Ethnic Minorities in the Mass Media: How Migrants Perceive Their Representation in Swiss Public Television

Abstract

Communication research highlights deficiencies in the media's representation of migrants. The study at hand analyzes these deficiencies from the perspective of the migrants concerned: How do they perceive their representation in the media, especially on television? And how do they assess the perceived situation with regard to immigrant integration? This topic has been examined in a qualitative pilot study based on six group discussions amongst migrants and Swiss citizens with an immigration background in the German-, French-, and Italian-speaking parts of Switzerland. The results show a high discrepancy between the desire for more presence and participation on the one hand, and the wish to stand in the spotlight less often, on the other hand.

Pre-service English teachers’ perceptions of newly arrived children from Mainland China

“…Bell, Horn, and Roxas 2007;Boyle and Charles 2011;Hamer 2013;Llurda and Lasagabaster 2010). The study also revealed that the participants' perceptions were closely associated with the mass media as well as their life and Journal of Education for Teaching 151 teaching practicum experiences (Ripoll and Arcacia 2008;Santoro 2009;Trebbe and Schoenhagen 2011). It must be noted that this inquiry only explored the pre-service teachers' perceptions of immigrant children but not their actual engagement with them.…”

“…In the focus group discussions, 11 participants admitted that the mass media coverage on newly arrived children from Mainland China heavily influenced how they saw these children (Ripoll and Arcacia 2008;Trebbe and Schoenhagen 2011). Unlike the other participants who had early life experiences with these children, these participants did not have any direct experience working with these immigrants before their practicum.…”

“…In fact, these negative views on immigrants can be regarded as 'a form of discrimination' and are 'deeply embedded within the power matrices of society and the systems of signification, legitimating and domination drawn upon to justify and support such power' (Devine 2005, 51). More often than not, the mass media propagate negative images of immigrant children, which profoundly influence public perceptions, including those of teachers (Ripoll and Arcacia 2008;Trebbe and Schoenhagen 2011).…”

Citizenship and Citizenship Education According to the Perspective of Non-Muslim Minorities in Turkey

“…The participants additionally also frequently mentioned that minorities, who also comprise social life, should be positively referred to in coursebooks. When similar researches regarding the representation of minorities are looked at, a research conducted by Trebbe and Schoenhagen (2011) was seen to search for an answer to the question of how minorities in Switzerland perceived their presence on television. The research eventually found that minorities of African or Turkish origin were represented badly on television.…”

The Occupational Roles of Women and Ethnic Minorities on Primetime Television in Belgium: An Analysis of Occupational Status Measurements

“…Ethnic minorities are less likely to be portrayed in professional roles than ethnic majority members and are more likely to be portrayed as law enforcement officers or in blue collar jobs. Although some studies have suggested more diversification in the type of occupational roles for ethnic minority characters (Stroman, Merritt, & Matabane, 1989), the overall consensus remains that generally they are seldom represented in upper-class settings (Gray, 1989;Trebbe & Schoenhagen, 2011). Finally, the few studies focusing on occupational prestige have found that ethnic minorities are represented in less prestigious occupations (Eschholz et al, 2002;Signorielli, 2004Signorielli, , 2009.…”