1. Discrimination in the media
Reece Mechan
The topic I am looking at is the portrayal of discrimination in the media. This topic includes
homophobia, sexism, racism and the discrimination of age. The reason why I have chosen to do this
topic is because I believe that discrimination is in every sort of media out there. I think that one of
the ways we can reduce the amount of discrimination in the media is we could make it known that it
is a problem that is everywhere. We could make it more known by doing campaigns for example the
‘no hate’ campaign.
Homophobia
Focus groups of gays and heterosexuals said that when homosexuality was portrayed in soap operas
or dramas on the BBC, it was clichéd and centred on characters either in crisis about their sexual
orientation or as promiscuous predators trying to seduce someone who is aroused by it. Usually in
soap operas after a character has come out and the whole storyline is over they usually are written
out of the soap. This is homophobic because it’s basically saying that after a homosexual person has
come out they are useless and shouldn’t have a voice of opinion. Another example of homophobia
behaviour is the BBC soap EastEnders every homosexual person in the soap is always in what is seen
in a mediocre job for example; Tina, a lesbian 40ish year old woman, is stuck in a café working
normal hours whereas Linda, a straight 40ish year old woman, owns her own successful business.
This isn’t fair this is showing teenagers that basically if you are homosexual then you would not
achieve well in life.
BBC has been named the most homophobic broadcasting channel by gay rights group
Stonewall. This is because of the various shows like EastEnders and waterloo road. Waterloo road
could be seen as homophobic because the gay men in this show always hang around with a group of
girls instead of a group of guys. This is stereotyping them because it’s also teaching teenagers that if
someone hangs round with girls rather than lads then they must be gay.
Another reason why the BBC has been named the most homophobic broadcasting channel is
because various celebrities from the BBC have said homophobic comments. These celebrities include
Jeremy Clarkson and Chris Moyles. These comments include referring to cars as “gay” and saying
homosexual people are like “zoo animals”.
Even though we have moved forward from how we were in the media we are still pretty
bad. For example when Olympian tom Daley ‘came out’ he felt like he had to be publically instead of
it being something personal. The video shouldn’t be made publically it shouldn’t matter what
sexuality he is. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJwJnoB9EKw this video has been viewed
11,222,195. This is ridiculous it shouldn’t have been an issue and it shouldn’t have been on the news
as much as it was. He is an Olympic diver and it hasn’t affected his career in anyway shape or formed
so it shouldn’t have been made public. Tom Daley made that video because he didn’t want rumours to
start about him. This is absolutely ridiculous that because people who victimise homosexuals has
forced someone to come out worldwide when it isn’t anybody’s business.