Communication and Race

The most critical aspects of media performance with regards to race and ethnicity are issues that relate to the quality of its representation of the lives of people of color. Accuracy and diversity are aspects of media performance that will allow for a careful evaluation of how it represents people of color. Evaluating media performance is important because of the utilization and reliance on the mass media for much of society's reflexive monitoring and evaluation …

…primary source of indirect or mediated experiences that shape, reinforce, or eliminate racial attitudes and beliefs. But, the mass media is a business and thus is under business constraints with regard to performance. Commercial media have to be as efficient in their use of resources and financial returns as other businesses. But do to the nature of their business, media performance must be assessed by criteria which is much more demanding than normal business criteria.