The representation of disabled people in the media a – briefing Background provides an essential check on all aspects of public life. “The That is why any failure within the media affects all of us”. Lord Justice Leveson opening the hearings of the Leveson inquiry on the 14th of November 2011 The term is defined in the Oxford Dictionary as main means ‘media’ “the of mass communication (television, radio, and newspapers)” and by Wikipedia as through which communication takes place” “technologies – this also includes social media. Media is an important part of our everyday life, it is critical in the dissemination of information to the mass population. In doing this, it holds a strong influence over society, reaches many people, and shapes attitudes; the tone of national thought and debate”. Recently, “setting and most publically as part of the Leveson inquiry, the practices of the press has come under scrutiny. The representation of disabled people and the media The relationship between the media and disabled people has often been turbulent. Many have argued that despite protections in the Editors Code of Practice and in equalities legislation (and for some parts of the media this includes specific duties in the Equality Act 2010) the representation of disabled people in the media has; entrenched stereotypes dominant images [of disabled people] are crude, – “the and simplistic”, focused on the medical model of disability and more recently, vilified and victimized disabled people as benefit cheats and scroungers Benefit? Just fill in a form’, more – ‘Disabled ‘No £35k BMWs for Motability drivers: new rules will stop disabled getting luxury cars on taxpayer’ and repeating of reporting of wildly inaccurate statistics on sick are skiving’. ‘75% It has been suggested that this latter sort of reporting represents a significant shift in media portrayal from one which was largely patronising one where the predominant focus has been on disabled “…to people as scroungers”. Watson claims that, left unchecked, this shift could the groundwork for the removal of the support structures and “lay
The representation of disabled people in the media – a briefing Background “The provides an essential check on all aspects of public life. That is why any failure within the media affects all of us”. Lord Justice Leveson opening the hearings of the Leveson inquiry on the 14th of November 2011 The term ‘media’ is defined in the Oxford Dictionary as “the main means of mass communication (television, radio, and newspapers)” and by Wikipedia as “technologies through which communication takes place” – this also includes social media. Media is an important part of our everyday life, it is critical in the dissemination of information to the mass population. In doing this, it holds a strong influence over society, reaches many people, and shapes attitudes; “setting the tone of national thought and debate”. Recently, and most publically as part of the Leveson inquiry, the practices of the press has come under scrutiny. The representation of disabled people and the media The relationship between the media and disabled people has often been turbulent. Many have argued that despite protections in the Editors Code of Practice and in equalities legislation (and for some parts of the media this includes specific duties in the Equality Act 2010) the representation of disabled people in the media has; entrenched stereotypes – “the dominant images [of disabled people] are crude, and simplistic”, focused on the medical model of disability and more recently, vilified and victimized disabled people as benefit cheats and scroungers – ‘Disabled Benefit? Just fill in a form’, ‘No more £35k BMWs for Motability drivers: new rules will stop disabled getting luxury cars on taxpayer’ and repeating of reporting of wildly inaccurate statistics ‘75% on sick are skiving’. It has been suggested that this latter sort of reporting represents a significant shift in media portrayal from one which was largely patronising “…to one where the predominant focus has been on disabled people as scroungers”. Watson claims that, left unchecked, this shift could “lay the groundwork for the removal of the support structures and
Chairs%20breifing_The%20solutions%20series_mock%20the%20weak_representation%20of%20disabled%20people%20in%20the%20media_FINAL.docx