What percent of black men in film and TV are represented as criminals?

September 19, 2016 1:15 PM

I'm trying to track down some recent stats on the representation of black men in media-- the stats I can find are all from the mid-1990s. Any idea where I could find more recent stats on representation in film and TV?

Are black men more likely to be represented as criminals? Drug dealers? How much more likely? Is there a good clearinghouse for this information?

posted by enzymatic to Media & Arts (2 answers total)

The NAACP Hollywood Bureau came to mind -- they don't seem to publish such reports, but they might have an idea of who to talk to.
posted by Etrigan at 1:20 PM on September 19, 2016 [1 favorite]

Bear in mind that a much higher percentage of characters on TV are criminals than people are in reality, due to the needs of drama. That means everyone on TV is several times more likely to turn out to be criminal than is realistic. It is also unrealistically common for people to be cops, lawyers and doctors, for the same reason - writers write a lot of parts like that because they are interesting.
posted by w0mbat at 3:56 PM on September 19, 2016 [4 favorites]