Race and Gender Representation in the Media

The Michael Brown Case 

Race and gender have always posed social issues in American society. In todays media it is sometimes hard to identify both of these subjects as one meshed together within the media.
 Both gender and race are factored into the media today whether they are being presented together or separately. An example of the gender of a specific race being presented publicly in media usage would be the first silent film in 1915. This film portrayed a large African American male chasing after a Caucasian girl who posed as an innocent factor while the man was posed as a threatening figure. This film left a large imprint on society at the time as well as a specific view of African American males with such stature. This imprint became somewhat of a permanent view that individuals hold whether it is a conscience thought or not. 

An example of a specific gender/race being represented inappropriately through media usage would be the Michael Brown case. I would say that this case is and example because it was initially put out into the public by media sources using a specific photo that was chosen by the Ferguson police department that posed him as a threatening individual (large African American male). 
The photo had the camera aimed up toward Brown, because of the positioning of this picture he looked intimidating which could have helped Wilsons(Police officer) claim of the event. Although civil rights charges are unlikely for Wilson because of the lack of evidence, many things still contradict his claims of the event such as why Wilson continued to fire at Brown as well as many witness accounts. The comparison of different accounts of this event as well as claims concerning the circumstances of Wilson shooting at Brown, relate to the claim of many that the case is bias because of Brown's race/gender. Dependent or not of whether this case had the results it did because of Browns race/gender, the way in which the media handled the publicity of the information is an example of how both subjects can be portrayed in the media.  

Sources:
 http://www.ijreview.com/2014/08/168698-eyewitness-recalls-important-detail-background-video-mins-ferguson-shooting/

 http://nypost.com/2014/10/18/ferguson-officer-says-he-was-pinned-in-car-feared-for-his-life-report/

 http://www.filmsite.org/1915-filmhistory.html