http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/05/120530100105.htm "Their paper has been published in Communication Research. Martins and Harrison surveyed a group of about 400 black and white preadolescent students in communities in the Midwest over a yearlong period. Rather than look at the impact of particular shows or genres, they focused on the correlation between the time in front of the TV and the impact on their self-esteem." "Martins said their study counters claims by producers that programs have been progressive in their depictions of under-represented populations. An earlier study co-authored by her and Harrison suggests that video games "are the worst offenders when it comes to representation of ethnicity and gender." Other research is starting to show the impacts of other kinds of entertainment sources, such as video games and hand-held devices. It indicates that young people are becoming creative at "media multitasking." "Even though these new technologies are becoming more available, kids still spend more time with TV than anything else," Martins said. Well the USA has come a long way in race relations, we got a black president even (until Nov 2012 of course), but racism still clearly exists and I believe our media continues it. Do black children seeing that they are often portrayed as gangsters and rappers and thugs star thinking that that is the only thing for them or even that that is a cool thing to be? Likewise are girls made to seek out beauty as their most defining characteristic? This last one got me: does this mean kids today don't read enough to make sociological/psychological studies based on their reading? "Interestingly, the young people were asked about their consumption of print media, but the results were not statistically significant."
Well, the results of this study are very unsurprising. But still, it is shameful to see further evidence of such primitive standards of what type of human will play what role in society.
