male authority in media news coverage
The media’s voice of authority is most often that of a middle-aged, professional, white male. These men dominate the opinion-shaping forums of talk radio, newspaper journalism, and television news and commentary, and male voices are those most commonly heard in television and radio commercials.
These voices are presented as the voices of experts, and studies have indicated that experts often represent conservative points of view, favoring the interests of powerful individuals, social groups and institutions. Little attention is paid to the opinions and experiences of women, gays and lesbians, members of visible minorities, or the working classes.
Non-white or working class men are also marginalized. Men who are members of minority groups are typically
called upon as experts only in response to minority community matters, drugs and crime. Although information media are often presented as informed and "objective," many commentators argue that white male dominance of these media helps perpetuate sexism,racism, and class privilege in
society. It is also argued that such coverage presents white masculinity as the social and cultural norm.
The dominance of white male authority in media corresponds the underrepresentation of minorities in media institutions, which is one argument in the article "New Voices on the Net? The Digital Journalism Divide and the Costs" written by Ernest J. Wilson and Sasha Costanza-Chock. On one hand, as Wilson and Costanza-Chock point out, the exclusion of people of color in various U.S media industries shapes an inequity in terms of races. On the other hand, since the men authorities are more often represented in news coverage than women, this kind of representation in media also forms an imbalance in terms of genders.
These voices are presented as the voices of experts, and studies have indicated that experts often represent conservative points of view, favoring the interests of powerful individuals, social groups and institutions. Little attention is paid to the opinions and experiences of women, gays and lesbians, members of visible minorities, or the working classes.
Non-white or working class men are also marginalized. Men who are members of minority groups are typically
called upon as experts only in response to minority community matters, drugs and crime. Although information media are often presented as informed and "objective," many commentators argue that white male dominance of these media helps perpetuate sexism,racism, and class privilege in
society. It is also argued that such coverage presents white masculinity as the social and cultural norm.
The dominance of white male authority in media corresponds the underrepresentation of minorities in media institutions, which is one argument in the article "New Voices on the Net? The Digital Journalism Divide and the Costs" written by Ernest J. Wilson and Sasha Costanza-Chock. On one hand, as Wilson and Costanza-Chock point out, the exclusion of people of color in various U.S media industries shapes an inequity in terms of races. On the other hand, since the men authorities are more often represented in news coverage than women, this kind of representation in media also forms an imbalance in terms of genders.
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