Managing Super-Diversity on Television: The Representation of Ethnic Minorities in Flemish Non-Fiction Programmes

Abstract

This study examines and evaluates the representation of ethnocultural diversity in non-fiction TV programmes broadcasted by the Flemish (Belgian Dutch-speaking) public service broadcaster VRT in the 2016–2017 TV season. A qualitative content analysis of a sample comprising 36 clips and episodes of 14 non-fiction programmes was supplemented by four focus group interviews with a total of 12 participants belonging to different ethnocultural minorities. The findings suggest that despite several measures undertaken by the VRT, the representation of ethnocultural minorities is still unbalanced and biased in at least three ways: first, in presenting minorities as homogeneous groups rather than highlighting intragroup differences; second, in ‘typecasting’ people with a migration background thematically, i.e., for items on topics and issues related to their ethnocultural identity; and, third, in portraying and approaching minorities from a dominant group perspective. The article ends with the recommendation for public service media to further improve ethnocultural diversity in the workforce and to encourage their journalists and TV producers to reconsider their ‘professional pragmatics’ in order to increase their ethnocultural sensitivity and better manage the representation of super-diversity in their programmes.

Examining the Effects of Media-Generated Stereotypes on Receivers’ Trust and Attitude in Pakistan. Moderating Influence of Ethnicity and Gender

“…The results of moderating factors in the study advances the applicability of the differential susceptibility to media effect DSSM. Overall, results are in line with suggestions made in this recent model to examine the contextual factors in the media effects study [5,58]. Scholars have identified several outcomes of stereotypical representations of racial, ethnic, and gender in media [8,9,13].…”

“…The extent of such negative outcomes would be reliant on the extent of audience members' ethnocultural manifested sensitivity [64,65]. For instance, if a person watches a news story narrating a feeble fact about a criminal who belongs to ones' similar racial group, this might have a negative consequence and lessen the trust in that media outlet [5]. Similarly, exposure to a joke about women or viewing a newscaster that lacks warmth while reading a story related to one's group are some illustrations of potential perception of media-generated stereotypes [41].…”

“…The emphasis on the ethnic groups existing beliefs in terms of recognizing their group competence and comparing others overlooks the other factors like past experiences, knowledge, and cultural norms in determining the stereotype [5,7]. We recommend that future studies may consider these dimensions as well to present a more detailed instrument.…”

“…Considering such diverse media receivers, certain challenges for the media have been posed, e.g., to sketch out more ethnoculturally inclusive policies to overcome possible media-generated stereotypes [4]. To put it simply, media reach and freedom to cover certain societal issues may trigger ethnocultural sensitivities among the media receivers [5]. In this scenario, media receivers may perceive the media channel as a source of promoting stereotypes about an individual's sub-group [6].…”

Acknowledging/denying LGBT+ difference: Understanding homonormativity and LGBT+ homogeneity in Flemish TV fiction through production research

“…This is particularly relevant in television cultures where PSBs account for a sizable portion of domestic fiction series and have a noted guiding role in mainstreaming marginalized groups (Vanlee, 2019). Since PSBs operate by a diversity mandate (Horsti and Hultén, 2011) – often shaped, evaluated and adjusted by (media) scholars (see Horsti and Hultén, 2011; Panis et al, 2019), queer analyses of production discourses on LGBT+ representations could potentially feed back into television production. As Alexander Bogner and Wolfgang Menz (2009) argue, engaging professionals in a particular social field allows to ‘reconstruct interpretative knowledge’ to gauge its ‘sphere of ideas and ideologies, of fragmentary, inconsistent configurations of meaning and patterns of explanation’ (p. 52).…”