In the early 1990s, a great deal of press was devoted to the emergence of a more "multicultural" media. Pointing to TV shows such as “North of 60” and “The Cosby Show,” and the increasing presence of non-white reporters on City TV, CBC and other media outlets, many people argued that the media had finally begun to recognize and represent the racial and ethnic diversity of North America.
While it is true that the representation of Aboriginal peoples and visible minorities has improved a great deal, the reality is that there is still a long way to go. High profile shows aside, when we consider the bulk of films, TV sitcoms, news and advertising that we encounter every day, the statistics show that visible minorities and Aboriginal peoples are still proportionally under-represented in the mass media, both on-air and off.
The impacts of this constant under representation are significant, especially in countries like Canada, where it's estimated that by 2006, one out of every six Canadians will be a member of a visible minority group. In his article, “Please Adjust Your Set,” Augie Fleras posits the following:
In psychological terms, media "whitewashing"(especially advertising) intensifies the invisibility of minorities in society. As one author put it, minorities are restricted in ways that "deny their existence, devalue their contribution to society, and trivialize their aspirations to participate, as full fledged members... The exclusion of people of colour also perpetuates the 'white face' of Canada, leaving others with 'feelings of rejection, of marginality, and of non-belonging.'" Whiteness is conveyed not only as the norm from which all else deviates, but also as a source of privilege – invisible and unearned – but real and at the expense of the non-white. One might conclude that what is not said by the media is as important as what is explicitly articulated.
Although audiences are quick to identify bias and misrepresentation, whitewashing through omission is less obvious – and more common. In advertising, for example, Aboriginal peoples and visible minorities remain virtually invisible. Although statistics on representation of visible minorities in television advertisements are limited, studies of print ads have noted the absence of visible minorities and Aboriginal peoples. In a 1989 study on billboard advertising in Montreal subway stations, researchers found that minorities were featured on only one billboard (a promotion by Ontario Tourism featuring the image of a black ballerina, repeated 10 times) from a total of 163 on display. As a result, the ad industry has taken action to improve diversity representation. In 1990, the Canadian Advertising Foundation (CAF) established the Race Relations Advisory Council on Advertising – now known as the Council on Diversity in Advertising. With members from the ad industry, the media and the public, the Council acts on behalf of visible minority communities to promote more racial and ethnic diversity in advertising.
How successful has the Council been? Since its creation, the presence of diversity in advertising does appear to have improved, but only in certain areas. In a 1994 report entitled Cover to Cover, the Canadian advocacy group MediaWatch found that while 20 per cent of the ads (in two issues) of Maclean's contained people of colour, there were entire issues of Reader's Digest and L'actualité which had no ads with people of colour. And although representation has improved in print and television since then, advocates still voice concerns about the limited portrayals of visible minorities within these ads.
Entertainment programming is only marginally better. Like advertising, film and TV programs tend to ignore visible minorities and Aboriginal peoples, particularly as "main" characters. Instead, Aboriginal peoples and visible minorities are used simply as window dressing, seen in the role of "the cop," "the judge," or "the store clerk," but seldom in a role central to the story. A 1992 study by MediaWatch of eight Canadian TV programs found that people from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds accounted for about 16 per cent of the people on screen, but were seldom main characters. By comparison, white males accounted for over 50 per cent of main characters cast in each program. A diversity study of American prime time television by Children Now, in January 2000, had similar findings. Fall Colors: 1999-2000 found that although 61 per cent of prime time shows were diverse, this percentage dropped dramatically when you looked at the roles assigned to actors of colour, compared to their white colleagues. Actors of colour were most likely to appear in guest roles or as non-recurring characters, and far less likely to play central or lead characters – in fact, only 17 per cent of lead characters in 1999-2000 prime time shows were from visible minorities. In their follow-up survey in 2000-2001, Children Now concluded that for the most part, prime time television is a world “overwhelmingly populated by able-bodied, single, heterosexual, white, male adults under 40.” In other words, despite the presence of some programs featuring people of colour as central characters, the bulk of dramatic programming in both Canada and the U.S. features few Aboriginal peoples and visible minorities in central roles.
Amidst much media hoopla, after virtually ignoring black actors for years, the 2002 Academy Awards honored the achievements of African Americans. For only the second time in Oscar history, three African Americans were nominated in major acting categories. Will Smith lost to Denzel Washington, who won for best actor, Halle Berry received an Oscar for best actress, and veteran actor Sidney Poitier was honored with a lifetime achievement award.
However, despite the significance of this event, skepticism exists whether this marks significant change, or is merely an anomaly. Industry observers and civil rights advocates believe that real change in the film industry will come only when more minorities work behind – and in front of – the camera. They note that despite these wins, there is still not a reasonable distribution of nominations across the board, for categories such as directors, screenwriters, musical scores, cinematography, film editing, etc.
In contrast to advertising and entertainment, news reporting is often held up as the one area where visible minorities and Aboriginal peoples have made distinct gains – in front of the cameras as reporters and anchors, and behind the scenes as editors and producers. Yet once again, the statistics tell a slightly different story.
Despite these half-page advertisements that appeared in newspapers in winter 2002, employment equity statistics for visible minorities and Aboriginal peoples at Canada's national broadcaster, the CBC, have dropped slightly over recent years. After reaching a high of 1.5 per cent in 1995, Aboriginal employees comprised 1.3 per cent of CBC staff in 2000. Visible minorities, which also peaked in 1995 at 5 per cent, accounted for 4.8 per cent of CBC employees in 2000. (However, it’s important to note that even these lower, 2000 figures are nearly twice as high as the numbers that were first reported in 1988.)
Both the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission and the American Federal Communications Commission have initiated equity policies and procedures for broadcasters. However, although there seems to be a commitment to improve the situation, much improvement is still needed.
