7

Changes in the News Representation of Minorities Over the Course of 40 Years of Research

Eli Avraham

Much scholarly and public attention has been devoted to the news representation of minorities and socially marginal groups over the last four decades. Numerous studies over the years have shown that the coverage of minority and marginal groups in the news is rife with negative stereotypes and generalizations. Just as directors, producers, casting people, and advertisers have “reserved” certain problematic roles for minorities in movies, TV series, and advertisements, journalists and news editors have tended to associate members of minority groups primarily with negative events, behaviors, and topics such as crime, poverty, and disorder. Nevertheless, although the image of minorities and marginal groups is still problematic, several researchers claim that during the last two decades positive changes have occurred in the image of certain groups (Avraham & First, 2010b; Wolfsfeld, 1997).

Grounded in the concern that negative media images result in negative public perceptions, in recent decades minority group activists have been working to challenge media stereotypes and to improve the portrayals/coverage of their groups. In addition, during recent decades regulators – primarily in various European countries – have begun to take steps to promote less stereotyped representation of minority groups, and to encourage a fairer reflection of cultural diversity in the national media, either by legislation or by benefits and incentives for media franchisees, editors, and producers (ter Wal, 2002).

By analyzing trends in 40 years of studies of news representation of minorities, the goal of this chapter is to discuss five major questions: (1) What is the image of minorities in the news? (2) Why is the news coverage of marginal groups biased, and which factors explain their coverage patterns? (3) How and why has the image of minorities in the news changed over the years? (4) Which theories and research methods were used in order to analyze the news representation of minorities? (5) How do the leaders of minority groups, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), social change organizations, and regulators work to change the negative stereotypes and the problematic image of minority groups in the news? While diversity can be defined in various ways – race, ethnicity, class, gender, religion, nationality, sexuality, and so on – in this chapter I would like to concentrate on social/national/racial/ethnic minorities. This is not to imply that the study of news representations of other marginal groups is not warranted, but rather that space limitations for this project preclude being more inclusive.

Representation and Shaping Our Perception of the World

Over the years, scholars have studied the media's power and effect on the social, political, economic, and cultural spheres. For example, Hoare (1991) argues that newspapers' mass circulation makes them a powerful, aggressive agent, and that they translate this power into decisions regarding what to cover (or not to cover), what significance will be given to various stories, and what will be the direction or judgment of the events. Other scholars have argued that journalists' influence lies in their role as “gatekeepers” who have the power to decide what events become news, thereby determining what the public will read, hear, or see (Shoemaker, 1991; Tuchman, 1978; Walmsley, 1982). Whatever the case may be, it is a well-established fact that the media construct our reality regarding the events happening around us (Adoni & Mane, 1984; Avraham, 2003; Cohen & Young, 1981; Weimann, 2000).

The media provide us with “social knowledge” about our world; they paint our social and cultural landscape in a way that serves as a basis for the formation of personal identity and the distinction between us and others (Jakubowicz, Goodall, Marin, Mitchell, Randall, & Seneviratne, 1994). The belief that media images can shape our perception of reality and our behavior is one of the main reasons why so many activists, scholars, spokespeople, and researchers focus their attention on media images and call for changes in media representation of certain groups.

According to Tuchman (1978), news is socially constructed through well-recognized frameworks that are influenced by the routines through which reporters gather, filter, and judge information, a fact that has been documented by numerous other scholars (e.g., Avraham, 2003; Crane, 1994; Shoemaker & Reese, 1991). News production is not merely a process of gathering information, writing, editing, and reporting on major events and different groups (van Dijk, 1988a). Cultural, social, economic, and professional constraints affect the news production process (Hackett, 1984; Hall, 1977; Tuchman, 1978; van Dijk, 1988b). Therefore, at the base of the social construction of reality lies the claim that the news is not an objective means of portraying reality, but rather a means of constructing reality (Tuchman, 1978). The news production process creates a singular version of “reality” through the amplification, sensationalization, and polarization of ideas and images within a limited, well-defined range (Waitt, 1995). The news creates and reinforces labels for groups, places, events, and situations (Avraham, 2000, 2003; Davis, 1990; Wolfsfeld, Avraham, & Aburaiya, 2000).

News content reinforces existing attitudes toward and beliefs about groups, places, and issues in three ways: selective exposure, selective perception, and selective memory. When an individual has little or no real-world contact with the members of another social group, the media provide basic information that constructs that group's stereotype and image (Dahlgren & Chakrapani, 1982; Gold, 1994). The images of groups, places, and issues are based on knowledge, and the more knowledge a person has, the more accurate his or her perception of the group, place, or issue generally will be (Gold, 1994; Kariel & Rosenvall, 1978). The media dependency hypothesis predicts that the media's influence on perceptions of social reality decreases when a person has personal experience related to the covered phenomenon (Perry, 1987). An individual learns through the media what significance he or she should ascribe to different groups, places, and issues with which he or she has no contact. It is because of this power, Walmsley (1982) believes, that the media are an effective instrument of social control.

Representation of Minorities in the News

Numerous studies have shown that the coverage of minority and marginal groups in the media is problematic. These studies, conducted mainly in the United States and Europe, have proven time and again that the representation of these groups in advertising, news, film, and television has been meager, and that when they have been covered, many have been marginalized and stereotyped (Avraham et al., 2000; Downing & Husband, 2005; Lahav & Avraham, 2008). Van Dijk (1996) argues that the news plays a major role in the creation of ethnic relations. He believes that journalists present ethnic groups as “them,” and thus define those who belong to the collective and those who do not (Lundby, 1992). Jakubowicz and colleagues (1994) argue that “othering” certain groups and creating the image of the “other” as a threat allows “us” to determine what “we” are not.

