Veganism as Perceived in the Media

Veganism as Perceived in the Media

Veganism as Perceived in the Media. (2012, April 16). Retrieved February 26, 2015, from http://www.theveganwoman.com/veganism-as-perceived-in-the-media/

Summary:
This article analyzes both the news and fiction's perception of Veganism and compares how these outlets present vegans. A study of UK news showed that three quarters of news on Veganism is negative. The mainstream news represents vegans as either associated with Asceticism, being overly sensitive, or extremely hostile. There are also many subcultures associated with vegans that the mainstream media likes to highlight such as the Straight Edge movement and other spiritual movements. However, these representations have some truth behind it. The mainstream media likes to use these associations to present Veganism in a negative light. In film and television, however, there have been more vegan characters being seen. Although not all of these are positive, the majority of the characters that are vegan are shown in a positive light. This article goes into detail about different vegan characters in film and television and whether or not they are viewed positively. 

Quotes:
"Just as contemporary works now contain plenty of gay characters, ethnic minority characters, disabled people and strong women, so I believe future artists will incorporate more and more animal rights themed characters. It will start with the arts, and eventually seep into news media."

"Todd Ingram in Scott Pilgrim vs The World. Cleverly written so that he can be seen in a positive way by vegans (veganism gives him superpowers and makes him better than others) and negatively by non-vegans (better than others = smug). Neutral."

"A study called “Vegaphobia: derogatory discourses of veganism and the reproduction of speciesism in UK national newspapers” looked at all the references to vegans in the UK news media in 2007. Unsurprisingly, 74.3% of the coverage was negative, 20.2% was neutral, and only 5.5 % was positive."

Reflection: 

I believe the news media is presenting Veganism in a negative light because no one really fully understands the movement. Although, people have different for motives for going vegan whether it's for health or ethical reasons mainstream media doesn't explain the movement. Many people have a preconceived idea that vegans don't eat anything, and are against every type of food if it is unhealthy. I think that maybe even the mainstream media, or the people behind it for that matter, don't understand that there are many foods that vegans can eat. Recently, I have seen that Veganism is becoming more and more popular. Because of this people are learning about the implications of Veganism, what vegans can and can't eat, and why people make this choice to be vegan. Slowly but surely, media is progressing and many film and television productions have dubbed popular characters vegan. I agree with the author of the article that this negative idea that comes with Veganism will soon shed in both the news and entertainment world.