Media Issues

From the Beauty Myth to the next top models, how do the media construct our perceptions of healthy and attractive bodies?

Male or female: Seems simple enough, but these categories which were assigned to us at birth carry with them a whole lot of social and cultural meanings and expectations. In this section, we look to unpack some of the media’s baggage around what it means to be a boy or girl, man or women.

While there is growing demand for more and better diversity in media, North American entertainment and news media are not balanced in their portrayal of racial and cultural diversity. Portrayals of racialized groups are often inadequate or non-existent, and when they are portrayed they are often stereotyped and demeaning. At the same time, Whiteness is privileged by being portrayed as the default or “mainstream.” These articles look at representation and participation by racialized groups in different media and how they are addressed in Canadian broadcasting policy.

In this section we explore the ethics, laws, and rights that surround questions of intellectual property. Whether it’s a question of downloading music, borrowing graphics and photos, or copying text from an academic source, there are bound to be questions about what is and what is not fair use.

Young people – who have disposable income and a tremendous influence on family purchases – are the perfect target for marketers and advertisers. This section covers various issues related to marketing that targets children and youth.

How and why is violence used by media industries? How are governments responding to concerns about media violence? This section examines key arguments in the debate and how adults can address media violence issues with children and young people.