Researchers who have studied the news coverage of minority groups have found that in most instances there has been a tendency to ignore minority groups or to portray them negatively – what has been called “symbolic annihilation” (Tuchman, 1978). Such coverage implies that the “other” represents a threat to social order. In addition, implicit in this coverage is the notion that minorities are to blame for society's economic and social maladies, which are a result of the fact that “they” are different from “us.” The description, coverage, and portrayal of the “other” in the news, whether based upon religious, national, ethnic, or other differences, is attended in many countries by the widespread use of generalizations, stereotypes, and prejudices. Ignored are the background, causes, and social-political context that have led to the difficulties and crises involving minorities in many areas (Avraham, 2003; Avraham & First, 2010b; Downing & Husband, 2005; First, 2002; Jakubowicz et al., 1994).

Research has shown that leaders of many social groups are disturbed by their group's news image (Avraham, 2003), but the question remains how we can analyze and compare the coverage patterns of minorities. Several researchers have made considerable contributions to the study of coverage of groups. Among them are Strauss (1961) and Gould and White (1986), who argue that the news image of a group can be examined only by means of comparison with that of other groups. Comparisons of different groups are based on quantitative measures (more, less) or on criteria for the contrast between or the similarity of the groups compared. When the metaphor used is “development,” groups are described in the context of the point they have reached in the life cycle. “They” are more (or less) modern, more (or less) settled, more (or less) advanced than “we” are. Thus, the ways in which the news chooses to cover certain groups can lead to the formation of “us” and “them” identifications (Anderson, 1988; Avraham, 2000; van Dijk, 1988a). As a result, “proof” of the developmental levels of different groups is provided by the selection of events that receive coverage (Avraham, 2003; Dahlgren & Chakrapani, 1982; Strauss, 1961).

“Symbol,” “stereotype,” “label,” and “reputation” are the main concepts used when examining group image in the news media. When a group is labeled as one in which certain types of events and activities occur, it becomes a “symbol” of these activities. As a result, other events related to the social group are not covered (Shields, 1992). Strauss (1961) defines this phenomenon as “reputation” and argues that the tendency to speak stereotypically of social groups persists so that even if changes in the real-life situation of these groups occur, they are not reflected in the media coverage patterns (Elizur, 1994; Graber, 1989). Shields (1992) adds that the myth created regarding a certain group can persist for years, whether it is favorable or not. For example, Burgess (1982) notes that local municipal leaders in northern England believe they must still combat stereotypes persisting from the nineteenth century concerning their way of life. As soon as events are covered that serve to describe certain groups' behavior patterns, their image is created accordingly.

According to Epstein (1973), editors' and reporters' stereotypes become self-perpetuating when their past experiences influence their choice of future stories to cover. Relph (1976) claimed that images of groups in the news are transferred through what he called “opinion makers” and distributed by journalists via use of stereotypes. Usually the news reflects stereotypes that already exist in society and the public, while giving them much broader distribution and a means of continuity from generation to generation (Gans, 1979; Gould & White, 1986; Pike, 1981). Elizur (1994) commented that the centrality of television in our lives during the previous decades increased the creation of stereotypes of groups, places, and subjects covered. Stereotypes and distortions result when television news covers crises in which minorities are involved through short, highly superficial reports that lack both background and commentary.

Theory and Methodology in Research of News Representation of Minorities

Studies that focus on news images of minorities have employed several theories – with or without the aid of conceptual approaches such as ideological critique, feminism, semiotics, and psychoanalytic theory – and research methods. Here, first, I would like to concentrate on three central theories: representation and media frames (both of which are linked to the social construction of reality attitude), and organizational theory; second, I would like to briefly discuss research methods used by researchers in the field.

Representation Theory

One of the main theories used by researchers in order to conduct studies dealing with the image of minorities is representation theory. In the beginning of this research the term “representation” was mostly used to signal the presence or absence of people of color in the media, or constructive versus unconstructive portrayals (Downing & Husband, 2005). Later, however, Hall (1997, p. 15) asserted that representation means “using language to say something meaningful about, or to represent, the world meaningfully, to ‘Other’ people.” According to Hall, “representation is an essential part of a process by which meaning is produced and exchanged between members of a culture” (Hall, 1997, p. 15). At the core of representation theory lies the constructionist approach, which is derived from the phenomenological approach and serves as its point of departure. This theory is influenced by the input of social-political reality, symbolic reality, and the interaction between them. Representation is considered as both a process of ongoing construction of identities in any given culture and a stereotyping force (van Dijk, 1996). Stereotyping “reduce[s] people to a few, simple, essential characteristics, which are represented as fixed by nature” (Hall, 1997; p. 257). Thus, stereotyping fixes differences. Moreover, stereotyping deploys a strategy of “splitting”: it separates the normal and acceptable from the abnormal, and then excludes or expels what does not fit or is different. Because it tends to occur in situations involving power inequities (Dyer, 1993; Hall, 1997), stereotyping as a classification system serves to maintain the social and symbolic order.

At least three dimensions are relevant when examining a group's place in any given society. The first dimension is the very existence of the group in the media; due to society's power hierarchy, media access is not available to weak groups (First, 2002; van Dijk, 1996). Empirical examinations of a group's presence in media content, or a “head count” (Greenberg & Brand, 1994), is used to study the representation of “the other.” A second dimension is the quality of how a group is represented in the media. Researchers analyze variables such as the professional-social role that the “others” play in texts, the subjects to which they are connected, the contexts in which they appear, and so forth (First, 2002; Greenberg & Brand, 1994). A third dimension is the reciprocal relationship between members of the majority and minority groups. In news programs and talk shows, for instance, this relationship is measured by examining the characteristics of the journalists, moderators, and commentators, and their relationships with members of various groups (Avraham, 2003; Avraham & First, 2010a).

