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Representations, mis-
representations, stereotyping?
Minorities in the media

                             Dr Myria Georgiou
              Dept of Media and Communications
Context
European cultures are increasingly media cultures
•National media compete with transnational and local media
•Production and distribution of the media is only in part bounded within a
 single national territory
•National policy only in part controls the production and distibution of the
 media
•European homes are increasingly media-rich and media-savvy homes

Research from across Europe demonstrates that migration
and asylum are highly newsworthy for the media, especially
for the highest circulation press publications.

Data from across Europe shows that for a large majority of
citizens, knowledge about different cultural groups is
primarily mediated.
Social theory and critique
Media reproducing hegemonic racial ideologies
Media misrepresent social injustice and attribute problems such as crime to
the behaviour of specific (ethnic) groups, rather than dealing with it as an
outcome of an economically dividing system (Hall, 1991; 1997)

Media as terrain of power struggles
Media culture is complex and involves power struggles both on the
production and the consumption level(Gillespie, 1995; Downing and
Husband, 2005)

Media representations are plural and oppositional
‘there is another position, one which locates itself inside a continuous
struggle and politics around black representation, but which then is able to
open up a continuous critical discourse about themes, about the forms of
representation, the subjects of representation, above all, the regimes of
representation’ (Hall, 1996: 448).
A Case Study:
Minorities in the British Press
Marginal in everyday news agenda and media imagination
but visible in specific thematic areas

Terrorism, immigration and crime: the axis of minority
visibility in the press

Ambiguous and neutral in coverage – negative in
consequences?

Big indistinguishable categories of Otherness(es)
Sample & Appraisal
                             Headline appraisal:
                   Broadsheets                               Tabloids


                 The Telegraph                               The Sun
  Right            86 headlines                           34 headlines
  wing         35% pos. vs. 34% neg.                  18% pos. Vs. 68% neg.
                 21% no appraisal                        6% no appraisal




                 The Guardian                              The Mirror
  Left             64 headlines                           23 headlines
  wing         41% pos vs. 16% neg.                   22% pos. vs. 57% neg.
                 33% no appraisal                       9% no appraisal



  Total sample: 207 headlines with minority content
  32% pos. Vs. 36% neg.
  21% no appraisal ; 11% Other appraisal (not included in the table)
The rule: Marginality
and Invisibility

• Ethnic minorities receive proportionately very little
  coverage in the British press (7.6% of the articles coded
  have minority content)



• There is consistency in the scale of (low) coverage
  throughout the pages of the national newspapers, and
  this goes across both left and right, tabloid and
  broadsheet newspapers.
The exception (that confirms the rule)
I: Terrorism
•Terrorism as a thematic area is referred to more frequently in articles
with minority content (10%), than in articles without minority content
(0.2%), thus linking minorities with terrorism.
   In this case, terrorism is more likely to be referred to in the tabloids (18%) than
   in the broadsheets (7%).
•In articles with minority content, terrorism (10%) is one of the
most referred to thematic areas [others: politics (19%) sport
(10%), violence and crime (8%), war (8%), and immigration
(8%)].
 Terrorism with minorities as (presumed) threat or perpetrators
emerges as the major issue in headlines referring to a specific
minority issue.
   •Tabloids (23%); the broadsheets (15%).
   •69% of headline appraisal is explicitly negative (69%) - There are, however,
   distinct differences between broadsheets: 55% explicitly negative; tabloids 93%
   explicitly negative
The exception (that confirms the rule) II:
Immigration
• Immigrants are the most important General group in
headlines (16%); only religious minorities receive higher
coverage (34%).

•It’s about the topic, not the people
   • As a rule, items dealing with immigration are not related to any specific group
     (immigrants 81%, temporary immigrants 53%, illegal immigrants 75% and
     refugees and asylum seekers 50%).


