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Magazines

The ways in which minorities are represented in the media reflects how an ethnic group is viewed by mainstream society. Print media in the form of magazines is one of the most historically visible and pervasive institutions in American culture. Studies performed since the 1940s consistently show that portrayal of stereotypes can have harmful effects on ethnic or minority groups.

Because the media open windows to the outside world, advertising and other media representations can negatively influence the assimilation process of minorities. Moreover, persistent exposure to stereotypical representations often results in audience members accepting distorted views of minority groups, as well as in minority groups suffering harmful effects to their self-esteem. Underrepresentation or invisibilization, on the other hand, may also signal to ethnic group members a lack of acceptance by mainstream society. Studies have shown that underrepresentation exacerbates the tendency to side with the mainstream, minimizing exposure to a diversity of representations and opinions.

In the case of positive stereotypes, some studies suggest that undue pressure may be placed on individuals because of pervasive portrayals in magazine advertising that reinforce expectations associated with a minority group. Studies show that Asian Americans are often represented in advertisements printed in popular technology and business magazines but are underrepresented in women's and general interest publications. Such stereotypes may place undue stress on Asian Americans to succeed in specific fields and reflect that advertisers are not interested in representing Asian Americans in non-business or work-related settings, suggesting that they are not adept at social and recreational skills.

The Role of Magazines in the Coverage of Ethnic Issues

News magazines played a crucial role in the coverage of the civil rights movement and post-civil rights society. Through news reportage, feature articles, and photography that documented overt acts of discrimination against African Americans and the efforts of civil rights activists, print media played a pivotal role in advancing the civil rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s. Among others, three national magazines—Life, Newsweek, and Time—played pivotal roles in the development of the civil rights movement and the public portrayal of African Americans. They also set the tone for ethnic news coverage at a time when most mainstream media largely ignored race issues.

Life, a photojournalist magazine published between 1936 and 2000, was at one point one of the most influential magazines in the nation. It published the photographs of Charles Moore, some of the first photographs to chronicle the struggles of the civil rights movement beginning in 1958. In the 1960s, Moore and other Life photographers documented acts of brutality against African American activists. The publication also opened doors for African American photographers by hiring Gordon Parks in 1948. Parks was assigned to document the civil rights movement and the activism of Malcolm X, by which he created a historical record of great value.

Newsweek, a news magazine published from 1933 to 2012, often covered stories neglected by other publications during the 1950s and 1960s. The coverage of the civil rights movement and race riots in the United States earned Newsweek a preeminent position in the coverage of social justice in America. In 1962, the magazine published “Mississippi: The Sound and the Fury,” a report on the violence and siege on the University of Mississippi as a result of the first enrollment of an African American student. In 1967, it published a 20-page cover story, “The Negro in America: What Must Be Done,” a chronicle of the devastating effects of poverty and discrimination in the United States, for which Newsweek won the National Magazine Award.

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