AIBU to think that the lack of representation of Ethnic minorities on TV is part of the problem.

[Wellywangered]

I've been thinking about this for a while but AIBU to think that the lack of representation of people from Ethnic minorities(Apologies if that is an inappropriate term) in the media is part of the problem in the way that Muslims and other minorities are perceived. P.S I'm in no way absolving the Christchurch terrorist attack killer of any blame. That is 100% entirely his fault.

Now I appreciate that it isn't anyone's fault that people are too thick to realise that Muslims for example are perfectly ordinary people with ordinary lives but still, how often do you see their family lives being depicted on TV? Yes there are some programmes but too few.

I was watching the BBC Scotland programme Getting Hitched:Asian Style about Asian weddings and though I don't know if it could be considered a 'good programme' it shows people of Asian heritage at home living regular family life, arguing, teasing, helping each other, being involved in the community etc. It's refreshing to see South Asians being depicted as anything or discussing anything other than bloody terrorists/terrorism.

It isn't just South Asians of course. How often do you see East Asians in adverts, other than for Chinese food? Practically never. Likewise the black British community(from various cultures) is also woefully underrepresented. They deserve to be depicted for other reasons too of course, because they exist, they matter and are as much a part of British life as any white person but AIBU to think that the lack of depiction of minorities is partly responsible for the way that people from minorities are viewed and that the media ought to take more responsibility.

P.S I have to go out for a while so I'm not ignoring anyone if this gets any responses.

As a member of an ethnic minority group myself, I don't necessarily agree with you.

Over the years I've seen a good increase in ethnic minorities on TV. Newsreaders, presenters actors and commercials.

Could it be better? Absolutely, but it's moving in the right direction.

In a lot of areas, they have widening participation programs targeted at BAMEs. They recognise the lack of this area of diversity needs to be addressed.

I'm under no illusions that a black or Asian person will face a harder challenge in these areas, because of ignorance and inbred prejudice.

I tell my DC they'll likely have to work harder than a white person to achieve the same success in the UK.

Thank you for sharing your opinion. It's interesting to read. I definitely agree that it's improving but not enough. I don't know why I've been focusing on adverts, it's a problem for all television. But I so rarely feel that I see people other than white people being depicted. Perhaps I'm wrong and I don't watch enough TV to make a real judgement but I feel that East Asians are near non existent and that when I watch documentaries with Muslims they're so often focused on terrorism or the hijab. Obviously these are real issues, especially the effect on the former on the treatment and perception of Muslims, but it often seems to be all that the media think there is to Muslims.

YANBU. It’s a problem in so many countries and it doesn’t reflect the reality of our world.

Certain minorities are under represented on TV, however as a whole if you look at the percentages of minorities in this country a lot of time they are over represented not that I have a problem with this as best person for job.

I'm going out in ten minutes but a genuine question Where is the evidence that 'minorities' are over represented on television? And even if so I'm not sure that's an issue especially considering how many negative depictions of them that there are and that one positive depiction of a Muslim probably has a tenth of the power and influence that one negative portrayal has.

Also considering how much lost ground there is to make up. Score Ethnic minorities are treated equally to white people.

I don’t agree but I do at the same time. I do, as a mixed race person, notice when I see mixed race or black people on TV. I don’t know if this is the same feeling for white people but I have a friend who’s Muslim and we were discussing something similar to this and he said the same thing and I can imagine it’s the same for other ethnic minorities. Actually it is probably the same for a white person living in Japan or China and seeing a white person in a soap opera or drama. It’s just something you would notice.
But I think also that you’re putting too much value on TV (your OP talked about television so that’s what I assume you mean by media and not journalism as that is something else entirely and YADNBU if that was the case). BUT this also works in the opposite, I’ve seen it on forums and read articles on twitter which inevitably lead to shit articles in the press which leads to hateful comments below the article and the whole thing is just a vicious circle, where people want X person to win show because they are the same as them for whatever reason and then when they get voted off, people think it’s a fix because X person is a minority of something. I don’t know if you have heard about the recent Jussie Smollet (Empire actor) case but when the story first came out I was puzzled at the outpouring of sympathy to it because it didn’t make sense, there were so many inconsistencies and I never believed it from the start and I said as much on another forum. I got hauled over the coals for it, loads of posters berating me, saying how dare I not believe the word of a gay man, a gay mixed race man at that when we should be sticking together. The lies are now rapidly unravelling and it is highly likely that it didn’t happen at all and that thread has got strangely quiet. But people believed it because he is gay and/or a person of colour and the same as them and that doesn’t always result in something good.

I’m not sure I put my point across properly but it took me to long to type on my phone so I’m not deleting it lol. Oh and YABU about adverts, 99% of them are annoying as hell and are made for us to laugh and make fun of or roll our eyes and fast forward through them.

Generally speaking ethnic minorities are over represented on British television. Have a look at the percentage of certain groups living in the UK and compare it to the amount of those people shown on adverts/shows and you will see what I mean. (I mean this in a purely factual sense BTW, I'm not suggesting that we need to see less of them than we currently do)

Surely real life experiences would be much more helpful than just seeing someone on tv? You are putting way too much trust in the media there. I don't trust the media for anything more than entertainment. We shouldn't rely on them to solve any real problems in our society.

Over represented isn’t the word I would use, but if we’re going on the basis that the U.K. is just over 81% white then I can see where the assumption that there is fair representation on a tv show with 20% bame cast is reflective of the society we live in.

I think your point about the roles that are cast to bame actors is more valid.