Symbolic annihilation (Tuchman, 1978), another angle of representation measurement, is divided into quantitative and qualitative indicators (Kama, 2002). While the quantitative aspect is similar to the “head count” approach, the qualitative one refers to the role of the “other.” Yet this category is incomplete without the added element of identity. According to this approach, the identity of any individual is her/his biography (name, age, residence, occupation, title, and so forth); a deprivation of one's biography amounts to objectification (First, 1998). Finally, the interaction between members of majority and minority groups may operate through two mechanisms: inclusion and exclusion, as discussed below. Beyond the question of whether the characters that belong to different social groups appear in broadcasts, it is also imperative to relate to the quality of the characters' representation, the way they appear, and the context in which they appear (Greenberg & Brand, 1994).

Media Frames

As with representation theory, at the core of media framing theory lies the constructionist approach, which is derived from the phenomenological approach and serves as their point of origin. Both theories are influenced by the input of social-political reality as well as symbolic reality and the interaction between the two. Moreover, framing specifically is the outcome of modes of representation, and vice versa. Both theories are fundamental parts of a process whereby meaning is produced and exchanged between members of a culture in these two realities. Despite the two theories' similar origins, the research dealing with representation has focused until now primarily upon the coverage patterns of minorities and marginal groups in media content. Research on framing, on the other hand, lately relates more to organizational levels (Avraham, 2003; Avraham & First, 2010b; Wolfsfeld, 1997; Wolfsfeld et al., 2000).

The discussion of media frames constitutes the link between various fields of research regarding representation, or, in other words, between processes and products, because a dialectical relationship exists between the two. While different definitions of media frames exist (e.g., Gamson, 1989; Gitlin, 1980), all suggest that framing involves the placing of “facts” or components perceived as “reality” inside frames that provide coherence, through a causal explanation, a moral statement, or a recommendation for a solution. A media frame can be identified through journalists' use of metaphors, key sentences, and symbolic verbal and graphic means, with various people and interest groups constantly battling for control over media frames most suitable to their needs. According to Liebes (1997), framing includes the following mechanisms: excising, sanitizing, equalizing, personalizing, demonizing, and contextualizing.

The media carry out their role as ideological instruments by shaping, distributing, and reproducing the limits of legitimate discourse. News people make use of available framing mechanisms and social-cultural codes to turn uncommon, extraordinary events into understandable media events (Gitlin, 1980). Media organizations are constantly involved within a changing social-political environment, making representation a dynamic process. In this environment, cultural suppositions regarding society's central values influence journalists' work patterns, news production processes, and the end result (First, 2002; Gitlin, 1980; Herzog & Shamir, 1994). Journalists thus prefer stories that are recognized as efficient and receive professional approval, as well as stories that are culturally acceptable. Editors are influenced by the perceptions they hold of their target audience, and they tend to believe that the majority group has little interest in minorities unless their actions might interfere with the majority's day-to-day life (First, 2002). Wolfsfeld and colleagues (2000), for example, show how the annual protest day observed by some Arabs in Israel was framed in the Hebrew national media as a threat under the “law and order” frame. This is a classic example that illustrates the effect of journalists on the interpretation of events and the construction of reality. Reporters and editors could easily have framed the events as a request for equality, but instead chose to frame them in a negative way.

Organizational Theory

One of the key concepts to understand how media outlets construct representation of different groups is “access.” Barzel (1976) defines this term as the freedom of a non-media-related person to reach the media. In other words, how easy is it for any individual in society to make his/her opinions or actions public knowledge through the media? Barzel argues that it is a media employee who decides who will be granted this access, and that this decision is dependent on external and internal factors (Avraham, 2003). In other words, media decision-makers such as editors, journalists, producers, and TV anchors facilitate access for some groups, offering them presence and extensive, favorable coverage, thus legitimating their status and power. Other groups are not given access; these same groups also receive little attention in social life (van Dijk, 1996). Therefore, people who do not belong to the elites or to powerful social groups are the subjects of news coverage only when they are involved in political activities or become victims of disaster or crime. Issues and players on the national news scene reflect a country's power and control structure (Avraham, 2003; van Dijk, 1996).

Organizational theory emphasizes the role of the media organization as a central component of the media process that is influenced by various factors and constraints shaping its image and work routines. In order to better understand this role, the whole news production process is analyzed. During this process, one can see how professional and cultural assumptions are “translated” into news production conventions that affect the image of different groups. The daily race for stories and sources, along with the fact that reporters and editors usually work under severe time constraints, does not enable newspeople to think about the political and social consequences of their actions. Decisions regarding coverage patterns are made automatically and are based on news construction routines. The use of the term “construction” indicates that news stories are produced within a certain narrative frame that places events in specific social, economic, and political contexts.

Research Methods

Studies that have analyzed news images of minorities have used diverse research methods over the years. These studies have moved from news coverage patterns analysis to organizational research and lately also to policy analysis. Studies on news coverage patterns mainly used qualitative and quantitative content analysis, while organizational studies used in-depth interviews of journalists and leaders of minority groups, concentrating on analyzing the media routines and their effect on social groups' news images. In the next stage we find studies that measure the effect of regulatory policy on the image of social groups. Although qualitative and quantitative analyses are still popular among researchers, organization and policy analyses focus on the reasons for the problematic news representation and steps made to improve it. It appears that a combination of several research methods might lead to a better understanding of social groups'media images and the factors behind them.

