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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Celebrating Multiculturalism: European Multicultural Media Initiatives as Anti-Racist Practices

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Looking back on 20 years of European media policy, which reflects issues of ethnic minorities and immigrants there are significant developments in both policy and implementation. The recent European initiatives to increase cultural diversity in the media at a high institutional level stress that ethnic minorities and new immigrants should get access to both the screen and the newsroom. The increased policies and activity in this domain are a result of the perceived threat of the non-integration of the minority population in Europe. Signs of “lack of social cohesion” are interpreted from key events that have been heavily aired in the media: disturbances in French suburbs, the Danish cartoon crisis, and terrorist attacks in Europe. In particular, the public service broadcasters are now taking responsibility for social cohesion in terms of “cultural diversity.” This is not just a mission-oriented policy but increasingly a market issue, since public service needs to attract audiences from the increasingly relevant minority population. However, the new discourse of cultural diversity, which has emerged to replace multiculturalism in many ways, tends to depoliticize ethnic minority rights.