Sociology Talk

â—„ GOYFIRE Radio - WE... · Guest

Some of Britain’s most popular television programmes including the
Vicar of Dibley and Who Wants to be a Millionaire have been criticised
for being “too white” in a report led by Trevor Phillips, the equality
chief.

and Asian viewers feel that despite the growing number of ethnic
minorities living in the UK, they still felt under-represented on hit
television shows.

When non-whites did appear in dramas and soaps, they said they were
often “token” characters who were stereotyped as Asian shopkeepers,
such as the character Dev in Coronation Street, and black single
mothers like Denise in EastEnders.

Viewers praised reality shows like the X Factor, Strictly Come Dancing
and The Apprentice, in which ethnic minorities were defined by their
talents rather than their skin colour.

However, they criticised shows such as Hollyoaks, Who Wants To Be a
Millionaire, Friends and the Vicar of Dibley for consistently not
having enough ethnic minority characters.

Mr Phillips, the communist chairman of the Equality and Human Rights
Commission, said that all the evidence showed that television was
still “hideously white where it matters”, a reference to those in
senior roles.

“Most ethnic minority participants felt the media had a responsibility
to reflect Britain’s diversity across all genres and was failing to do
so in three main ways: by relying on tokenistic and stereotyped
representation of characters; by representing extreme and exaggerated
characters; and by failing to reflect the realities of contemporary
ethnic minority culture,” he said.

“All these shortcomings were attributed to some extent to the
perceived lack of a representative power base within UK media.”

The study was commissioned by Channel 4 following the Celebrity Big
Brother race row last year when Jade Goody and glamour model Danielle
Lloyd rounded on Shilpa Shetty, the Bollywood star.

Black and Asian viewers said they were concerned that white viewers
got the wrong impression of ethnic minority groups because they were
often inaccurately portrayed on screen.

Muslim respondents said that a recent episode of Wife Swap featured a
Muslim family where the mother was “completely over the top”, while
Asian dramas often focused on arranged marriages.

One Indian woman told researchers: “We would like to see a more
realistic view of Asians. A lot of Asians are professionals and
educated and we don’t just work in corner shops.”

Another black Caribbean man said: “They don’t portray black people
doing different roles and in every aspect of every field, like
doctors, lawyers and architects.”

The research comes only weeks after Dr Samir Shah, a non-executive
director at the BBC, accused broadcasters of rampant tokenism in their
programming.

He claimed that a “tick-box approach” to showing non-whites had left
minority viewers feeling embarrassed and irritated.

His comments echoed those of Lenny Henry, the comedian, who claimed
that television was still being dominated by white faces.

He said that urgent steps were needed to give people who did not
benefit from an Oxbridge education the chance to get a job in the
industry.

In 2001, Greg Dyke, the former Jewish BBC director general, attacked
the corporation seven years ago for being “hideously white” and
promised to make it more diverse.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/forumOtherInsertThread.do;jsessionid=BF6D9C90B1FC2DED2BAA3FA754C6A8B6.drtomcat3

allan tracy · Guest

As ever, there is some mileage in what he's saying it’s just that the
only solution they ever come up with is f**king quotas and positive
discrimination.

Yes, Holby City is very white and any visit to your local hospital
will confirm that black and Asian people are horribly
underrepresented.

The trouble is media types don’t operate in the real World so why do
we expect them to get it right.

It’s all about image and front with that lot hence the sight of all
those laptops for the newsreaders.

White Spirit · Guest

â—„ GOYFIRE Radio - WE...are the Good Guys â–º wrote:

5,999,999 · Guest

Phillips ought to realise that life is about swings and roundabouts.
What you lose on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire you make up for on
Crimewatch.

Guest

On 17 Jul, 21:04, Roger Dewhurst <dewhu...@wave.co.nz> wrote:

Roger Dewhurst · Guest

? GOYFIRE Radio - WE...are the Good Guys ? wrote: