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Media representation acknowledges our existence in the world (Tomas, 2020), hence underrepresented groups or people won’t be able to see themselves in the world. For instance, there are no non-binary characters among the mainstream movies released in 2014 and if there are there any, out of a hundred storylines only 12% of representation are accurate while 54% of those characters are portrayed negatively like a sex worker or a villain (Nolan, 2015).

Such figures inform us of the existing disparity in gender representation in media influencing viewers, particularly the youth’s view of themselves and their approach to socialization as they participate in society. As Shoemaker and Reese (2014) posited, media representation entertained and taught people to think in specific ways about their lives, other people, and society. Drawing from this, it is important that everyone would have as much opportunity as others to be represented in the media positively and/or accurately. It matters because, for those trans youth that commits and/or attempt suicide every year having more and accurate representation on media will make more people talk and be aware of gender, gender identity, and related issues which by doing so would transform media and society as a commonplace for people of any gender.

Another concerning issue in media representation is women being underrepresented with historically male characters being twice as many as females in TV programs; and women being undervalued (Shoemaker & Reese, 2014). Women are also undervalued in national television. In the Philippines for instance, in one of the longest-airing prime-time show, Ang Probinsyano the previous female lead is often clothed in a long skirt and off-shoulder top despite it being inconvenient for the character who is often running away to escape from the hoodlums chasing her until Cardo comes to her rescue. The way she was clothed adheres to the stereotype that women should dress modestly in long skirts, and be a damsel in distress while her off-shoulder top caters to the implicitly demanded sexiness which male viewers enjoyed watching. Another character is of the sexy star Ivana Alawi, who’s clothed in skimpy and provocative material with the role of a woman who’s secretly planning how to get rid of the man whom she has no choice but to sexually satisfy and please.

These aforementioned kinds of female representations show how limited the role of women into a loving, modest, and non-careered housewife who tends to the household chores and waits for her husband to return from work and cook for him. Or a role of a sexy, uneducated girl who has to leech her way on rich and powerful men to be well-off while these men have free-pass to abuse her in return.

These negative transgender people and women portrayal aren’t realistic reflections of the world but are distorted and selective representation that are highly prejudicial stereotypes and offensive (Croteau & Hoynes, 2019 p. 288). However, if internalized by the audience could lead to negative perceptions and expectations; body dissatisfaction, and negative self-concept. Furthermore, these promote gender-stereotyped roles, demoralize and restrain women's and non-binary people’s development and empowerment.

With this, I believe that we should talk about this. We should protest and demand positive, accurate, and equal representation in the media that is not only limited to particular gender or race. I also think that talking about this would inform and make it clear that we are willing to spend a couple of bucks for women, and other non-binary people–starred, featured, and even produced and directed media contents as much as we are currently spending on men’s.

The Philippines' exposure to numerous forms of media has provided people with a vast amount of information on national and worldwide concerns. With this, national crisis and government incompetence become more exposed that governance and political issues are the most common headlines in the majority of media coverage today. Consequently, people’s political knowledge and involvement also grow. However as social media facilitates activism and social group mobilization in pursuit of their goals, so does political propaganda against them.

Propaganda as posited by Smith (2019) is a “dissemination of information—facts, arguments, rumors, half-truths, or lies—to influence public opinion.” This type of advertising is known in the political arena as political propaganda, and it is used by politicians, their parties, and/or followers to promote their line-ups and political goals, as well as to discredit critics, antis, and opposition groups. One form is the baseless red-tagging of the activists. Red-tagging is the malicious "act of labeling, branding, naming, and accusing individuals and/or organizations of being left-leaning, subversives, communists, or terrorists (used as) a strategy...by State agents, particularly law enforcement agencies and the military, against those perceived to be 'threats' or' enemies of the State" (Supreme court, 2010 as cited by Gavilan, 2020).

One of the many problematic injustices of this propaganda is the Philippine National Police's "Bloody Sunday" operation on March 7, 2021, in which nine activists were killed and six were captured, whom the PNP claimed in the news to be members of the New People's Army posing as protestors (Cahiles, 2021). Simply put, such statements to the media could make the incident appear as something that was done against the enemies of the state and for the sake of the country. Thus manipulating the media and the public’s perception of the injustice to be something acceptable. In essence, this inhumane propaganda accusing activists of being communists aims to distort the public’s judgment or contaminate the perception of these individuals and their causes and justify what was done to them. Especially because political experiences are not always gained through direct interactions with government officials but through encounters with political content and imagery mediated and constructed by the media (Cushion, 2019).

This scenario is likely to happen when the government continues to determine what could be published by the media which is usually filtered of negative reports against the government and inflicts negative repercussions on offenders. Croteau and Hoynes (2019) presented the role of government in regulating media including censorship and surveillance. Moreover, at some point, media organizations, especially those owned or acquainted with government leaders served as propaganda arms of the state.

References

Cahiles, G. 2021. PNP claims “Bloody Sunday” victims were NPA members; activist groups reject tag. Cnn. https://www.cnnphilippines.com/news/2021/3/11/PNP-claims-Bloody-Sunday-victims-NPA-members-.html

Code of Ethics For Media. (n.d.). https://pcoo.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/buk1_code_of_ethics_for_media.pdf

Croteau, D. R., & Hoynes, I. WD. (2019). Media/Society: Industries, Images, and Audiences. SAGE

Cushion, S. (2019). The Political Impact of Media. In Curran, J and Hesmondhalgh, D. (eds). Media and Society. 6 th edition. Bloomsbury Academic.

Gavilan, J. 2020. Lives in danger as red-tagging campaign intensifies. Rappler. https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/in-depth/lives-in-danger-duterte-government-red-tagging-campaign

Smith, B. L. (2019). propaganda | Definition, History, Techniques, Examples, & Facts. In Encyclopædia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/propaganda