Ethnic African Media in Western Europe: An exploratory analysis of Metro Eireann and The African Bulletin newspapers

Abstract

This study sets out to analyse the role of ethnic media in the lives of their audiences, with particular focus on news production, content and reception. In recent years there has been an increase in African ethnic media publications in Western Europe as an alternative platform for a distinct, ethnic and niche audience in a diaspora context. Yet relatively little is known about the way in which the media practitioners and audiences perceive the role of these ethnic media in the articulation and re-articulation of collective identities. Academic assertions in this regard remain by and large theoretical and at a surface level. Very few studies have empirically investigated the perceptions of the journalists, owners and audiences of these ethnic media. A number of issues have thus remained under-explored, such as the link between media consumption and the construction of individual identities. This study identifies and examines these issues through case study of two African ethnic newspapers, Metro Éireann in Ireland and The African Bulletin in Belgium. It explores the views of the newspaper owners and journalists, how they are translated into newspaper content, and how the content and goals of the newspapers are perceived by the audiences. The study has a multi-methodological design. A quantitative and qualitative content analysis is combined with in-depth interviews with owners and journalists, and surveys and focus-group interviews with audience members. This enables comparative analysis of the views of content producers, the translation of these into actual content, and the interpretation of this content by audiences. The main research findings concern issues around professional practice. Ownership in ethnic media in Ireland and Belgium is mostly restricted to individuals, unlike in the mainstream media. Immigration issues dominate the content of Metro Éireann, in Ireland while African-origin news dominates that of The African Bulletin in Belgium. However, all respondents use ethnic media as a supplement to mainstream media.

Key words:  Journalism, Ethnic Media, Identity, Diaspora