Media in Motion

Cultural Complexity and Migration in the Nordic Region

Elisabeth Eide, Kaarina Nikunen

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• Topic: Social Sciences
• eBook ISBN:
  9781317098881
• Subtopic: Emigration & Immigration
• Index: Social Sciences

Owing to increased migration dating from the 1990s, Nordic countries have gone through substantial cultural and social changes, resulting in increased debate surrounding the politics of multiculturalism. One of the central realms of the discussion around multiculturalism in the Nordic region concerns the media, which is considered to be a vital factor in the construction of society's values, as well as an essential tool in the integration process of migrants, providing as it does a symbolic arena for learning about and becoming part of society. This collection draws together the latest research from Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden to look at different aspects of the relationship between media and migration in the Nordic region. Exploring the role played by the media in nation building and the power of the media in the definition of who 'belongs' in society, Media in Motion examines the practices of inclusion and exclusion that characterise mainstream media representations. The book also examines the manner in which recent technological changes suggest the emergence of a transnational and cosmopolitan media landscape; a space which blurs the boundaries of the national and transnational, as well as between the public and the private, with significant implications for the ways migrants may take and become part of society. As such, it will be of interest to those working in the fields of media, race and ethnicity, colonialism and postcolonial studies, and migration.

1 Introduction: Change of Climate

Elisabeth Eide and Kaarina Nikunen

DOI: 10.4324/9781315594484-1

The way in which human beings, with roots stretching across cultures and continents, find ways to live together is one of the most profound questions of our time. Research is increasingly challenging in a situation where media representation and consumption and indeed the media themselves are turning more diverse.

The Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden) have gone through substantial cultural and social changes due to increased migration from the 1970s onwards.¹ These changes are visible both in statistics and in people's everyday lives. Migration, being an increasingly inevitable part of globalization, while often generated by national oppression and distress, is met with growing scepticism. While the Nordic region has become more multicultural in terms of demography, workforces and cultural practices, criticism over multicultural politics has increased. On the one hand, multicultural policies are seen to have failed, resulting in more segregation within each society. On the other hand, migration and stated political aims to enhance diversity have met with resistance in the shape of racism and growing support for extreme right-wing parties, and multiculturalism is at times associated with naïvety and a negative philosophy of difference.

¹ The situation in Iceland is not treated in this book, however.

This volume introduces recent research on migration and media in the Nordic region. It sheds light on the consequences of the changing political and demographical climate for media development. However, in order to understand the Nordic situation, we need to take a closer look at the patterns of migration in the area.

Diverse Patterns of Migration

The Nordic countries are often perceived as very similar, sharing the same welfare-state model. While this is largely true, it is interesting to observe that the patterns of migration, the national legislation and the composition of the migrant population reveal substantial differences. For example, while Pakistan is one of the most important countries from which migrants arrive to Norway, Pakistanis are fairly unimportant in Sweden; and far more Swedes migrate to Norway than the reverse. In Finland, Russians are the largest migrant population, while in Denmark, people from Turkey are more dominant.

Table 1.1 Overview of foreign-born residents, and residents with two foreign-born parents in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden (2009 numbers)

Denmark	Finland	Norway	Sweden
Turkey 59,000	Russia 28,000	Poland 45,000	Finland 257,000
Iraq 29,000	Estonia 25,000	Pakistan 30,000	Iraq 142,000
Germany 28,000	Sweden 8,500	Sweden 28,000	Yugoslavia 112,000
Poland 25,000	Somalia 5,500	Iraq 25,000	Poland 78,000
Lebanon 24,000	China 5,000	Somalia 24,000	Bosnia-H 72,000
Bosnia-H 22,000	Thailand 4,500	Germany 22,000	Turkey 70,000
Notes: For Finland, the numbers only include people with foreign citizenship. The largest immigrant groups are estimated to be from Russia, Estonia and Somalia. In Sweden, Yugoslavia accounts for the large number of people who immigrated to Sweden from Yugoslavia before the 1990s and after the Balkan wars, when Yugoslavia remained as one of the countries resulting from the crisis. From 2000, the name Yugoslavia has been replaced with Serbia-Montenegro.

The dissolution of the Soviet bloc and the subsequent expansion of the European Union (EU) in recent years has opened up for new patterns of migration from Eastern Europe into the Nordic countries, as may be seen by Table 1.1. Immigration between neighbouring countries as with Finns to Sweden and Swedes to Norway is a stable factor, while more recently, various snowball effects may be observed, as with Pakistani labour migration to Norway from a particular area of Punjab.

