Page 291 - Culture Society and the Media

CULTURE, SOCIETY AND THE MEDIA 281
favourable reference to black immigrants as evidence of media bias (Jones,
1971, p. 19). On the other hand, it can be presumed that the majority of his
readers would not question items which could give an unfavourable impression or
which could be used to reinforce stereotypes: for example, they may see reports
of crimes committed by members of immigrant groups as proof that most blacks
are criminally inclined.
This is not to concede, as Husband argues, that the contents and impact of the
mass media coverage of race should be assessed on the basis that ‘We are a society
with racist beliefs entrenched in our culture and racial discrimination evident in
our laws and in our behaviour’ (Husband, 1975, p. 23). If we bear in mind that
the reception accorded to black immigrants has been far less violent than that
which met Irish immigrants to Britain in the nineteenth century, it could equally
well be argued that the hostile predisposition referred to by Jones can be
explained in terms of traditional dislike of foreigners and resentment at the influx
of immigrants (of whatever colour) into particular local communities.
If the media now presented a picture more in keeping with this resentment and
did more, as Powell wished, ‘to bring out the sense of oppression, the sense of
being victimized’, so satisfying their white audience, they have, as we have seen,
been roundly criticized from another source. Critics of media coverage argue
that there has been undue concentration on the manifestations of tension—such
as hostility and conflict—at the expense of such topics as housing, education and
employment which ‘might be thought to represent major social resources,
competition for which would seem to be among the underlying roots of tension’
(Hartmann et al., 1974, p. 132). This amounts to saying that the media have
concentrated on the effects, the tip of the iceberg, rather than on social structure
and the distribution of resources, a concentration which would presumably be
explained in terms of news values. But the housing and employment markets,
and the study of discrimination and disadvantage within them, cannot be
arbitrarily designated as ‘background’ factors with the implication that they are
causative (i.e. if you take away shortages of housing and jobs, race relations will
become universally smooth). It is just as plausible to argue that competition for
housing and jobs provide a pretext for expressions of ethnocentrism or racialism.
This cautionary note does not, however, dispose of the criticism that media
coverage of race has ignored structural factors. The press has, for example, given
little consideration to the context within which New Commonwealth immigration
occurred. The great bulk of this immigration took place in an era of excess
demand for labour and as such was welcomed by both government and
employers. Until social and political considerations were judged to outweigh
economic interests, black immigration seemed the easiest means of filling the
gaps left by indigenous workers who were increasingly demonstrating their
refusal to perform a whole range of jobs characterized by low wages, unsocial
hours and poor conditions, whereas, except for the occasional mention of poverty
and unemployment in the Third World and the attractions of a steady job and