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The Impact Of Television On Television

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Television plays a tremendous role in our society. It mirrors and leads society (Weinman 95). Through television, we develop our earliest perception of the world. Yet, not all the images displayed on television are accurate. So, if we base our worldview of people on the images we see on television, our view will be limited. The effect television has on people’s perception always interested me. From a young age I watched TV and many of my ideas about the world developed from the images I saw. However, I noticed not many of the people on television looked like me. Therefore, I became curious about the absence of African Americans on television. I was aware that during the 1960’s many Black shows began to emerge. These shows often were sitcoms and displayed traditional African American families. Yet, I did not know about any of the earliest portrayals of Blacks in the media. Of course, when broadcast was first introduced, it was predominately white because of racial tensions in America. However, I was curious to know when the television scene became more diverse. This led me to formulate the research question of: How has the medias portrayal of African Americans changed over time? Later, I was able to formulate the answer which was from its inception, the media displayed African Americans negatively, however, many shows began to emerge that challenged these stereotypes, but the representation of Blacks on television remained extremely satirical which consequently impacted

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