Content Analysis

The research methods, as mentioned by Downing and Husband (2005), that have been applied to content analysis range from the heavily quantitative to the strictly qualitative. In other words, there are two dimensions to deal with news coverage patterns of social groups: nature and quantity (Avraham, 2003; Manheim & Albritton, 1984). The quantity dimension refers to the amount and visibility of coverage the group receives in the news media. Factors examined include details such as the number of reports or photos of the group, on what page or in which section the articles appear, the article's size (in the press) or the length of the report (in TV news), and so forth. But we know that it is not only the amount of media coverage that is important, so too is its quality. This aspect is illustrated in the second dimension, the nature of the media coverage, which refers to several factors: which subjects are most frequently covered from the social group (such as crime, poverty, social and community events, culture, sports, or violence); the ways the social group is described in the reports; who is represented as being responsible for the events that are covered; who is quoted and who is the source of the information reported; what is the tone of the stories, media frame, or photo captions (Avraham, 2000; Dominick, 1977; Graber, 1989; Larson, 1984; White, 2006). In this dimension the studies that treat the nature of coverage “beyond the numbers” apply a “qualitative analysis” approach. This body of research focuses on more subtle levels in which the spirit behind each news item or article is monitored. Such studies look for stereotypes, generalizations, and myths that appear in the coverage of certain social groups, and embrace a more general theme regarding the social group's identity (Avraham, 2003; Shields, 1992; van Dijk, 1988b). Examples of such statements are: “This group does not consider education as an important means for a better life” or “the group members are frequently involved in crimes and illegal events.” Because of the powerful effect of statements like these, many researchers try to locate and reveal such themes. This analysis is also called “quality content analysis” or “symptomatic reading”; it is also used by researchers who conduct policy analysis in their search for means and methods used by regulators to improve the media image of social groups. Here one can find analysis of regulators' decisions, steps to promote fair representation, policies adapted, and their effects.

In-Depth Interviews

While in-depth interviews as a methodology cannot study content itself, it can study the factors influencing the content that is produced. The semi-standardized in-depth interview is a research method characterized by a number of core questions that serve as the foundation for all interviews conducted (McCraken, 1988). As applied to the study of news coverage of minority groups, the aim of these interviews is to learn as much as possible about the norms, beliefs, sources, and assumptions governing the actions of journalists during the news production (Gans, 1979). Interviews are unique because they provide detailed information about the reasons an interviewee made certain decisions or wrote an article in a certain way. The information gathered from interviewees reveals routines, organizational dynamics, opinions, values, motives, experiences, and emotions (Wimmer & Dominick, 1991). Reporters are usually asked about their primary sources of information, their relationships with decision-makers and group leaders, the types of stories they believe their editors and their readers prefer, and their process of socialization within the media organization. Editors are usually asked about newspaper policies on certain issues, the types of events they define as “news,” and the ways in which they explain what news stories they prefer. Leaders of social groups are usually asked about their relationships with reporters and editors, their access to the media and why they find it important, their methods of delivering messages to the media, the types of stories they believe the media prefer, their understanding of the “rules of the game” with regard to associating with the media, and their willingness to allot funds and resources to the establishment of marketing programs and public relations campaigns.

Reasons for the Problematic Image of Minority Groups

In order to understand how and who constructs the representation of minorities in the media, it is imperative to examine the factors responsible for their problematic image. In my book on the image of marginal groups in the Israeli media (Avraham, 2003), I present a dynamic model: “An integrated model of factors constructing coverage patterns of social groups and places in the news media.” According to this model, the factors that affect the image of minorities are: (1) the social group's characteristics (population size, geographic location, crime rate, and socioeconomic indicators); (2) editorial policy and social-ideological distance between the news team and social groups; (3) social-political environment; and (4) the social group's public relations. Because of space limitations, this chapter will concentrate on the last three factors.

It seems that the best way to understand how different factors construct the news image of minorities is by means of an example: analysis of coverage patterns of social groups in the national press. The three social groups in question are located in Israel's geographic periphery: inhabitants of development towns (Jews who immigrated to Israel from Arab countries), Arab Israelis living in Israel, and Jewish settlers living in the occupied territories. The national newspapers' editorial boards are located in central Israel (Tel Aviv) and groups in the periphery are usually covered by regional correspondents. According to Avraham (2003), over the 40 years examined by the study, members of these groups were described in a stereotyped manner; they were often the subject of unsubstantiated claims and writers used generalizations and “us” versus “them” language, for example:

• “The national-religious settlement community is being shaped as a separate socioeconomic entity. To call it a parasitic entity would be harsh. But what do these protests create in six days of work? What, if any, is their contribution to the livelihood of the Israeli people, not only to their spiritual power – that is a legitimate question” (Ha'aretz, July 13, 1993).
• “Most [settlers] do not ‘create’ anything, but are employed in the bureaucratic system established in their residencies or drive to work daily in Israel” (Ha'aretz, January 1, 1998).
• “The people of Netzer Hazzanii [Jewish settlement in the West Bank] do not believe in peace” (Ha'aretz, November 13, 1992).
• “A week before the Levi affair, Bet-She'an [a northern development town] was shocked by another event. [...] Although the answer is known to the whole of Bet-She'an...” (Yedioth Aharonoth, June 14, 1991).
• “Lottery fever raged among residents of Sederot [a southern development town] yesterday [. . .] they all think about one thing: the dream of getting rich the fast way [...] people are filling out lottery forms like madmen” (Yedioth Aharonoth, May 12, 1992).

In the last two examples we can see how journalists used generalizations to describe a social group by implying that the group members think and react in the same way. Other generalizations have been made about the cultural features of Arabs, as shown in the following examples:

• “Tamra is one of the largest villages, but not one of the most educated ones” (Ha'aretz, May 30, 1985).
• “As far as the social-economic aspect is concerned, this Arab village is an exception [...] although it is a Muslim village, Jatt has a long tradition of education” (Ha'aretz, September 8, 1987).