The Nordic and European Scene

While it was normal a few decades ago for media to represent migrants as one category of people, the new millennium has seen an increased understanding of differences. The ‘discovery’ of migrant groups being diversified both in social practices and culture has challenged previous essentialist representations, but seems simultaneously to have intensified media focus on differences between a presumed majority and certain social practices existing within minority groups.

That these practices may belong to minorities within minorities (as well as, for example, when it comes to partner abuse, minorities within a presumed majority) does not prevent essentialist media representation or essentializing social practices. This was demonstrated most clearly within Europe by the Swiss referendum against minarets in November 2009, which was perceived by many as being against Islam or Muslims in general. In Norway, a poll showed that 44 per cent would vote against such a ban, while almost one-third of the population was in favour of it (31 per cent) (Aftenposten 17 December 2009). In Finland, 54 per cent gave their support to the right to build minarets, while 31 per cent were against (Iltalehti 5 December 2009). A poll in Sweden conducted by Sifo in December 2009 followed the lines of Finnish poll. Forty-four per cent answered that minarets should be allowed while 26 per cent wanted them prohibited; the rest did not have an opinion. On the contrary, in Denmark, 51 per cent in a poll supported the result of the Swiss referendum (Politiken 4 December 2009).

The ‘cartoon crisis’, after the Danish newspaper Jyllandsposten published twelve cartoons of the prophet Mohammed, raised substantial debate and was a catalyst for reinforcing ideas inspired by the ‘clash of civilization’ discourse (Huntington 1996; Eide, Kunelius and Phillips 2008). In several European, including Nordic, countries, a ban on the niqab or burkha in the public sphere has been suggested, and a particular marriage age limit for couples when family reunification is involved, has been introduced as a means of avoiding forced marriages in Denmark.

A new government-initiated search for the definition of nationhood in France has spurred opposition, since it was seen as stigmatizing Muslims in particular. Nevertheless, the above-mentioned symptoms may signal a European trend which entails several presuppositions. One is that European civilization is threatened from ‘outside’ (a discourse that has been taking place since long before the events of 11 September 2001); the threat comes from ‘hordes’ or ‘streams’ of migrants and asylum seekers entering an unstable labour market and welfare states with social security systems that are already under pressure. But the threat is seen as increasingly also originating from ‘within’, by settled migrants who allegedly do not share ‘our’ values. The discourse of fear, representing groups within as alien or non-adaptive to the European civilization seems to occur more frequently. During the cartoon crisis, the existence of 20 million Muslims within European borders was highlighted (Eide, Kunelius and Phillips 2008) as an argument for increased sensitivity when it comes to representation of religious issues. This also spurred a discourse on ‘European values’ being under threat, in particular the freedom of expression. Sometimes ideas of migrancy threatening these values and of Islam being a religion not compatible with the same values come to the forefront of debates on future scenarios.

The assassination of film-maker Theo van Gogh in 2004 (Buruma 2006) and threats against the Danish cartoonists, most lately an assassination attempt of Kurt Westergaard² in late 2009 and news of threats against Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks, are events that, together with the ongoing ‘war on terror’, reinforce certain discourses where Muslim minorities are confronted by media and held accountable as collective entities.

² Kurt Westergaard works with Jyllandsposten and drew the cartoon of Mohammed with a bomb in his turban.

Discrimination and Debates

Despite the different patterns of immigration, what Nordic countries seem to share is growing political tensions with regard to multiculturalism and migration.

A recent large-scale European study of racism and discrimination (including Denmark, Finland and Sweden)³ revealed that the Roma were the people who experienced most discrimination, while Sub-Saharan Africans also felt strongly discriminated upon in most countries. The sample was asked whether they had experienced discrimination during the last twelve months. Forty-seven per cent of Somalis in Finland, 46 per cent in Denmark and 33 per cent in Sweden answered yes; while 42 per cent of Turks in Denmark, 27 per cent of Russians in Finland and 10 per cent of Iraqis in Sweden confirmed the same. This survey thus indicates that discrimination is more of a problem in Finland and Denmark than in Sweden, where migration is larger and has a longer history.

³ <http://fra.europa.eu/fraWebsite/attachments/eumidis_mainreport_conference-edition_en_.pdf>, read 10 February 2010. In Finland, Somalis and Russians were interviewed, in Denmark, Turks and Somalis, and in Sweden, Iraqis and Somalis. The Roma were most discriminated upon in the Czech Republic (64 per cent).

