Cultural Bias Lives in Prime Time Television!

...at least in June of 2006 when I completed my Master's Degree and my research paper:
"Cultural Bias in Prime Time Television and Teenage Viewers: Cultural Media Literacy for High School and Higher Education"

It is my contention that these biases have changed to some degree, but have stayed stable as a negative cultural presence in televisual communications.

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Years of observing content and characterization in television programming of all types, along with frequent and continuing academic study of television and other media, have brought me to understand that there are deep problems inherent in our TV watching behavior. Not only are some of the oldest stereotypes and relational behavior patterns still existent in the medium, but the ubiquity and pervasiveness of the media in general has increased also. Add continued negative portrayals with deeper incursion into the human experience and we have an equation that adds up to problems of social proportions.

Our society still struggles with challenges around culture and race, sex and gender issues. sexual orientation, ability and agism. In addition, our consciousness of environmental issues, democracy, health, water and food and other social issues is hampered by the dearth of substantive reporting and coverage of these important elements of human life.

If we did not still experience deep-seated problems with class, violence and intolerance, many of the television programs, stories and messages would be of little concern, but for their entertainment value. The reality of the cultural life of United States of American society behooves us to look more deeply and critically at the form and function of our most compelling medium of social communication - television, the king of all media.

Though the internet is increasingly becoming important for the mass consumption of moving image programming, the source of that product still resides in the television studios of the media conglomerates, now dwindling in number, but growing speedily in size....and social influence. I ask you to spend some time to look over the content of my research paper, consider my critique and findings and, if you will, join my Yahoo group and look at other sources of information to gain perspective on this important issue. Feel free to contact me by email to ask questions or provide further insight on your own findings, formal or informal. We must transform, not only the process of our consumption of media, but of our creation of human culture and cultural content, from an unconscious endeavor to a vibrant and conscious dynamic, capable of highlighting and validating the very highest values of human life, love, action and spirit, something woefully lacking in the media most often consumed by this society.

"Cultural Bias in Prime Time Television and Teenage Viewers: Cultural Media Literacy for High School and Higher Education"

Teenagers, as formative adults and aspirational viewers, look to prime time television programming to assist them with defining their roles, behavior and social expectations. Television continues to project characters and storylines steeped in cultural bias. Studies revealed that the programming showed persistent, overt and subtle, negative stereotypes of numerical minorities, women and young people. Current trends in corporate media conglomeration, centralization of control over all media outlets, help explain the challenges of the teen media and television environment. Teenagers are falling prey to the prejudiced characterizations, negative portrayals, wholesale omissions of sub-cultural populations and advertiser-driven balkanization of television audiences. The primary objective of this study was to qualitatively assess the level of televisual bias and segregation that is validating oppressive ideas and behavior that threaten the cultural life of the United States of America. Media literacy education, with a focus on communal and cultural issues is a positive, though still largely latent force, that can help to counteract harmful human messages that often lie hidden in the technically sophisticated, though narrowly conceived programming. Prime time programming watched heavily by teenagers was recorded and analyzed, observing five cultural parameters: Culture/National Origin/Race, Gender, Sexual Orientation, Age and Ability. By exploring these categories of sub-cultural presentation, patterns of portrayals were found that gave perspective to practical issues currently challenging social cohesiveness. This qualitative study gave rise to a cultural media literacy presentation, created as a proactive outgrowth of this research in the interest of addressing the issues of social discord, geared for high school and college students and adaptable for adult audiences.