There is an absence of research examining how Black-American media portray depression. There is evidence, however, of specificity and uniqueness in the portrayal of some diseases in Black-American magazines (e.g., Clarke et al. 2006). Thus, the purpose of this study is to describe and offer some potential explanations for the portrayal of depression in US-based magazines whose audience is Black Americans.
The sample for study includes the three highest circulating magazines originating in the USA and directed toward Black Americans, Ebony, Essence, and Jet. Each magazine reaches a target audience age group of between 18 and 49. Most readers are female and over 90% of the readers are Black American. Ebony and Jet cover topics such as politics, arts, culture, entertainment, technology, and living (http://ebonyjet.com/#1 accessed 28 September 2009). Essence covers topics such as news and entertainment, fashion and beauty, relationships, and recipes (http://www.essence.com/ accessed 28 September 2009).
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The circulation rates of the three magazines according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations as follows: Jet, 956,909; Essence, 1,060,613; and Ebony, 1,486,120 in the USA (Infoplease n.d.). These numbers represent a small proportion of the estimated 36 (plus) million in 2004 (U.S. Census Bureau 2006) to 41 million in 2009 Black- American people (Wikipedia n.d.). Additional socio-demographic readership information.
All articles from January 2000 to December 2007 on the topic of depression (excluding economic depression) from all three magazines inclusive were chosen by a research assistant who searched each of the magazines for articles (online) that focused on the psychological or mental health condition of depression. This time frame was chosen in order to: (1) avoid the bias of reporting on one year only, when a particular story such as that of the development or a new treatment, for instance, Prozac might dominate; and (2) ensure a sufficient number of articles on the topic of depression in these three high circulating magazines. This search yielded 43 articles pertaining to depression in this time period in the select magazines.
Nunca imaginé que las propias revistas fueran tan elitistas, la discriminación racial esta alcanzando niveles muy alarmantes que debemos combatir.
ResponderEliminarTienes razón, los editores de estas tres revistas esta siendo estereotizadas y llevandose fluir por la sociedad, actitud negativa desde mi punto de vista.
ResponderEliminar