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Representation of ethnic minorities in television news

Representation of ethnic minorities in television news. University Ghent, Belgium Faculty of Communication Sciences. INTRODUCTION. Aim : to analyse in what way ethnic minorities are represented in the media VTM (private broadcasting) and TV1 (public broadcasting). Why television news?.

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Representation of ethnic minorities in television news

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  1. Representation of ethnic minorities in television news University Ghent, Belgium Faculty of Communication Sciences

  2. INTRODUCTION

  3. Aim: to analyse in what way ethnic minorities are represented in the media • VTM (private broadcasting) and TV1 (public broadcasting)

  4. Why television news? Social function: construction of reality • No direct contact with ethnic minorities • Key role of the media • Great confidence in news

  5. Results from other studies • Negative stereotyping • Generalization • Lack of background • Economic importance of migration? • Hardly no time to speak Source: D’Haenens, L. & Saeys, F. (1996)

  6. RESEARCH QUESTIONS (4)

  7. Questions • To what extend are non-natives represented in the television news? • Are immigrants sufficiently quoted in the newscasts? • How are immigrants represented? • Are there any differences between the public and private broadcaster?

  8. To what extend are non-natives represented in TV-news? • Average number of items per newscast? • Average length of items? • Subjects?

  9. 2. Are immigrants sufficiently quoted in newscasts? Proportion ethnic minorities – natives? Subjects? Talk ABOUT / with?

  10. 3. How are ethnic minorities represented? • Group versus individual?

  11. 4. Are there differences between the public and the private broadcaster? • Number of items related to ethnic minorities? • Subjects? • Interviews? • Generalizations?

  12. METHODOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK

  13. Systematic quantitive content analysis • Observation instrument • Sample • Training in encoding • Data gathering

  14. Observation instrument Coding book

  15. Sample • 7 o’clock newscasts of the Flemish channels TV1 and VTM • 4 artificial weeks

  16. Data = Main news TV1 & VTM • 56 journals : 28 TV1 28 VTM • 55 items : 30 TV1 25 VTM

  17. 4 NON-NATIVES: “People who are not originated from West-European countries and/or children of these people who are currently living in Belgium, permanent or not, legal or illegal.”

  18. IMPORTANT: 55 items are too few to generalize the results Nevertheless, in relation to other studies, our results are a good indication

  19. Coding training • How to use the research instrument? • Test and clearify the coding book

  20. Data collection Problem: SUBJECTIVITY: different interpretations by monitors Example: racist origin of violence?

  21. RESULTS & CONCLUSIONS

  22. Results analysis: question 1 Attention for ethnic minorities • Average 1,3 items related to ethnic minorities per news • Crime, Justitice and Control • Almost 60% of the topics are related to ethnic minorities ~ refugee problems/ asylum seekers • 40% main topics

  23. Results analysis: question 2 Speaking time ethnic minorities • 32,4% of the interviewees are immigrants ~ population figures • Lack of diversity in the subjects Mainly speaking time about subjects associated with ethnic minorities • They talk ABOUT (instead of with) them

  24. Results analysis: question 3 Ethnic minorities portrayed • > 50% present in immigrant related items • Represented as: • Individual: 39.5% • Group: 41.5% ~ Risk of creating “us” versus “the other”

  25. Results analysis: question 4 Public versus private broadcasting • Equal number of items related to ethnic minorities TV1: more equally divided between the newscasts • Subjects: “crime, law and regulation” ~ general tendency

  26. TV1 interviews more ethnic minorities • TV1: 40,6% • VTM: 21,9% • VTM (45,8%) approaches non-natives more often as individuals (TV1: 34,5%) ~ VRT: 13,3% unclear equal representation?

  27. ILLUSTRATIONS

  28. Crime(TV1 & VTM, 21/11/2003; VTM, 26/09/2003; VTM, 16/01/2004) • Ethnic minorities as criminals • Nationality is mentioned • Lack of background

  29. 2. Illegals(TV1, 05/11/2003) • Subjects associated with ethnic minorities • Share in speaking time ethnic minorities – natives ~Language Problem • Superficial questions • Approached as a group • No background

  30. 3. Migration(TV1, 27/02/2004) • Subject associated with ethnic minorities • Stereotypical image • Generalization • Kind of questions

  31. 4. Sacrificial feast(VTM, 01/02/2004) POSITIVE: correct representation

  32. RECOMMENDATIONS

  33. Do mention origin or nationality only if relevant • Risk for stigma “us” and “them” • Integration of ethnic minorities in mainstream media coverage

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