The details that matter: Racism in Norwegian media during the Covid-19 pandemic

Abstract

This article is about the role of the media in the phenomenon of contemporary racism. More specifically, it outlines the discursive mechanisms through which insidious, hidden forms of racism are able to exist “invisible in plain sight,” even in the media and public discourse of countries, like Norway, that regard themselves as democratic and tolerant. The study is part of a broader investigation into the role of the media in the life-experience of immigrants. It addresses the question: How did Norwegian media portray immigrants during the Covid-19 pandemic? Based on a discourse analysis of media coverage, the study demonstrates how racism is hidden “between the lines,” in the assumptions behind a text. It also explains how racism is produced and reproduced covertly, yet systematically, through a media text’s small, even “irrelevant”-looking details. The analysis, importantly, reveals the presence of already existing and widely shared racist scripts which, although they became more noticeable during the Covid-19 crisis, actually underlie public- and media discourse at all times. The results of the study, while related to the case of Norway and the pandemic crisis, help us more broadly understand how and why racism, under the shape of “normality,” tends to remain practically unchallenged.