A SEMINAR on the portrayal of ethnic minorities in the media took place at the University of Ulster’s Magee campus in Derry last week.
The discussion was organised by INCORE (International Conflict Research) at the University of Ulster, which has been hosting a number of think tanks as part of its Diversity in Action project.
The Diversity in Action project began last December and is funded by the North’s Community Relations Council. The purpose of the project, which has a particular focus on the North West area, is “to help build capacity of Northern Ireland's minority ethnic sector”.
Speakers at last week’s seminar on the portrayal of ethnic minorities in the media included Deirdre Donnelly of BBC Radio Foyle, Dr Gail Baylis of the School of Media, Film & Journalism, University of Ulster, and Catherine Reilly of Metro Eireann.
Deirdre Donnelly, who is a producer and presenter in general programmes at BBC Radio Foyle, defended the reporting of racist attacks by the station’s news team, commenting that “if it’s happened, it will be covered and we’re not going to shirk away from that”.
She cited examples of positive programming by the BBC relating to ethnic minorities, and said she has noticed a greater eagerness on their part to participate in radio discussions.
Donnelly said she envisages ethnic minority participation being mainstreamed “in all BBC projects”, and predicts that ethnic minority journalists will begin emerging as “stringers” (freelancers) with news from their communities, just as she saw happen when she worked for BBC Radio Lancashire in England. She acknowledged the power of the radio to break down barriers, noting that homophobic attacks had decreased in the area following interviews with a local gay rights group – the Rainbow Project – on BBC Radio Foyle as part of that group’s media campaign.
Catherine Reilly of this newspaper outlined the genesis of Metro Eireann from its beginnings to the present day. She said the frequency with which Metro Eireann is contacted by various media groups looking for contacts in the immigrant communities suggests a lack of engagement between journalists and ethnic minority representatives – and visa versa.
She urged community groups to encourage ethnic minorities to speak for themselves on issues affecting them, and for migrant groups to target individual journalists with information from their communities – both positive and negative – in order to form an ongoing relationship with them. Referring to the inclination of the media to publish negative news, Reilly said “shock news sells papers, and this will never change”, but added that “counterpoints” to this exist, such as human interest, entertainment and sports stories relating to migrant communities which do appeal to the mainstream media.
Dr Gail Baylis of the School of Media, Film & Journalism at the University of Ulster talked about the use of photographs in the propagation of stereotypes. She also did an analysis of a recent front-page article in The Guardian, entitled ‘Blair blames spate of murders on black culture’. Some participants suggested that the journalists who wrote the story seemed to have an agenda in terms of the article’s message, but another participant – who was from an ethnic minority community – emphasised that it is important that problems within communities are highlighted openly.
On a general note, a number of ethnic minority participants said they are frequently pigeonholed and “put in boxes” by the media, instead of being treated as individual people. One ethnic minority participant, speaking to Metro Eireann following the seminar, outlined his difficulties in finding work as a journalist in the North.
