This forum of November 21, 2006, facilitated by the Association for Media Literacy, brought together media professionals, critics and educators for a discussion about representation—how others see us and how we see ourselves—from the local to the national and global perspective. Below are summaries of the panelists’ comments, followed by a brief overview and personal response to some meaningful comments offered during audience participation.

Cyrus Sundar Singh: Gemini award-winning filmmaker ( Film Club)

He began by acknowledging the fact that this was a huge topic that one “could get lost in”. His point of reference was his experience as a filmmaker. His example of representation involved a personal experience in which his identity was mis-represented by the media when the caption below his newspaper picture read “South Asian Artist” instead of his name. In his opinion the media has defined his career as that of an “ethnic” artist, further relegating him to the margins of the “other”, and serving as an example of the media’s tendency to constantly redefine the meaning of this term. Singh also addressed the idea that ethnic people do not read ethnic newspapers.

Antonia Zerbisias – The Toronto Star television and media critic

She discussed issues of representation behind the media scenes, identifying the media as an industry dominated by white men, especially in the more senior ranks. In response to criticism that The Star is “all white”, she said that change “takes time”: despite the fact that The Star has a diversity of reporters, it will take time for these people to work their way up the ranks so this will mean change in a few decades. She also discussed the business aspect of making a newspaper’s content accessible to the ethnic demographic because it is “good business”.

Brian Stewart – CBC host and Senior Correspondent

He presented his personal experience of how the media construct the idea of Canada as a diverse country. He stated that during coverage of any event he is obligated to include 1 minority for every 3 people he might interview. In his opinion this can construct the perception that Canada is more diverse than typically in urban areas. In his view the world of journalism is not only struggling to represent Canada to itself but is unsure how to depict the changing face of Canada. He also stated that there is a condescending attitude in the media that we must give ethnic groups their specific ethnic perspective whereas many ethnic groups have diverse interests not specifically related to their ethnic experience.

Susan Ormiston – CBC host

She stated that we are not doing a great job with diversity—there is much diversity in society but we are not seeing it reflected on-air. Her area of focus was diversity of opinion with specific reference to Al Jazeera. She believes diversity of opinion is shrinking in our mass media as a result of lack of diversity in thought. She also pointed out that there is confusion as to who the audience is, where the audience is coming from, and why it is shrinking in the medium of television (perhaps the result of people getting their information from different sources). The Internet has truly revolutionized how and when we get information.
The concern of narrowcasting was also discussed and the question posed: “Are we moving away from a central mass media?” There was general agreement that traditional mass media is coming to an end as a concept, since people get information from diverse places at random times.

General Comments

One audience member articulated the problem of language use that automatically positions white as the dominant group and ethnics as “the other”. This point was well made and warranted consideration of the overwhelmingly white (myself included) audience at this event. Discussion around race issues like representation must take into account the position of privilege each person possesses. It is for this reason I had difficulty with Antonia Zerbisias’ comments that change will “take time”. Furthermore, this statement was problematic as it ignores the fact that things can be done now to improve, rather than waiting for time to heal all “lack of representation” wounds. I am sure that during the Civil Rights Movement people thought that things would in time change but we are approaching 2007 and representation is still an issue. Perhaps this means it is not time that will change things but rather it is people ‘ particularly those in positions of privilege and power ‘ who must make a concerted effort to effect change.

It is easy and all too common for people of a dominant culture to say that change in representation will “take time”, when one group holds a position of privilege ‘ after all who wants to relinquish power? However, all these statements provide a barrier to progress and fail to acknowledge societal elements that can and should change now. As a society we seem immune to several ideas: lack of representation, non-whites as ethnic people or the “other”, and the belief that change “takes time”; these perspectives must change.

With regard to Canada’s international reputation the following question was asked by an audience member: Is Canada still seen as the mosaic compared to the melting pot of the United States? Cyrus Sundar Singh’s response comments were interesting as he noted the immigrant experience with media. He stated that there are many ethnic groups which affect the supply and demand factors of mass media. There are now “pools” of people in certain areas and these pools tend to be less mosaic in nature, and more insular due to an increase in numbers and, as a result, are content to remain insular. This increasing fragmentation should concern us all as it suggests a lack of unity in our Canadian society. It also points to the fact that as humans we seem to lack the skills that would enable us to connect on the basis of our common humanity. From my perspective I feel that racism, an historical imbalance of power between groups and the subsequent dearth of sincere equitable representation ‘ beyond constructing a superficial multiculturalism similar to “rolling people onto a stage to give a performance” (to quote a panelist) – prevents common unity.