Many news stories emphasize the “otherness” of these groups. Residents of development towns are referred to, sometimes literally, as different from the “common Israeli.” The following excerpt expresses the difference using a biological metaphor:

• “In fact, one may ask if the development towns have grown a special human species of people, different than the species ‘common Israeli’” (Ha'aretz, January 12, 1990).

The lack of self-consciousness with which the question is raised of similarity or difference between residents of development towns and the “common Israeli” is surprising. Conspicuously absent is a discussion of who defines “who is an Israeli” and who is the “common Israeli” – is it a resident of a development town or of a city in central Israel, a settler, an Arab, or an ultra-Orthodox Jew? There are other strategies used to clearly delineate between the “first Israel” and the “other Israel.”

Editorial Policy and Social-Ideological Distance between Journalists and Social Groups

Many researchers have explained coverage patterns of social groups according to the proximity of group members to the journalists and editors covering the groups (Gamson & Wolfsfeld, 1993; Jakubowicz et al., 1994; van Dijk, 1996). Decisions on defining the target audience, the news definition of a social group, and the allocation of reporters are mostly determined by social-ideological proximity. Group members who are socially and ideologically similar to journalists will be considered part of the target audience, their news definition will be positive, and one or more reporters will be allocated to cover them on a regular basis. Such proximity can be based on ethnic, racial, or religious identity. For example, in the study on the Israeli media mentioned above, I found that places and groups considered to be in close social-ideological proximity to the media's decision-makers received wide and positive coverage (Avraham, 2003). The reverse was also found to be true: groups that were considered distant from the media decision-makers received scant or negative coverage.

One of the most important elements to examine when looking at issues of proximity of this type is the ethnic origin of the journalists (Adams, 1986). Van Dijk (1988b, 1996) maintains that in Western countries, White journalists work within the dominant ethnic consensus, and this is reflected in the media content/journalist discourse when they cover places comprised primarily of minorities. This discourse creates a distinction between “us” and “them,” using labels, stereotypes, and prejudice (Fair, 1993). It can be anticipated that journalists of color would cover such places differently because of their familiarity with the culture, resulting in less stereotyping and prejudice. For example, Wolfsfeld and colleagues (2000) found that the coverage patterns of demonstrations in Israeli Arab cities were affected by the fact that these cities were covered by Jewish journalists and editors (Avraham, 2003; Avraham & First, 2010b).

Socio-Political Environment

By “socio-political environment” I mean the context in which the media operate and interact with different actors. Journalists and editors always operate within a certain sociopolitical context that affects the ways they collect information and report events. This context encompasses the central values of their society, the political culture, and the political arena (Johnson, 1997; van Dijk, 1996; Wolfsfeld, 1997). The social-political environment comprises the form of political government, society's dominant values, public opinion, political culture, and media ecology. Its importance lies in the fact that changes within it can compel the media to change their attitude toward minority groups and the way they are represented. This change in the image of minorities, which is dependent on the social-political environment, transforms this model into a dynamic one.

The connection between coverage of social groups and the sociopolitical environment has been examined in various studies. For example, I found that the coverage of peripheral cities in Israel was affected by the fact that the nation's elite felt threatened by people from these cities after the 1977 parliamentary elections (Avraham, 2000). Dunn, McGuirk, and Winchester (1995) claim that the image of industrial cities symbolized prosperity and power in the past, while in the postindustrial era they symbolize pollution, recession, and crisis. Other studies have shown that the image of settlement groups in the Israeli national media was affected by changes in the central values of society, the political culture, and public opinion (Avraham, 2003; Herzog & Shamir, 1994). Changes in the political culture can lead to changes in the interpretation of any given group, place, or event. For example, Yuchtman-Yaar and Ben-Rafael (1987) found that the media image of kibbutzim (collective agricultural settlements) had become more negative in recent years because of the growing individualism of Israeli society. The cases portrayed in each of these studies illustrate that images of places and groups may change in response to changes in the sociopolitical environment (Avraham & Ketter, 2008).

The Group's Public Relations

In the last two decades marginal groups also have worked to improve their image, claiming that poor representation fixates their adverse social status and prevents their integration into the majority groups. So the fourth factor addresses the public relations efforts made by members of the social group and their struggle to gain media access. As discussed in the previous sections, many factors can affect, positively or negatively, the image of a social group in the news media. So far we have seen that a social group's image is determined by factors over which, for the most part, it has no control. Social groups cannot control the sociopolitical context or the editorial decisions made by journalists. This does not mean that a social group cannot influence its own media image. It can do so through public relations and promotional efforts. These may help the social group's leaders to overcome factors that may cause the media either to ignore the group or to report negatively on it, such as a small population size, large distance from media centers, or reputation as a source for crime news.

There are three different components of the public relations efforts made by groups: awareness, resource allocation, and professionalism. The only public relations efforts that have the potential to be successful are those in which all three exist (Avraham, 2003).

1. Awareness. The first component is awareness among the social group leaders of the importance of media image and of how their actions and behavior affect the image of their social group in the national media (Walker, 1997).
2. Allocating resources. However, awareness is not enough; to succeed, they need to allocate sufficient resources to operate their public relations effort, for example, an adequate budget, skilled people, and equipment (Wolfsfeld, 1988, 1997).
3. Professionalism. Even if a group's decision-makers are aware of the need for public relations and are willing to allocate resources to it, their efforts will fail if those responsible for implementing the strategy are not professional (Burgess, 1982). For example, I found that many social groups appoint spokespeople for different reasons, but due to their incompetence they are not able to help create a positive social group image in the news media (Avraham, 2003).

Changing Representations

How and Why Have News Representations of Minorities Changed Over Time?

