Which sociologist conducted a content analysis of news items over several decades to uncover media representations of minority ethnic groups?

Van Dijk found that news representations of ethnic minorities could be sorted into three stereotypically negative categories. What are these categories?

Firstly, ethnic minorities are regularly presented as criminals. From his content analysis of news output, which sociologist found that the link between race and criminality "remains a high-profile theme"?

Which sociologist found that nearly 50% of news stories concerning black youths dealt with them committing crime?

Which sociologist found that violent crime is portrayed as endemic within ethnic communities?

Secondly, ethnic minorities are regularly presented as a threat. Recently, which three groups appear to constitute the greatest 'threat' to the UK, according to media outlets?

Which sociologist argues that Islam has always been demonised and distorted by the media, and is presented as a threat to British values and our security?

Other studies confirm the Islamaphobic nature of media content. According to Brian Whitaker, how does the media present Muslims?

Which sociologist found that over a third of stories regarding British Muslims focused on terrorism, and a third focused on differences between the Muslim community and British society?

Saied Ameli et al state that media discussions around the issue of wearing the hijab and veil is also problematic. Why?

Ameli et al argue that the negative language used to describe women who wear such clothing reduces them to victims. What do journalists ignore, and why?

According to Fuad Nadhi, how does this typically hostile and careless news coverage impact Muslim audiences?

Thirdly, ethnic minorities are regularly presented as somehow less important than white citizens. What does Ligali, the British African pressure group, argue about the news coverage black victims of crime receive?

Soon after Ligali made this claim, which high profile individual publicly agreed with them?

Some sociological studies indicate that when members of ethnic minority groups do appear on television, they experience two institutional problems. What are they?

Which former BBC executive, claimed that broadcasters overcompensate for the lack of executives, producers, directors and writers from minority ethnic groups by putting too many black and asian faces on screen, regardless of whether they authentically fit the programme?

In this sense, how can such black and asian actors be regarded?

Which sociologist found that ethnic minorities rarely identify with the nation's TV culture because it offers little space for their interests and identities?

What are the three theoretical perspectives on media representations of ethnicity explored in this chapter?

How do pluralists regard the media and its professionals?

Additionally, they claim the media is shaped by the market. As such, how do pluralists respond to the claim that media representations of ethnic minorities is unfair?

Pluralists believe outlets simply act in the interests of their readers. Following this line of thought, what do pluralists claim dissatisfied audiences can do?

However, why can this view be criticised?

Marxist sociologists believe that the media is an ideological apparatus functioning to divide and rule the working class. How does Stuart Hall apply this to media representations of ethnic minorities?

However, evidence for this is limited. Which sociologist found some anecdotal evidence that certain tabloid owners, editors and journalists subscribe to racist views, but concluded that this is most likely a very small proportion of media professionals?

Finally, the marxist theory of media representations of ethnic minorities can be criticised for failing to recognise how diverse the media marketplace really is. Why can this diversity be used to criticise marxists?

Hegemonic marxists make several interrelated points that may explain why mass-media representations of ethnic minorities tend to be negative. Give examples:

When examining how the media represent social class, four classes can be identified. What are they?

According to neo-marxists, how are the upper class represented by the media?

Popular films and TV programmes tend to portray members of the upper class in either an eccentric or nostalgic way. Give an example:

The media rarely focuses on inequalities of wealth. However, pluralist argue that media representations of the rich are justified for three reasons. What are they?

Some sociologists claim that the middle class and their concerns are overrepresented in the media. There isn't much sociological research into this, but three observations have been made. What is the first?

Marxists claim that mass-media representations of the working class are used to support capitalist ideology. What does Nic Newman note about the number of situational comedies, TV dramas an films in the past decade that focus on the everyday lives of the working class?

How does Owen Jones describe the media coverage of working-class people?

What does Jones say many middle-class journalists suffer from?

The reporting of issues such as poverty, unemployment and single-parent families usually indicates that what is is the main cause of such social problems?

Which two sociologists note that newspapers aimed at working-class audiences assume them to be uninterested in the serious analysis of either the political or social organisation of our society?

What do newspapers such as The Sun and The Daily Star assume working-class audiences want to read about?

Marxists believe that trivial content is an attempt to do what?

In contrast, pluralists argue that tabloid newspaper audiences do indeed want to read trivial news stories - if they did not, the product would simply not be bought. It can be seen that such newspapers are indeed being purchased - in 2013, how many people read The Sun, either in print or online, every week?

John McKendrick et al studied a week's output of mainstream media in 2007. What did he conclude about UK coverage of poverty?

Stanley Cohen argues that journalists, entertainers and artists are hopeless at realistically reporting on the plight of the poor. What does he claim some sections of the media do?

In recent years, the media has begun labelling the working class as 'chavy'. What do Tracy Shildrick and Robert MacDonald suggest this implies?

Which sociologist argues that the media use discriminatory language to vilify and socially stigmatise those they consider to be 'white trash'?

Audiences are encouraged to assume that specific representations in terms of image and behaviour can be applied indiscriminately to an entire age group. However, what do functionalists claim?

Once children and youths have been instilled with the shared culture, what do media representations engage in?

British children are generally presented in the UK media in fairly positive ways. Content analysis of media products indicates that six stereotypes of children are frequently used by the media. What are they?

According to Katherine Heintz-Knowles, American television portrays children as primarily motivated by what?

Heintz-Knowles found that most representations of children are positive and show them engaged in pro-social actions such as helping others. However, how many TV dramas depicted children as engaged in antisocial behaviours?

However, what is one very noticeable feature of children's television that has occurred in the last 15 years?

Children are also represented in television commercials in ways which socialise them to become active consumers. Julie Evans and Joan Chandler argue that this has led to the emergence of what?

According to Evans and Chandler, what is pester power creating?

Sociological knowledge about media representations of children in the UK is actually quite limited. Due to most studies being conducted in America, what must we be aware of when examining the results?

The limited numbers of studies that are available tend to generalise children as a whole. Why can this be criticised?

Furthermore, what do many of these studies fail to explore?

Which sociologist found that only 1% of news items feature a young person's perspective?

There are two very broad ways in which young people have been targeted and portrayed by the media in the UK. What are they?

According to functionalists, media representations of youth do what?

How do pluralists respond to media representations of youth?

How and why are young people frequently labelled by older generations, according to interactionists?

What do the GUMG note about media representations of youth?

Finally, what do postmodernists argue about media representations of youth?

Research focusing on media representations of the elderly suggest that age is not the only factor that impacts the way the media portrays those aged 65+. According to Nic Newman, what other characteristics plays an important role?

It can be argued that some parts of the media industry devalues old age. For example, the emphasis on youth and beauty that can be identified in television, film and advertising implies what?

Age Concern argues that the elderly are underrepresented across a variety of mass media. Where they are portrayed, representations are typically ageist, with elderly people being shown in three stereotypically negative ways. What are they?

However, recent research indicates that media producers may be slowly reinventing how they handle the elderly. Why?

Monica Lee et al found that representations of the elderly in advertisements are still fairly low - just 15%. However, how do the majority of these adverts portray the elderly?

Why may this positive representation be unrealistic?

Media representations of age are important in shaping public attitudes towards particular age groups. However, research within this field is fairly limited - especially so for the very young and the elderly. What may this illustrate?