Media and Marginalized Groups

Abstract

Marginalization is a process of intensified exclusion which can occur as the result of unequal access to social power. In modern societies, the mass media provide the major environment for the transmission of ideas, images, and understandings about diverse social and cultural groups, both within nations and worldwide. The media therefore can either reinforce or undermine patterns of prejudice and marginalization. Research demonstrates that most mass media tend towards the reinforcement of prejudices, resulting in further marginalization of subordinate or excluded social groups. There have been significant initiatives that recognize and address these problems in four dimensions of media – ownership, regulation, content, and audience.