It’s slowly changing . But slowly

But not sure if this is linked to Christchurch

What the fuck happened to that man ? I read he travelled around Pakistan 🇵🇰 and spoke highly of the people and culture . So what the fuck changed to do that

Something more than TV me thinks

uk.video.search.yahoo.com/video/play;_ylt=AwrGHTbq9oxcZqoAMML03olQ;_ylu=X3oDMTByZWc0dGJtBHNlYwNzcgRzbGsDdmlkBHZ0aWQDBGdwb3MDMQ--?p=riz+ahmed+parliament&vid=e34a1336a71ebf99504bcc420fcf5466&turl=https%3A%2F%2Ftse3.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DOVP.rg0kENCoF7hkYPncSD_aogHgFo%26pid%3D15.1%26h%3D360%26w%3D480%26c%3D7%26rs%3D1&rurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D36bcxDVNr1s&tit=Riz+Ahmed+-+Channel4+Diversity+Speech+2017+%40+House+of+Commons+%5Bsubtitled%2Flegendado%5D&c=0&h=360&w=480&l=1405&sigr=11bdmc3do&sigt=12jb40tcs&sigi=12r5jcbr9&age=1492529504&fr2=p%3As%2Cv%3Av&fr=iphone&tt=b

Hope this link works! Riz Ahmed (star wars) gave a lecture to parliament a while ago about how important representation is, and it really made me think. I think it’s a brilliant speech.

This is a bit related I think but specific to the hijab thing. Women who don’t know hijab wearing women and men not related to hijab wearing women don’t see women taking them off at home in the same way that families do. It would be so unusual for one of the British soaps to show women who wear hijabs or even more (abaya or similar) outside but show them without inside their own home. Could that even be done? Would it be allowed?

The daily ordinariness of it is very unordinary for many of us in the U.K. My only close Muslim friends are Pakistani and they don’t really cover their hair though do always have a scarf with them. One friend only puts hers up when her mil or aunt are nearby.

I don't mean that the media is responsible for Christchurch. That's 100% his fault but I do think that it isn't just major incidents like this that make the UK, and other countries a hostile place for many minorities. Everyday racism can be incredibly harmful too, and media generally. I'm focusing on tv but newspapers, sites and magazines absolutely play a huge role too, likely even bigger.

I was talking to a woman in her 20s recently and she expressed the view that she wouldn't want to live next to a non white family. I was shocked and disgusted but she is clearly very ignorant generally, believes everything that the Daily Mail and co print about Muslims and other minorities. That's her fault yes but she lives in a very white area and has very little exposure to Ethnic minorities. In a way it does not surprise me that combined with her ignorance that she has a warped idea of Muslims considering the ways in which they are shown and not shown in the media. Of course real life exposure would be beneficial but considering how white the majority of the UK is it isn't always possible and even that is no guarantee considering how many people claim that they love their 'black friend' and still stereotype and discriminate against other black people.

I know that some minorities have better representation than others, but that doesn't mean that they aren't discriminated against IRL and some minorities are barely acknowledged. Again, they aren't the only minority that matter but I really have noticed a real deficit of East Asian depictions in the media. Having white privilege myself there's probably far more than I'm blind to but that is something that I have noticed.

Also depictions of Ethnic minorities are one thing and a good start but positive and accurate depictions are quite another, and I feel that these are lacking.

Thank you to those who have responded. It's interesting to hear other POV.

YABU. I have never seen so many non-whites on TV as I have seen this past 5 or so years. They are in almost everything! In adverts, there are non-whites, and mixed race couples/mixed race families, in probably 3 out of 4 adverts!

I don't care who is in TV shows or adverts, but to say there are not enough ethnic minorities on TV is a joke!

Do you actually WATCH television at all?!

"Do you actually WATCH television at all?!"

What's a television?

I can't believe you honestly think there is an under-representation of BAME people on TV. That's just not the case AT ALL. If anything there is an over- representation for reasons of inclusivity and political correctness, particularly in advertising and regional news etc. There is even a newsreader in a hijab now. How on earth anyone can say that there is a lack of representation or only negative representation I just do not know.

I also disagree that there are not enough positive depictions of BAME people in TV. It is just nonsense. The trouble is, every time someone non-white is cast in a negative light, or a stereotypical way someone will notice and shout about how it conforms to unfair and damaging stereotypes (for example a black youth being cast as a knife carrying mugger or a gang member) but if they were never cast in a negative light and all 'baddies' had to be white then that wouldn't be entirely fair or accurate either, would it?

I think the UK is much better for this then other European countries. There is representation but there is always an ‘angle’. I’m south Asian and we were usually tv doctors/shopkeepers or antisocial controlling mum. I feel like we are branching out now (we are now newsreader, mp, main character’s best mate!). I am Muslim but don’t wear a hijab and you don’t see many of us on telly now . It’s either Muslim woman in hijab or modern Asian non-religious person.
Incidentally my Ds who is 13 has questioned that American tv will have ‘asian nerd’ or ‘black sporty guy’. He has also noticed that one of these will die first in any action/horror type film.

I agree with Mombie about the doctors and shopkeepers and there always needing to be an 'angle' in the storyline is people of Asian descent are featured. It annoys the hell out of me.

What do you mean under represented? As PPs have said the appearance of BAME people on British TV is pretty much in line with the overall population. Or do you think 50% of people on Tv should be BAME?

Watch tv in France, non-white faces are few and far between.

I don't think it is the number but sometimes how and when they are represented that may be the issue. TV is probably better in this than the print and social media.

@museumum They did it in EastEnders - they showed Shabnum with and without the scarf and also when she had a really short haircut.

I have never seen so many non-whites on TV as I have seen this past 5 or so years. They are in almost everything!

Gosh!

There is even a newsreader in a hijab now.

Well now I’ve just heard it all.