Norway, not being a member of the European Union, is not included in this report. But national statistics (SSB) in a survey in 2009 concludes that approximately 50 per cent of ‘immigrants’ have experienced discrimination in one or more areas, especially when it comes to labour and housing, but also in the educational system and by the police. Immigrants from Somalia, Iraq and Iran had a higher proportion who confirmed discrimination (60–70 per cent). Men experienced this more than women, and this finding corresponds to the gender variety of media representation (see below).⁴

⁴ <http://www.ssb.no/magasinet/slik_lever_vi/art-2009-12-14-01.html>, read 12 April 2010.

It seems the political debate on migration is more (and was earlier) polarized in Denmark. This may be due to the political climate, caused, among other reasons, by the relatively strong impact of Danish Peoples Party, which is part of the parliamentary foundation of the current government. Confrontation more than dialogue looks like a consciously chosen political path, as demonstrated by early (un)diplomatic moves during the cartoon crisis,⁵ as well as by special legislation for minorities concerning marriage and criteria for family reunification.

⁵ The then prime minister of Denmark in October 2005 refused to meet with diplomats from a number of Muslim countries who wanted to discuss the situation for Muslims in Denmark.

In Finland, the right-wing conservative party Perussuomalaiset (True Finns) gained unexpected support in the elections of 2008 – with an agenda hostile to immigrants. Issues of immigration and Islam are tied together in Finnish public discussions; thus on many websites concerning Islam, issues related to immigration policy are also raised. The public discussion is heated, containing criticism towards multicultural politics, that is, too much or the lack of it (see Keskinen in this volume). Right-wing politicians are at the core of these debates: a member of Helsinki city council has been fined for violating the freedom of worship on his blog. Some immigration ‘critics’ have also become organized as an Internet community. This community, Homma Ry, has become increasingly influential and visible in the mainstream media. The most recent debates include ‘honour killings’ as well as concern over the age definition of young asylum seekers. However, the right to wear hijab and construct mosques or minarets are scarcely questioned or debated in public. The country practices a strict legislation on immigration and strict interpretation of the refugee law and various measures have been taken to cut down social benefits to asylum seekers, all to ensure that Finland is rendered less attractive to prospective immigrants.

At the time of writing (2010), Norway is the only Nordic country with a left-centre coalition government. On the other hand, Norway has the strongest right-wing populist party: the Party of Progress, with 41 of 169 representatives in the Parliament (the Labour Party has 64, the Conservative Party 30). This difference does not mean that all aspects of the politics on migration are radically different from the other countries. Rather, there are contradictory views in the coalition when it comes to migration, and this debate seems to be strengthened both by pressure from parties to the right and by populist streams within the government. A discussion on allowing Muslim women training for the police service to wear hijab (as part of a more general debate on hijab) during the spring of 2009, resulted in a ban, and this ban has been challenged by the ombudsman for equal rights. As in Finland, a debate on improved ‘testing’ to determine the age of asylum seekers has been an issue lately, together with an ongoing discourse on how to deport criminal asylum seekers. On the other hand, the government has demonstrated its will to pursue d...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title Page
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• List of Figures and Tables
• Notes on Contributors
• Preface
• 1 Introduction: Change of Climate
• 2 In Case of Diversity: Dilemmas of Sharing Good Practices Across Borders in European Broadcasting
• 3 ‘Drumming, Drumming, Drumming’: Diversity Work in Swedish Newsrooms
• 4 Investigators or Integrators? Broadcast Journalists Covering Multicultural Norway
• 5 Being Me, Being Us, Being Them: Experienced Media Actors Negotiating their Minority Backgrounds
• 6 ‘Just Like Vacuum Cleaning …’: Reporting the Roma Beggar Tourists in Norway
• 7 Borders of the Finnish Nation: Media Politics and Rape by ‘Foreign’ Perpetrators
• 8 ‘Japanese, Japanese, Japanese …’: Representations of East Asians in Contemporary Swedish Visual Culture
• 9 From Lonely Guest Workers to Conflict-ridden Diasporas: A Historical Survey of Norwegian Migrant Cinema
• 10 Sing a Song, but Stay Out of Politics: Two Cases of Representations of Racial/Ethnic Minorities in the Danish Media
• 11 Commercial Television, Multicultural Drama and Migrant Audiences in Finland
• 12 Transcending the National Imagery: Digital Online Media and the Transnational Networks of Ethnic Minority Youth in Norway
• 13 Satellite Living: Transnational Television and Migrant Youth in Finland
• 14 Everyday Mediated Practices of Citizenship: Struggling with a New Language and Culture Through Media
• 15 Understanding the Audience in a Multicultural Society
• Index