The report highlighted widely varying levels of interest in, and approaches to the study of racism in the media in the various countries. The quantities of research, its sponsors, and its methodology all vary to the point where only general and tentative comments can be based on their results. This indicates that there is a need for international projects using common methodologies in order to produce comparable data.
The most in-depth work on this issue is being carried out in Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, the UK, with Spain catching up with support from public authorities and trade unions, especially in areas where most immigrants have settled. Studies done in the UK appear the most methodical and wide-ranging in terms of quantitative content analysis across the range of media. The situation in Finland, Greece, Ireland and Luxembourg on the other hand is one of relative scarcity, with initiatives pursued by interested individuals. In France, a continuing problem is the refusal to collect data in a
form comparable to that elsewhere, i.e. based on membership of ethnic groups111
Interesting and pertinent findings include a German survey, which concludes that certain types of anti-racist campaign have a minimal effect on attitudes (which are closely linked with political views). Those that produce defensive reactions are the least effective, while those focusing on concrete examples and information to raise awareness appear more successful112. The UK
research shows that most tabloid newspapers, while focussing in slightly different areas, afford similar proportions of space to anti-racist arguments and ethnic minority voices. This runs contrary to previous assumptions113.
While further research is required to give a more detailed picture of the media’s role in racism and anti-racism, current research indicates that one fruitful avenue to pursue would be the relationship between political and media agenda-setting, rather than focussing solely on the media as an autonomous generator of agenda.
A general point is that most news is usually prioritised according to criteria of conflict and emergency, and this is reflected in coverage of the ‘Other’ in EU media. This means that racism is often reduced to right-wing violence, anti- racism to counter-demonstration114, and that minorities make the headlines
only when in abnormal situations, particularly involving illegality of some kind, or victim hood. The framing of news items on ethnic minorities within the context of crime, a threat to territory or to culture is striking by its ubiquity across the EU. Muslims and Roma-Travellers generally emerge from this process with the most hostile coverage, perhaps because of the perception that they are the cultures furthest from the traditional Judeo-Christian norm, and are easily linked to political extremism (Fundamentalist Islam)115, or to
concepts of property and settlement that diverge from those of the free market (in the case of Roma-Travellers).
111Although the organisation responsible for monitoring television and radio, the Conseil National de
l’Audiovisuel, did commission a report using ethnic criteria, which was later withdrawn under pressure. Hargreaves, A. ‘France’‘ in ter Wal (2000) (ed.)
112Baringhorst, S. (2000) Kampagnen gegen Rassismus: Strategien der symbolischen Inklusion von
Fremden in Deutschland und Grossbritannien (‘Anti-Racist Campaigns: strategies for the symbolic inclusion of foreigners in Germany and Great Britain) in Schatz, H., Holtz-Bacha, C. and Niedland, J-U (eds.) Migranted und Medien (Migrants and the Media) pp.147-163, Oplauden, Westdeutscher Verlag
113Statham, P & Morrison, D. (1999) ‘Final Report to the Economic and Social Research Council for Project
“Racists Sentiments, Movements and the Mass Media: a mediated xenophobia’ http://www.leeds.ac.uk/ics/racist-m.htm
114A point made forcefully by Brune, Y. ‘Sweden’ in ter Wal (2000) (ed.)
115An exception is shown to be the UK, where positive coverage of Islam was found to be three times as
prevalent as anti-Islam; Law, I et al. (1997) Privilege and Silence: ‘Race’ in the British News during the General Election campaign, 1997. Research report for CRE, Leeds, University of Leeds Press
3.3
‘Subtle’ racist discourse
Indeed, racist discourse in the media is increasingly implicit or ‘subtle’ to use the technical term, rather than explicit. In other words, in most EU countries, this discourse is no longer crudely stereotypical but functions through omission (e.g. the lack of minority news sources referred to) and the use of platforms other than ‘race’ on which to construct arguments: such as economic imperatives, cultural difference, security and medical threats defined against a putative culturally homogenous ‘host’ population.
The absence or scarcity of minority voices, compared to those from public institutions (politics, civil service, police, etc.) contributes to the creation of an impression that the minority populations are essentially passive and acted upon by key actors in the host societies. Moreover, when racist violence is dealt with, there is sometimes a tendency for it to be minimised or denied, as exemplified by a case in Sweden in 1995116. Cases where far-right groups are
absent, such as this one, are construed as being due to something other than racism. At the same time, the perpetrators are demonised and distanced from the main body of society, which is where institutional and everyday forms of subtle racism are actually generated.
A further form that racism takes in the media is the presentation of opinion as if it were fact, coupled with a failure to question or challenge racist ideas. Often racist contentions are published with no counter-argument being presented alongside, lending authority to the former source by default. The report identifies Greece, Ireland and Italy as countries where this trend is particularly noticeable. In the latter, media coverage is characterised by unchallenged racism and excessive attention to perceived threat to national purity from foreigners117. One of Italy’s main problems stems from excessive
reliance on police, local authority and other official sources, helping to establish a connection between crime, violence and ethnicity, an especially strong trait in some of the regional newspapers, e.g. a study on Rimini118,
although similar findings emerge from national studies. Ireland has elements of both these practices, with an over-dependence on official sources119.
A further feature is the reporting of events from the perspective of how they may impact negatively on the host population, such as is found in Finland120
and the Netherlands121, which contributes to the perception of ethnic
minorities as the source of problems. In other countries the press is often silent on minorities altogether, or relies exclusively on people to speak on their behalf122, rather than interviewing individuals from those communities.
116Brune, Y. ‘Sweden’ in ter Wal (2000)
117Triandafyllidou, A. ‘Greece’ in ter Wal (2000) (ed.),
118Riccio, B. ‘(1997) ‘La calda estate’ riminese: abusivismo e immigrazione nella stampa locale’ (‘The ‘hot
summer’ of Rimini: illegal practices and immigration in the local press) Africa e Mediterraneo 1 (9), pp.14-19
119Quinn, G and O Maoláin, C. ‘Ireland’ in ter Wal (2000) (ed.) 120Horsti, K. ‘Finland ‘ in ter Wal (2000) (ed.)
121van der Valk, I ‘The Netherlands’ in ter Wal (2000) (ed.),
122Pietikäinen, S (1995) ‘Racism in the mass media: ethnic representation in the Finnish news’ (paper given
In some countries, such as Denmark, denial and strong entrenched ‘monocultural’ attitudes among political elites123 underscore exclusionary
tendencies. This scenario might well be more negative since political leaders are afforded greater coverage than other sources, and others take their lead from or seek endorsement in the views expressed by their governing groups.