•Concentration of Immigrants as actors to a small number of
topics
   • Minority issues of Immigration (26%)
   • Effect of immigration on majority ethnic jobs and wages (15%)
   • Effect of immigration on the social and economic situation (13%).
The exception (that confirms the rule)
III: Crime
•Violence & Crime is one of the most referred Thematic areas, when it
comes to minority content
    • 8% of coverage (with only Politics (19%), Terrorism (10%), Sports (10%), and
      War (9%) taking higher percentages)
    • It is one of the Thematic areas most referred to in Tabloids than in
      Broadsheets: (15% vs. 6%)
•The minority issue of Violence & Crime with minorities as (presumed)
threat or perpetrators is in three-quarters of the headlines referred to
negatively (75%)
    • In Broadsheets (7 out of 12), more than half of the headlines give negative
      appraisal (57%), while in Tabloids (5 out of 12) all headlines have negative
      appraisal.
•There are connections between crime and the other two major themes that
dominate minority issues, i.e. immigration and terrorism.
    • E.g. 24% of references to Muslims name them as ‘crime suspects’.
Islam and Muslims: The Ultimate Other
•The case of Muslims is the most apparent in terms of a construction
of a homogenous, generic ‘community’; also Muslims appear as the
only visible religious group
   • Muslims are by far the most referred group based on religion (in 27% of
     headlines) followed by 4% for Christians, 4% for Buddhists and 3% for Jews.

•Muslims’ extensive coverage in the press relates in more than 50%
of entries to violence, terrorism and crime.

•Muslims are overwhelmingly affiliated with Terrorist organisations
(56%), and in almost one-third of the cases are Islamist terrorists
(30%) or Crime suspects (24%).

•Speakers with a Muslim background are in 56% of the cases related
to a terrorist organisation but are only in 3% of the cases related to
an official church or religious organisation.
Neutral coverage but with what
consequences I?
•Minority presence in the media tends to relate to
negative/problematic elements of the news agenda
• A neutral media approach to stories where minorities are
less powerful/institutional confirms minorities’ marginality
•Minorities are often addressed as indistinguishable groups
without internal diversity
•Ethnic minority becomes a racialised category by
assumption
•Minority leadership and positive minority role models almost
voiceless – the Black exception
Neutral coverage but with what
consequences II?
•    Confirmation of negative stereotypes in public
    imagination

• The high levels of negative appraisal in popular press feed
  popular fears and strengthen social divides along
  ethnicity/religion lines

• Little information in public sphere about complexities of
  minority cultures and politics sustains cultural boundaries

• Lack of positive representations sustains a sense of
  marginality and negative self-identification among
  minorities themselves

• Press: Power without Responsibility?
A framework for the study of media and
diversity I?

• Specificity of media and cultural politics Not all
  media play the same political role at all times

• Dialectics between the particular and the
  universal, the majority and the minority. Difference
  both as a boundary and a separator, as well as a point of meeting and
  potential dialogue; to investigate how tensions and ‘incommunicability’
  between different groups named minorities and majorities are NOT
  stable and natural, but the outcome of the representations of different
  media cultures themselves as closed, competitive and incompatible
  systems.
A framework for the study of media
and diversity II?


Media production/consumption not divided along
 cultural lines alone
Media literacy, savvy audiences, diversified and niche markets

Freedom of speech: A new element to consider?
(i.) does/shall freedom of peace apply to projects that challenge
     the European political traditions and norms?
 (iii.) does/shall freedom of peace apply to individuals and groups
     suppressing diversity and culture within the communities they
     allegedly represent?
Policy implications
•Urgent necessity for the national press to actively seek to
include ethnic minority voices in the news stories

•The recruitment of ethnic minority staff needs to be further
advanced, especially on editorial level

•The creation and promotion of forums where media
professionals and the civil society can advance dialogue and
trust are urgently needed

•Media literacy is a key issue that needs further attention by all
stakeholders – this requires contextualisation of stories and
humanisation of actors (minorities), as well as
acknowledgement of the diversity of cultural and media
spaces for representation.

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In Other Words Conference: Representations, mis-representations, stereotyping? Minorities in the media (by Dr Myria Georgiou, LSE)

