Arnold, A.K., Schneider, B. (2007). Communicating separation? Ethnic media and ethnic journalist as institutions of integration in Germany. Journalism, 8 (2), 115-136. Retrieved April 25, 2008. http://jou.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/8/2/115

Communicating separation?

Anne-Katrin Arnold studies communications and is a Ph.D. candidate at the Annenberg School for Communications at the University of Pennsylvania. Beate Schneider is a professor of Communications and director of the Department of Journalism and Communication Research at the University of Music and Drama in Hanover, Germany.

Arnold and Schneider investigate the uses of ethnic media in Europe. They say that communication studies have mostly neglected researching the effect and role of media with regard to modern migration patterns that have been bringing large numbers of Eastern Europeans and Asians into what had previously been mostly homogenous Western European nations. Using Germany as an example of a “host” country, the authors note that 9 percent of the people living there are not German citizens. While some European politicians have suggested that non-Western Europeans and other immigrants be integrated to their new society with the aid of special “integration television,” the authors note that there is not much evidence to support the suggested link between mainstream media consumption and the integration process. This article looks at the role of both mainstream and ethnic media, in particular online communities, and the formation of cultural identities and also seeks to describe the role of ethnic media producers in relation to the formation of culture and the integration process.

The authors focus on social integration and define it as “the acceptance of differences, prolific cohabitation, and learning from” varied and distinct cultural groups. They describe a state where differing ethnicities interact to create a shared identity. The ethnic minority becomes a “hybrid” identity through transculturation.

With a focus on Turkish ethnicity, the authors identify three types of ethnic media available in Germany: 1) media produced abroad for consumption in the host country, 2) media produced in the host country by members of the host society with the intent to foster integration, 3) media produced by the ethnic minority from inside the host country. The authors note that mainstream media reaches a mainstream and an ethnic audience, but ethnic media reaches only an ethnic audience, which leads to host anxiety that ethnicities are further segregated, not integrated into the mainstream. The authors ask whether increased consumption of mainstream media by ethnic groups is tied to increased integration and/or weaker cultural ties, and whether heavy consumption of ethnic media results in stronger separation from the mainstream and/or stronger cultural ties.

The authors analyze survey responses from ethnic Turks living in Germany about mainstream and ethnic media use as well as cultural indicators. The authors conclude that ethnic media does not foster separation. Ethnic media serves to provide an emotional link to the culture of the country of origin as well as providing “orientation” to life in the host country. The authors conclude that heavy internet use results in a new “sub-group” of Turks whose identities are formed by both German “reality” and a strong Turkish cultural identity. The authors call this a hybrid group which is unique to ethnic Turks living in Germany who are heavy internet users.

The authors recognize the shortcomings of analyzing surveys from a small pool of respondents, yet they also speculate that this new emerging sub-group identity may be the beginning of a new type society within Germany. (Judith Klapper)