Mapping Diasporic Media across the EU: Addressing Cultural Exclusion Key Deliverable The European Media and Technology in Everyday Life Network, 2000-2003 Dr Myria Georgiou Media@LSE, London School of Economics and Political Science Table of Contents General preface 3 Acknowledgements 4 Executive Summary 5 Introduction 8 1. The Context 11 2. Methodology: A Cross-European Transnational Perspective 22 3. Mapping Diasporic Media Cultures and European Diversity 29 4. Addressing Exclusion/Inclusion from a Cultural Perspective 55 5. Policy Implications 60 6. Conclusions 62 References and Appendix EMTEL - General preface The European Media Technology and Everyday Life Network (EMTEL) was funded by the European Commission (grant number HPRN ET 2000 00063) under the 5th Framework Programme. It was constituted as a research and training network within the programme, Improving Knowledge Potential and oriented towards “creating a user friendly information society”. EMTEL conducted interdisciplinary social scientific research and training between 2000 and 2003. This report is one of 12 submitted to the EU in September 2003 as final deliverables for the project. Copies are available on www.lse.ac.uk/collections/EMTEL and a full list of the publications can be found as an Appendix to this report. Contributing partners were as follows: • ASCoR, The University of Amsterdam • COMTEC, Dublin City University • IPTS, Seville • LENTIC, The University of Liège • Media@lse, London School or Economics (co-ordinating centre) • NTNU, University of Trondheim • SMIT, Free University of Brussels • TNO, Delft • SINTEF, Trondheim. EMTEL sought to bring together young and experienced researchers in a shared project to investigate the so-called information society from the perspective of everyday life. It undertook research under two broad headings: inclusion and exclusion, and living and working in the information society. It then sought to integrate empirical work and developing theory in such a way as to engage constructively with on-going policy debates on the present and future of information and communication technologies in Europe. Roger Silverstone EMTEL Co-ordinator 3 Acknowledgements Firstly, special mention needs to be made to the network of scholars across Europe that made the realisation of this ambitious and demanding project possible. Their contribution in the form of national reports and case studies has been invaluable. The scholars are: Susan Bink, Martina Bose, Leonor Camauer, Manuel Antunes da Cunha, Tsypylma Darieva, Alexandra Figueiredo, Berta Gaya, Regina Haberfellner, Sari Hanafi, Mustafa Hussein, Ralf Kauranen, Ayhan Koldas, Marie-France Malonga, Meghann Ormond, Ulrich Raiser, Isabelle Rigoni, Salla Tuori, Abel Ugba and Sara Wajid. Special thanks to Ed Klute, Esther Lubenau and Susan Bink of Mira Media (The Netherlands) for their contribution with original data to this report, but also for their inspiring input and assistance in establishing links with minority media, NGOs and academics across Europe. Additionally, the contribution of the network On Line/More Colour in the Media to the report with original data – especially of Mira Media and COSPE – has been invaluable. The Groupement pour les Droits des Minorites (GDM, France) and the Institute for Jewish Policy Research (London) have also contributed with original data to this report. We are grateful for their help. Other organisations such as Panos (Paris), the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC) and the Danish Refugee Council offered interesting feedback and input at different stages of this research’s development. We also grateful to the other members of the EMTEL 2 Network whose co-operation and feedback advanced this study. Myria Georgiou 4 Executive Summary Peoples who at some stage in their history migrated from an original homeland and settled in a European country – that is, diasporic groups – is estimated to be between ten and 30 million across a total population in the European Union (EU) of about 380 million. In addition to that millions of members of the older diasporas – for instance, Jewish, Roma, Armenians – have been integral components of the European past and present. Almost five million out of the world’s 20 million refugees are hosted in Europe for longer or shorter periods. Cultural diversity has always characterised Europe, but growing potential for mobility and communication has led to new forms of inclusion and exclusion in transnational communities and multicultural societies. The quantitative and qualitative elements of cultural diversity give rise to important and timely questions for the Europe of the 21st century. Does diversity threaten unity? How do cultural expressions of difference relate to questions of exclusion and inclusion? Can European culture(s) be inclusive? These questions are points of departure for this project, which has been structured along two main theoretical and methodological axes. On the one hand, it attempts to create a cross- European mapping of cultural diversity and on the other hand, it focuses on cultural questions about exclusion and participation - crucial points that are often overlooked in academic and policy discourse. Focusing on the Cultural and Everyday The exclusion of diasporas and migrant minorities is at the core of many national and European academic and policy debates but little attention has been paid to cultural exclusion. That is, to the informal, ordinary processes that take place in everyday life and which can allow or restrict inclusion in local, national and transnational spaces. Media cultures are essential elements shaping and being shaped by everyday life and so this project investigates the significance of informal and communication processes and developments for our understanding of diasporic minorities’ experience of inclusion and exclusion. The local, the national and the transnational are the three crucial spatial and cultural contexts where the experience of diasporic groups evolves. The local is where the everyday is lived; the national is where citizens’ (or residents’) rights and obligations are formed and formal rules for political and cultural exclusion/inclusion are set; the transnational is the space where global diasporic networks expand and where diasporic communities are sustained. New information and communication technologies gain a growing role in 5 sustaining communication and networks in and across the three spatial positions; in representing diasporic groups to themselves and to the rest of the society; and in finding a voice and establishing visible presence for excluded groups. This project studies the cross-European expression of these issues. The methodological choice of mapping allows the researcher to identify the large-scale and multiple geographical elements of diasporisation and media cultures as well as facilitates their examination at local, national and transnational levels. Thirteen national reports and a series of case studies inform the analysis. The mapping methodology enabled the to: (i) Draw the large-scale picture of the trends and flows of diasporic mobility and communication across Europe. (ii) Seek meaningful comparisons between different forms of media production and ICT appropriation. (iii) Cross-examine the macro and descriptive with the specific and qualitative based on a theme-based analysis. Main Findings The theme-based analysis identifies six areas as the most important in addressing the relation between diasporic media cultures and exclusion/inclusion. Examining Exclusion from a Cultural Perspective The Local The National The Transnational The (Re-)construction of The National and the Policy Satellite Television Map: Urban Space1 Context: Enabling or The Transnational as the Restricting Minority Voices2 Alternative3 The Multicultural and Minority Media as a The Internet: Active Mediated Local – Challenge to the Mainstream participation in a Multicultural Media National Media5 Community6 Projects4 In the analysis of these themes, three main theoretical points emerge in relation to diasporic media cultures’ role in processes of exclusion/inclusion. • The triangular positioning of diasporic cultural experience. A consideration of exclusion/inclusion only in terms of formal political and economic processes – inevitably bounded within the nation – undermines an understanding of the processes that take place in the local and the transnational. These other dimensions can challenge the limitations set by the national context – for example, diasporic participation in transnational mediated networks while excluded from national networks. • Representation and self-representation. All cultures are increasingly media(ted) cultures and as a result, mediated representation is of growing significance. Crucial questions with cultural and political implications include who is represented, by whom and how. As diasporic groups develop their own (self-) representations as an 6 alternative to the mainstream, they challenge their exclusion, stereotyping and homogenised representation in the mainstream media cultures. • Finding a Voice – Global Commons. There are power struggles among different groups, minorities and majorities in an attempt to gain a space in media cultures and to make their voice heard (issues of concentration of power and resources and sustainability are of particular relevance here). The decentralisation and deregulation of mediated communication through digitalisation – and especially with the Internet – has allowed some