  • 1. Representations, mis- representations, stereotyping? Minorities in the media Dr Myria Georgiou Dept of Media and Communications
  • 2. Context European cultures are increasingly media cultures •National media compete with transnational and local media •Production and distribution of the media is only in part bounded within a single national territory •National policy only in part controls the production and distibution of the media •European homes are increasingly media-rich and media-savvy homes Research from across Europe demonstrates that migration and asylum are highly newsworthy for the media, especially for the highest circulation press publications. Data from across Europe shows that for a large majority of citizens, knowledge about different cultural groups is primarily mediated.
  • 3. Social theory and critique Media reproducing hegemonic racial ideologies Media misrepresent social injustice and attribute problems such as crime to the behaviour of specific (ethnic) groups, rather than dealing with it as an outcome of an economically dividing system (Hall, 1991; 1997) Media as terrain of power struggles Media culture is complex and involves power struggles both on the production and the consumption level(Gillespie, 1995; Downing and Husband, 2005) Media representations are plural and oppositional ‘there is another position, one which locates itself inside a continuous struggle and politics around black representation, but which then is able to open up a continuous critical discourse about themes, about the forms of representation, the subjects of representation, above all, the regimes of representation’ (Hall, 1996: 448).
  • 4. A Case Study: Minorities in the British Press Marginal in everyday news agenda and media imagination but visible in specific thematic areas Terrorism, immigration and crime: the axis of minority visibility in the press Ambiguous and neutral in coverage – negative in consequences? Big indistinguishable categories of Otherness(es)
  • 5. Sample & Appraisal Headline appraisal: Broadsheets Tabloids The Telegraph The Sun Right 86 headlines 34 headlines wing 35% pos. vs. 34% neg. 18% pos. Vs. 68% neg. 21% no appraisal 6% no appraisal The Guardian The Mirror Left 64 headlines 23 headlines wing 41% pos vs. 16% neg. 22% pos. vs. 57% neg. 33% no appraisal 9% no appraisal Total sample: 207 headlines with minority content 32% pos. Vs. 36% neg. 21% no appraisal ; 11% Other appraisal (not included in the table)
  • 6. The rule: Marginality and Invisibility • Ethnic minorities receive proportionately very little coverage in the British press (7.6% of the articles coded have minority content) • There is consistency in the scale of (low) coverage throughout the pages of the national newspapers, and this goes across both left and right, tabloid and broadsheet newspapers.
  • 7. The exception (that confirms the rule) I: Terrorism •Terrorism as a thematic area is referred to more frequently in articles with minority content (10%), than in articles without minority content (0.2%), thus linking minorities with terrorism. In this case, terrorism is more likely to be referred to in the tabloids (18%) than in the broadsheets (7%). •In articles with minority content, terrorism (10%) is one of the most referred to thematic areas [others: politics (19%) sport (10%), violence and crime (8%), war (8%), and immigration (8%)]. Terrorism with minorities as (presumed) threat or perpetrators emerges as the major issue in headlines referring to a specific minority issue. •Tabloids (23%); the broadsheets (15%). •69% of headline appraisal is explicitly negative (69%) - There are, however, distinct differences between broadsheets: 55% explicitly negative; tabloids 93% explicitly negative
  • 8. The exception (that confirms the rule) II: Immigration • Immigrants are the most important General group in headlines (16%); only religious minorities receive higher coverage (34%). •It’s about the topic, not the people • As a rule, items dealing with immigration are not related to any specific group (immigrants 81%, temporary immigrants 53%, illegal immigrants 75% and refugees and asylum seekers 50%). •Concentration of Immigrants as actors to a small number of topics • Minority issues of Immigration (26%) • Effect of immigration on majority ethnic jobs and wages (15%) • Effect of immigration on the social and economic situation (13%).
  • 9. The exception (that confirms the rule) III: Crime •Violence & Crime is one of the most referred Thematic areas, when it comes to minority content • 8% of coverage (with only Politics (19%), Terrorism (10%), Sports (10%), and War (9%) taking higher percentages) • It is one of the Thematic areas most referred to in Tabloids than in Broadsheets: (15% vs. 6%) •The minority issue of Violence & Crime with minorities as (presumed) threat or perpetrators is in three-quarters of the headlines referred to negatively (75%) • In Broadsheets (7 out of 12), more than half of the headlines give negative appraisal (57%), while in Tabloids (5 out of 12) all headlines have negative appraisal. •There are connections between crime and the other two major themes that dominate minority issues, i.e. immigration and terrorism. • E.g. 24% of references to Muslims name them as ‘crime suspects’.
  • 10. Islam and Muslims: The Ultimate Other •The case of Muslims is the most apparent in terms of a construction of a homogenous, generic ‘community’; also Muslims appear as the only visible religious group • Muslims are by far the most referred group based on religion (in 27% of headlines) followed by 4% for Christians, 4% for Buddhists and 3% for Jews. •Muslims’ extensive coverage in the press relates in more than 50% of entries to violence, terrorism and crime. •Muslims are overwhelmingly affiliated with Terrorist organisations (56%), and in almost one-third of the cases are Islamist terrorists (30%) or Crime suspects (24%). •Speakers with a Muslim background are in 56% of the cases related to a terrorist organisation but are only in 3% of the cases related to an official church or religious organisation.
  • 11. Neutral coverage but with what consequences I? •Minority presence in the media tends to relate to negative/problematic elements of the news agenda • A neutral media approach to stories where minorities are less powerful/institutional confirms minorities’ marginality •Minorities are often addressed as indistinguishable groups without internal diversity •Ethnic minority becomes a racialised category by assumption •Minority leadership and positive minority role models almost voiceless – the Black exception
  • 12. Neutral coverage but with what consequences II? • Confirmation of negative stereotypes in public imagination • The high levels of negative appraisal in popular press feed popular fears and strengthen social divides along ethnicity/religion lines • Little information in public sphere about complexities of minority cultures and politics sustains cultural boundaries • Lack of positive representations sustains a sense of marginality and negative self-identification among minorities themselves • Press: Power without Responsibility?
  • 13. A framework for the study of media and diversity I? • Specificity of media and cultural politics Not all media play the same political role at all times • Dialectics between the particular and the universal, the majority and the minority. Difference both as a boundary and a separator, as well as a point of meeting and potential dialogue; to investigate how tensions and ‘incommunicability’ between different groups named minorities and majorities are NOT stable and natural, but the outcome of the representations of different media cultures themselves as closed, competitive and incompatible systems.
  • 14. A framework for the study of media and diversity II? Media production/consumption not divided along cultural lines alone Media literacy, savvy audiences, diversified and niche markets Freedom of speech: A new element to consider? (i.) does/shall freedom of peace apply to projects that challenge the European political traditions and norms? (iii.) does/shall freedom of peace apply to individuals and groups suppressing diversity and culture within the communities they allegedly represent?
  • 15. Policy implications •Urgent necessity for the national press to actively seek to include ethnic minority voices in the news stories •The recruitment of ethnic minority staff needs to be further advanced, especially on editorial level •The creation and promotion of forums where media professionals and the civil society can advance dialogue and trust are urgently needed •Media literacy is a key issue that needs further attention by all stakeholders – this requires contextualisation of stories and humanisation of actors (minorities), as well as acknowledgement of the diversity of cultural and media spaces for representation.