The representation process is influenced by both the social-political reality and the symbolic reality within which the process exists (Adoni & Mane, 1984). Journalists have long ignored issues related to minority communities and individuals, and have not turned to minority groups as sources of information about news events or as the interpreters of such events. Exceptions were found in news about sports and entertainment, considered as “soft news.” Over the years minority coverage has widened but has remained largely stereotypical, with generalizations, a sense of threat, and “us” and “them” distinctions (Larson, 2006). Notwithstanding the problematic representation of minorities, the changes that have taken place over the last two decades cannot be denied. Analyzing the change in representations of women and people of color in the US media as an example can help us understand why representations change over time.

Despite the fact that the representation of women and people of color in the media is still problematic, over the past two decades it is possible to see significant change, such as a more egalitarian representation of these two minority groups (in comparison with men and Caucasians), their casting in more significant roles in television series and films in comparison with the past – and not only as objects or in negative sexual contexts – and their association with exclusive products in advertising. The reasons for these changes in representation derive from changes that emerged in the social-political environment regarding the status of these two groups, such as those brought about by the civil rights and women's rights movements. For example, the increased purchasing power of many minority groups and women has enabled them to stage boycotts against marketers who use demeaning images in their advertising. In other instances, when minorities or women have attained key positions in media industries, they have directly influenced portrayals, resulting in less stereotyping and fewer demeaning representations (Cortese, 2004; Wolfsfeld et al., 2000).

Promoting Cultural Diversity in the Media

Recognition of the need for fair media representation of social groups increased after the racial riots of the 1960s in the United States. A committee that researched the reasons for these riots claimed that negative coverage of minorities in the media contributed to their frustration (First & Avraham, 2007). As a result, the committee suggested encouraging the media's decision-makers to employ minorities, to improve their media access, and to bring minority points of view much more often to the events that were covered. The committee believed that these steps, in conjunction with other measures, might decrease social-racial tensions. During the 1970s the American Editors Association called upon media outlets to employ many more minority newspeople (First & Avraham, 2007). Since then cultural diversity has become an important issue in the US media. For example, recent years have seen the creation of the “Newsroom Diversity Index,” which analyzes the number of journalists in each media outlet who are minorities and compares the percentage of minorities among that area's target audience. There are a number of cases that show that promoting cultural diversity within media content does not lower ratings but actually increases them (First & Avraham, 2007). It is also important to mention that employing minorities and fair representation helped Channel 4 to become one of the most popular networks in the UK (First & Avraham, 2007).

In 2002 the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia published a collection of studies devoted to the place of the media in representing and promoting cultural diversity in European countries between 1995 and 2000 (ter Wal, 2002). The studies reviewed related both to the representation of different groups in different genres, primarily in the news, and to actions taken as a result of flawed representations. The rationale underlying this collection is an understanding that the media play a democratic and active role in their ability to grant a voice to the different actors in society and their way of reporting on ethnic, religious, and cultural groups. In other words, at the basis of the publication of this collection lies the perception that in multicultural societies, the discussion of representation has become part of the agenda of national and international institutions and organizations. In addition, those who deal with the subject are unwavering in their goal of improving the representation of minorities in the media (www.mediadiversity.org; www.multicultural.net). Studies that examine the reflection of cultural diversity in the media are being conducted and attempts are being made to identify the roots of the problematic representation of various groups. In these studies, use is made of diverse research methods that assist in analyzing subjects such as the scope and quality of the report, media routines, constraints and processes of newscast production, all of which form the patterns of media representation of minority groups (ter Wal, 2002). Over the last decade regulators have begun to address issues related to minority representation and the reflection of cultural diversity in the national media by means of legislation or incentives for franchisees, editors, and producers (ter Wal, 2002).

Studies conducted throughout the world on issues related to the media's representation of all aspects of a multicultural society (nationwide, private, and public) are the initiative of researchers working in academic frameworks as well as of the regulators responsible for the media's activities. In other words, theoretical-academic research is coupled with administrative research in the majority of European countries. In numerous cases, research serves as a catalyst for change and diverse initiatives in the sphere of broadcasts (ter Wal, 2002). In European countries that have become multicultural over the last decades of the twentieth century, awareness has been heightened of the need to reinforce the cultural diversity of the media, and national television stations have begun addressing the issue. For example, in the UK, production companies and broadcasting networks (including Channel 4, ITV, BBC, among others) joined forces to establish the Creative Diversity Network (CDN) with the objective of promoting a diverse representation of people and groups in the television contents they produce. Network directors claim that the UK is changing, and the content viewed on television should change as well, otherwise programs would become irrelevant to the lives of numerous viewers who would find it impossible to identify with the stories, actors, and characters that appear on screen. In addition, the objective of CDN is to increase the number of minorities employed by television networks and production companies. ITV, the largest commercial network, has been preparing to introduce multiculturalism to its national and regional broadcasts, and producers who work for the network must demonstrate how they expect to reflect multiculturalism in their programs (First & Avraham, 2007).

Conclusions

This chapter has dealt with studies that analyzed news coverage of minorities and marginal social groups. Interestingly, this field attracts researchers from many different countries, disciplines, and approaches, a fact that can help us understand the popularity of this field. My analysis has shown that research over the years has changed as regards theories, approaches, and methods. The studies referred to in this chapter provide many examples of biased news coverage of minorities. Journalistic images of these groups are still problematic, although changes have been seen over the last few decades. In other words, the news image of minorities is dynamic.

The amount of research on the image of minorities that was published during the 1990s increased compared to the 1970s and 1980s (Downing & Husband, 2005). These studies raised the problematic image of marginal groups to the public agenda, contributed to the positive changes that have occurred, and increased awareness of the news image of minorities among the public and journalists. These researchers deserve much credit for helping to advance this issue, especially given that other actors in the public sphere, such as journalists, government, and majority group leaders, exhibited no particular interest in promoting discussion on the subject.

