husband is of Hispanic descent and he commented not too long ago that there are not enough shows starring or featuring minorities. In fact, I can't think of a television show on now starring a Hispanic actor or actress. They are usually only sidekicks or background characters. 

Works Cited

"The Amos 'n Andy Show."IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 23 Aug. 2012. <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043175/trivia>.