In my recent CFI blog I examined studies on media representation, especially of minorities. Two recent reports have helped describe and quantify the issue, one from GLAAD (formerly the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation), and the other from the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. The reports (Where We Are on TV and Inclusion or Invisibility? Comprehensive Annenberg Report on Diversity in Entertainment, respectively) are the results of painstaking tabulation and analysis. Like any measure they are not perfect, but they do provide insight into media representation trends. As a longtime researcher on the media (and author of Media Mythmakers: How Journalists, Activists, and Advertisers Mislead Us), I was interested to review the findings, specifically focusing on the status of sexual and racial minorities depicted onscreen.

The results were interesting and surprising; you can read it HERE. 

You can find more on me and my work with a search for “Benjamin Radford” (not “Ben Radford”) on Vimeo.