Week 3 Blog Post

     For this week's blog assignment, I chose to read "The power of the stereotype" article found on pages 11-13 of the textbook as well as the article titled "How to Avoid Stereotyping Muslims in a Post-9/11 World" found on pages 217-221 of the textbook. Both of the articles provided a new way of thinking and approaching news coverage.
     The first article discussed how there are a variety of groups stereotyped in American culture, not just racial or ethnic groups. They focused on the example of old age and how by reminding someone of the stereotype, their performance of a certain task can be impacted. This could also be referred to as self-fulfilling prophecy theory which implies that when one believes a certain outcome will occur, either positive or negative, it is more likely to occur. For example, if you believe that you will do poorly on an exam, you are more likely to do so. Stereotypes can create these self-fulfilling prophecies and make people feel as though since they are a part of that stereotyped group, their outcome should align with the stereotype. For example, if you told a person who was 65 years old to take a memory test a but before the test reminded them of their older age by saying "we are testing how memory is affected by age", they may do more poorly on the test because they feel as though, since they are older, their memory should be affected in some way. This is extremely interesting idea to me because it shows how much we are impacted by stereotypes and the fact that it can definitely limit you in life. On the other hand, it can help in life, if the stereotype is positive or you have a positive self-fulfilling prophecy.
       The next article discussed how there are set guidelines in place in order for journalists and other reporters to remain neutral when reporting the news and incorporate a wide variety of cases in which Muslims are portrayed in a positive or neutral manner, in attempt to decrease stereotyping of them. This is very interesting to me because personally, I agree that Muslims should not be stereotyped and the Islamic faith should not necessarily be paired with terrorism through language such as "Islamic terrorist". However, regulations about what journalists and news casters can and cannot say in relation to Muslim people can be somewhat restricting and limit from the truth. I believe that although it is important to cover a wide variety of people from different backgrounds in local news stories, I also think that the representation of ethnic and racial groups covered in the news should reflect that of the population. For example, if the population of Minneapolis is 60% African American, 10% Asian, 15% White or Caucasian, 5% Muslim and 10% Hispanic, the news should cover those groups in the same way. Hence, the African Americans would get the most and the Muslims get the least amount of coverage. It is extremely important to abstain from stereotyping and I do believe groups should be represented in a truthful and unbiased fashion and that these regulations have good intentions to decrease stereotyping Muslims. However, it is logical that the amount of coverage should depend on the population of the area and that the guidelines could potentially be restricting.

Bibliography:
      Reporting on Muslims, Islam in the media, in American Muslims: A journalist's guide to understanding Islam and Muslims.n.d. Washington, DC: Council on American Islamic Relations
      Cloud, John. "The Power of the Stereotype." Time Magazine. 2009.