While the subject of minority representation has been popular in the United States since the 1970s, in Europe the issue became more popular during the 1990s and the first decade of the new millennium. The increased interest in Europe can be seen primarily as a result of the large waves of immigration that took place during these years. The growing political-economic power of immigrant groups, among other factors, increased the demand for a change in media representation. Until that time, the issue of minority representation in the media was on the margins of public discourse in Europe. For example, it was only in the mid-2000s that the first Black news anchor was appointed on one of the French TV networks.

Most studies on the topic of news media representation of minority groups have used content analysis as a research method, primarily due to the convenience of and easy access to media content. But more studies have been addressing the role of media organizations in an attempt to understand what organizational considerations come into play in creating representations of minority groups. It must be mentioned that although several production and newsroom studies have been published, there is still a need for similar studies that will expose media organizations' routines, as well as the production codes and norms that guide reporters in news coverage of social groups (Downing & Husband, 2005). While representation studies were important in raising the issue to the public agenda, they were less effective in changing the situation because they did not reveal the production process behind the images. In addition, researchers have begun to address image enhancement efforts of minority leaders and NGOs as well as regulatory attempts to change media images.

It seems that changing the news image of minorities should result from dialogue between leaders of minority groups, journalists, editors, academics, and NGO representatives. Such cooperation can produce and develop a code of ethics, responsible professional standards, and an organizational code to help news teams cover issues related to minorities while avoiding problematic representations, generalizations, and stereotypes. All of the factors involved in the news coverage of minorities in the media involve great challenges but also many opportunities due to technological developments and changes in consumption patterns of different target audiences.

REFERENCES

Adams, W. C. (1986). Whose lives count? TV coverage of natural disasters. Journal of Communication, 35(2), 113–122.

Adoni, H., & Mane, S. (1984). Media and the social construction of reality: Toward an integration of theory and research. Communication Research, 11(3), 323–340.

Anderson, R. (1988). Visions of instability: US television's law and order news of El Salvador. Media, Culture and Society, 10(2), 236–264.

Avraham, E. (2000). The media in Israel, center and periphery: The coverage of the development towns (2nd ed.). Jerusalem, Israel: Akademon. [in Hebrew]

Avraham, E. (2003). Behind media marginality: Coverage of social groups and places in the Israeli press. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.

Avraham, E., & First, A. (2010a). Can a regulator change representation of minority groups and fair reflection of cultural diversity in national media programs? Lessons from the Israeli case study. Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, 54(1), 136–148.

Avraham, E., & First, A. (2010b). Combining the representation approach with the framing concept: Television news coverage of the Arab population in Israel during conflict. Journalism, 11(4), 1–19.

Avraham, E., & Ketter, E. (2008). Media strategies for marketing places in crises: Improving the image of cities, countries and tourist destinations. Oxford, UK: Butterworth Heinemann.

Avraham, E., Wolfsfeld, G., & Aburaiya, I. (2000). Dynamics in the news coverage of minorities: The case of the Arab citizens of Israel. Journal of Communication Inquiry, 24(2), 117–133.

Barzel, A. (1976). Who has the right to speak? Freedom of access to the media. Jerusalem, Israel: Israel Broadcasting Authority, Training Center. [in Hebrew]

Burgess, J. A. (1982). Selling places: Environmental images for the executive. Regional Studies, 16(1), 1–17.

Cohen, S., & Young, J. (Eds.). (1981). The manufacture of news: Deviance, social problems and the mass media (2nd rev. ed.). London, UK: Constable/Sage.

Cortese, A. J. (2004). Provocateur: Images of women and minorities in advertising. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.

Crane, D. (1994). Introduction: The challenge of the sociology of culture to sociology as a discipline. In D. Crane (Ed.), The sociology of culture (pp. 45–62). Oxford, UK: Blackwell.

Dahlgren, P., & Chakrapani, S. (1982). The Third World on TV news: Western way of seeing the “other.” In W. Adams (Ed.), Television coverage of international affairs (pp. 45–62). Norwood, NJ: Ablex.

Davis, D. K. (1990). News and politics. In D. Nimmo & D. L. Swanson (Eds.), New directions in political communication (pp. 147–184). New York, NY: Sage.

Dominick, G. (1977). Geographic bias in national TV news. Journal of Communication, 27, 94–99.

Downing, J., & Husband, C. (2005). Representing race: Racisms, ethnicities and media. London, UK: Sage.

Dunn, K. M., McGuirk, P. M., & Winchester, H. P. (1995). Place making: The social construction of Newcastle. Australian Geographical Studies, 33(2), 149–166.

Dyer, R. (1993). The matter of images: Essays on representation. London, UK: Routledge.

Elizur, J. (1994, June 6). Israel and the US: Images of flawed paradise, Paper presented at the American–Israeli Relations and the “New World Order” Conference, The Davis Institute of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel.

Epstein, E. J. (1973). News from nowhere. New York, NY: Random House.

Fair, J. E. (1993). War, famine and poverty: Race in the construction of Africa's media image. Journal of Communication Inquiry, 17(2), 5–22.

First, A. (1998). Who is the enemy? The portrayal of Arabs in Israeli television news. Gazette, 60(3), 239–251.

First, A. (2002). The transitional nature of representation: The coverage of Arabs in the Israeli news. Howard Journal of Communication, 13, 173–191.

First, A., & Avraham, E. (2007). Multi-cultural diversity in TV commercial broadcasting in Israel and ways to improve it. In D. Caspi (Ed.), Political communication in Israel (pp. 134–161). Jerusalem, Israel: The Van Leer Jerusalem/Hakibbutz Hameuchad Publishing House. [in Hebrew]

Gamson, W. A. (1989). News as framing. American Behavioral Scientist, 33(2), 157–161.

