Diversity & Media

 

Diversity and The Impact It Has On The Media Industry

     Diversity in the media industry is not always as diverse as it used to be and is still going through many growing pains today. Media diversity is essential because it helps give new perspectives and brings equal representation from all walks of life. Diversity is not only important when it comes to the people you see on the television on the people covered in stories in the newspaper. It is important to have diversity in all steps of the media process. From newsrooms, productions rooms, writing rooms, and more diversity is key to getting the best information out to the public. Having a nondiverse working space in the media can lead to bias or untrue information when someone else might have a better experience or understanding of the situation or story. An issue that has been brought up recently and has been going on for a long time is the Grammys giving out "urban" music awards to artists of color when their nominated music does not fall under that category whatsoever. Tyler the Creator, a music artist, spoke up about this, saying, "It sicks that whenever we -- and I mean guys that look like me -- do anything that's genre-bending, or that's anything they always put it in a rap or urban category. I don't like that 'urban' word -- it's just a politically correct way to say the n-word to me." This shows that the award selection team has a twisted view of musical artists and the categories they put them into. Gender, Ethnicity, Religion, Socioecnomoinc Status, Sexual Orientation, Language, Age, and Disability are all factors that go into having diverse media and what the media portrays. It can sometimes be hard to put all of these different factors on display but having them all work together on a singular motive helps create a more rich and well-planned story/media.