Currently, there are multiple ways in which religion intersects with stereotyping and bias. For the most part, these obstacles arise at times when the differences between community members are too challenging and require additional effort to overcome the problem. According to Maydell (2018), mass media is one of the key generators of stereotypical thinking and biased worldviews due to the magnitude of its force. Even a person’s religious beliefs could be altered by the media if the required ideas are conveyed compellingly and in a rather persuasive manner. This intangible agenda helps the media control certain societal cohorts’ portrayals and perceptions. Irrespective of a person’s outlook on certain sensitive topics, they could become a victim of prejudice and firmly delivered lies or misconceptions.
The first example of how mass media operates bias and dishonesties to address religion is the level of treatment received by minorities. According to Shamilishvili (2019), religious minorities are practically enslaved by stereotypes because different roles in society are rather hard to break or amend when they intertwine with religious convictions. This is a significant problem for the contemporary community because it forces people to remain unaware and only pick one side when looking at ethical and socio-economic dilemmas. A similar idea is also covered in Luqiu and Yang’s (2018) article, where the authors addressed the imminent power of mass media in terms of covering terrorism or association with a certain group. In China, for instance, Islam is often displayed as a threatening religion in order to maintain domestic social stability (Luqiu & Yang, 2018). Thus, mass media could be utilized to oppress followers of specific religions in order to give more power to the local government.
References
Luqiu, L. R., & Yang, F. (2018). Islamophobia in China: News coverage, stereotypes, and Chinese Muslims’ perceptions of themselves and Islam. Asian Journal of Communication, 28(6), 598-619.
Maydell, E. (2018). ‘It just seemed like your normal domestic violence’: Ethnic stereotypes in print media coverage of child abuse in New Zealand. Media, Culture & Society, 40(5), 707-724.
Shamilishvili, G. (2019). Psychological influence of modern mass media on the formation of gender stereotypes. Economics. Ecology. Socium, 3(2), 71-76.