Gamson, W. A., & Wolfsfeld, G. (1993). Movements and media as interacting system. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 528, 114–125.

Gans, H. J. (1979). Deciding what's news. New York, NY: Pantheon.

Gitlin, T. (1980). The whole world is watching. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

Gold, J. R. (1994). Locating the message: Place promotion as image communication. In J. R. Gold & S. V. Ward (Eds.), Place promotion: The use of publicity and marketing to sell towns and regions (pp. 19–37). Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons.

Gould, P., & White, R. (1986). Mental maps. Boston, MA: Allen & Unwin.

Graber, D. A. (1989). Flashlight coverage: State news on national broadcasts. American Politics Quarterly, 17(3), 277–290.

Greenberg, B. S., & Brand, J. E. (1994). Minorities and the mass media. In J. Bryant & D. Zillman (Eds.), Media effects: Advances in theory and research (pp. 273–315). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Hackett, R. A. (1984). Decline of the paradigm? Bias and objectivity in news media studies. Critical Studies in Mass Communication, 1 (3), 229–259.

Hall, S. (1977). Culture, the media and the “ideological effect.” In J. Curran, M. Gurevitch, & J. Woollacott (Eds.), Mass communications and society. London, UK: Edward Arnold.

Hall, S. (Ed.). (1997). Representation (pp. 1–75, 223–290). London, UK: Open University Press and Sage.

Herzog, H., & Shamir, R. (1994). Media discourse on Jewish/Arab relations. Israel Social Science Research, 9(1/2), 55–88.

Hoare, A. G. (1991). Making the news: Spatial and non-spatial biases in British parliamentary reports of the Rowntree-Mackintosh takeover. Geografiska Annaler, 73B(2), 95–109.

Jakubowicz, A., Goodall, H., Marin, J., Mitchell, T., Randall, L., & Seneviratne, K. (1994). Racism, ethnicity and the media. St. Leonards, Australia: Allen & Unwin.

Johnson, M. A. (1997). Predicting news flow from Mexico. Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, 74, 315–330.

Kama, A. (2002). Active reading, multi-culturalism and the hegemonic narrative contractions. In T. Liebes & M. Talmon (Eds.), Communication as culture: Television as a cultural environment (Ch. 12). Tel Aviv, Israel: The Open University, [in Hebrew]

Kariel, H. G., & Rosenvall, L. A. (1978). Circulation of newspaper news within Canada. Canadian Geographer, 22(2), 85–111.

Lahav, T., & Avraham, E. (2008). Public relations for peripheral places and national media coverage patterns: The Israeli case. Public Relations Review, 34, 230–236.

Larson, J. F. (1984). Television's window on the world: International affairs coverage on the US networks. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.

Larson, S. G. (2006). Media and minorities: The politics of race in news and entertainments. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.

Liebes, T. (1997). Reporting the Arab–Israeli conflict: How hegemony works. New York, NY: Routledge.

Lundby, K. (1992). Community television as a tool of local culture. In N. Jankowski, O. Prehn, & J. Stappers (Eds.), The people's voice: Local radio and television in Europe (pp. 27–41). London, UK: John Libbey.

Manheim, J. B., & Albritton, R. B. (1984). Changing national images: International public relations and media agenda setting. American Political Science Review, 78, 641–657.

McCraken, G. D. (1988). The long interview. Qualitative Research Method Series 13. London, UK: Sage.

Perry, D. K. (1987). The image gap: How international news affects perception of nation. Journalism Quarterly, 64, 416–421.

Pike, B. (1981). The image of the city in modern literature. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Relph, E. (1976). Place and placelessness. London, UK: Pion.

Shields, R. (1992). Places on the margin. London, UK: Routledge.

Shoemaker, P. J. (1991). Communication Concepts 3: Gatekeeping. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

Shoemaker, P. J., & Reese, S. D. (1991). Mediating the message: Theories of influences on mass media content. New York, NY: Longman.

Strauss, A. L. (1961). Image of the American city. New York, NY: Free Press.

ter Wal, J. (Ed.). (2002). Racism and cultural diversity in mass media. Vienna, Austria: European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia.

Tuchman, G. (1978). Making news. New York, NY: Free Press.

van Dijk, T. A. (1988a). News as discourse. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

van Dijk, T. A. (1988b). News analysis. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

van Dijk, T. A. (1996). Power and the news media. In D. L. Paletz (Ed.), Political communication in action (pp. 9–36). Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.

Waitt, G. (1995). Media representation of forestry and soil issues in the Australian urban press, 1990–1991. Australian Geographical Studies, 33(2), 299–307.

Walker, D. (1997). Public relations in local government: Strategic approaches to better communication. London, UK: Pitman.

Walmsley, D. J. (1982). Mass-media and spatial awareness. Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, 73(1), 32–42.

Weimann, G. (2000). Communication unreality: Modern media and the reconstruction of reality. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

White, C. M. (2006). When the media are used to create a crisis: Lessons in what not to do. Paper presented at the 2006 ICA Conference, Dresden, Germany.

Wimmer, R. D., & Dominick, J. R. (1991). Mass media research (3rd ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

Wolfsfeld, G. (1988). The politics of provocation: Participation and protest in Israel. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.

Wolfsfeld, G. (1997). Media and political conflict: News from the Middle East. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Wolfsfeld, G., Avraham, E., & Aburaiya, I. (2000). When prophecy always fails: Israeli press coverage of the Arab minority's Land Day protests. Political Communication, 17(2), 115–131.

Yuchtman-Yaar, E., & Ben-Rafael, E. (1987). The changing position of the kibbutz in the Israeli society. In Y. Gorni, Y. Oved, & I. Paz (Eds.), Communal life: An international perspective (pp. 447–453). Ramat Efal, Israel: Yad Tabenkin and Transaction Books.