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Friday, November 11
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PP 311
Ethnic Minority Media in Russia, the UK, Germany, Spain, Estonia and the Nordic Countries
M. Ellefson
1
, I. Agirreazkuenaga
2
, A. Ferrández Ferrer
3
, H. Graf
4
, M. Pavlikova
5
1
Umeå University, Dept of Culture and Media Studies, Umeå, Sweden
2
University of the Basque Country, Bilbao, Spain
3
Autonomous University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain
4
Södertörn University College, Huddinge, Sweden
5
Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia
Our aim is to examine how ethnic minority media emerged and became a factor in the development of media landscapes. What media is minority media?
How important are societal contexts in different countries or regions? What key factors, forces and processes shape the minority media landscape? What
differences and similarities can be identified, and explained? We discuss media produced by or for ethnic minorities, beginning with the foundation of mi‑
nority language periodicals, and moving on to radio and television programming. We also discuss representation of ethnic minorities in mainstreammedia,
and ethnic diversity - or lack thereof - in media companies. Finally, the emergence of broadcast media led to demands for minority programming, which has
gradually expanded in the wake of migration and recognition of national minorities. Minority media, public or private, is vulnerable in times of economic
crisis. Digitalization has opened new possibilities. But, the Internet is dominated by majority languages (Cunliff 2007). In the late 19
th
century Europe tech‑
nological innovations and favorable conditions created flourishing press markets. Ethnic or nationalistic activists followed suit, founding the first periodicals.
However, multiple changes in borders, state formations and central concepts make it difficult to determine which ethnic groups can be seen as minorities.
There are no universal definitions of ‘minority’, ‘indigenous people’or ’migrants’. The concept of ‘minority’arose in the aftermath of WWI and signing of first
minority treaties (Jackson 1998). But, how do we conceptualize ethnic groups in the 19
th
century multiethnic conglomerate states? Such states either didn’t
have ethnic majorities, or people weren’t conceptualized in that manner. We use the term ‘ethnic minority’, to encompass migrants, national minorities
and indigenous people. Some ethnic communities changed status from minority to majority, or vice versa. Estonians, Russians and Finns are examples
of this. The countries discussed are Spain, the UK, Germany, Estonia, Russia, and the Nordic countries. Although many minorities live in transnational
spaces, the frame of reference is the nation-state. Media markets are in many ways national spaces which affect the markets’ functional and institutional
completeness, i.e. the range of media outlets, formats and genres (Moring 2007). Catalans, Basques, Finnish Swedes, and Tatars are examples of minorities
with access to the widest range of alternatives. Others have few outlets and the content is primarily news and children’s programs. Some of the languages,
such as Nivkh, Evenki, Saami, and Scottish Gaelic, are endangered or at risk. Small ethnic and linguistic communities have difficulty sustaining commercial
media outlets. In such cases public service plays an important role.