Diversity and Inclusion in Media Content

Jorja Butt

jorjabutt14@gmail.com

 

Over the past few decades, media outlets and advertising firms have been on the rise, but has their content been updated to include a diverse and inclusive crowd? As journalists and public relations professionals, we are expected to cover newsworthy events for all diverse groups as well as make diversity a part of every advertising campaign. It is important to reach all audiences with the content we publish by including all groups in that content. 

Diversity includes race, religion, sexual orientation, body types, and many more groups that should be showcased within the media in some way. We see that the media has struggled with covering these different groups in the past, but has recognized these issues and should be the main focus in the future.

Advertising plays a large role in the numbers when it comes to consumers buying a company's product based on the ads they see. Unfortunately, when it comes to these advertisements, many people tend to not see themselves represented in these ads at all. 

Adobe conducted a global survey of people around the world asking them their thoughts on how they feel their group that they identify with was represented in advertising. They came to the conclusion that 120 million people in the U.S. do not feel represented in ads. "Sixty-six percent of African-Americans said they feel their ethnic identity if often portrayed stereotypically, a sentiment shared by 53% of Latino/Hispanic Americans," Adobe said. Everybody wants to feel included even if it is as simple as an advertisement on TV. Incoming journalists and PR professionals have a duty to the public to make sure everybody feels represented.

Picture source:USC Annenberg Media

 

Journalists in the past have often let their biases get in the way of reporting the truthful news, which affects many different groups of people. Immigration has been a hot topic in American politics over the past few years and the media has often portrayed immigration in a negative light. The Washington Post conducted research to see how the public would react to the way the media portrayed immigration. "Our analysis confirms that through their choice of images, these news magazines reinforce the narrative of the 'Latino threat' portraying immigrants as criminals unable or willing to integrate into the U.S.," The Washington Post stated. Immigration has been written in such a negative way that these groups lack the sense of safety in the U.S. and are discriminated against.

In the future, journalists and PR professionals need to take responsibility and take into account diversity when creating an ad or writing a story. It is important for everyone to be treated equally as well as feel represented in their own country and we as journalists must be accountable for it.