Title: Native Americans: Negative impacts of media portrayals, stereotypes - The Journalist's Resource
Headings: Native Americans: Negative impacts of media portrayals, stereotypes
Native Americans: Negative impacts of media portrayals, stereotypes
About The Author
Farah Qureshi

Content: The authors examine the quality and quantity of how Native people are represented in the media, which includes news coverage, TV shows, films and video games. Key points include: Native Americans experience “relative invisibility” in the media. When they are included, they generally are portrayed as historical figures – individuals from the 18 th and 19 th centuries who wear buckskin, ride horses or live in teepees. When they are shown as modern people, they often are associated with addiction, poverty and a lack of formal education. When Native Americans are included in media depictions, they are usually shown as a particular type of Native American – for example, as Sioux, Navajo or Apache. This narrow representation does not reflect the wide diversity among the hundreds of tribal cultures that exist within the borders of the United States. Native Americans make up a very small percentage of the U.S. population but are much underrepresented in the media. American Indians and Alaska Natives made up about 2 percent of the total population in 2013, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The percentage of characters in popular films and primetime TV shows who are Native American ranges from zero to 0.4 percent, according to content analyses.