Notas do Editor

  1. Reporting Asylum (2005) conducted by The Information Centre about Asylum and Refugees in the UK (ICAR),
  2. Presentation: Our sample and three main themes dominating coverage, followed by a discussion on the category Muslims Media approach and consequences Policy implications
  3. When looking at headlines, if we sum all the headlines given to these four categories there is remarkably little difference between the broadsheets and the tabloid in the proportion of the headlines relating to immigration given to each subcategory This suggests that there was a consensual news frame operating in shaping the salience of these different categories of reporting migrant populations. The greater focus upon illegal immigration in the tabloid press might be consistent with the political construction of illegal immigration as a major electoral issue, and the greater sensationalism of the tabloid press in pursuing the most contentious category. The way in which the headlines carry positive or negative connotations further underlines this distinction between the tabloid and broadsheet press.
  4. POINT 1: Most often, the coverage of issues that relate to Muslim people makes indiscriminate reference to the actors and speakers as Muslim. This can have significant consequences for the public imagination and a growing suspicion towards a generic group represented as having little internal diversity. POINT 2: The extensive negative representations of Muslims could feed the already widespread Islamophobia in the UK.
  5. Ethnic minorities tend to be racialised in the press; the concept of ‘ethnic minority/ies’ is very often used as a synonym for Black and Asian groups. In addition to the term getting a racial connotation, this also means that the other ethnic groups in the UK (many of them having tens of thousands of members) are either invisible or homogenised within the large, faceless and indiscriminate ‘immigrant’ agenda. Minority leaders appear sporadically in stories that relate to minorities. Though there is some significant attempt at times – especially in the broadsheets – to include the voices of minority leaders in their coverage, the fact that the overall presence of minorities in all news coverage is minimal, by definition, means that the visibility of minority leaders and minority role models is almost absent. Minority leaders and role models that appear in the press are almost always Black and (to a lesser extent) Asian: representatives from minorities outside the two numerically dominant groups are practically invisible. There is little coverage of the difference and particularity existing between and within minority groups. The press often ascribes homogenous and generic identities and makes assumptions about the existence of communities when it comes to minority populations or minority individuals.