Spaces of Inclusion - An explorative study
on needs of refugees and migrants in thedomain of media communication andon responses by community media

Council of Europe report
DGI(2018)01

Nadia Bellardi
Brigitta BuschJonas Hassemer
Helmut Peissl
Salvatore Scifo

DG(2018)01

Spaces of Inclusion - An explorative study on needsof refugees and migrants in the domain of media
communication and on responses by community media

A Council of Europe report
prepared by COMMIT – Community Media Instituteand the authors:
Nadia Bellardi
Brigitta BuschJonas Hassemer
Helmut Peissl
Salvatore Scifo1

DG(2018)01

The opinions expressed in this work are
the responsibility of the authors and do
not necessarily reflect
the official policy of theCouncil of Europe.

All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be translated, reproduced or transmitted
in any form or by any means without the prior permission in writing from the
Directorate of Communications (F-67075 Strasbourg Cedex or publishing@coe.int).

Photos © Council of Europe
Cover Photo: Picture me different, http://picturemedifferent.com/

Published by the Council of Europe
F-67075 Strasbourg Cedex
www.coe.int© Council of Europe, January 20182

DG(2018)01

About the authors
COMMIT – Community Media Institute is based in Austria and works in the field of media
training and research. COMMIT was commissioned by the Information Society Departmentof Council of Europe Directorate General of Human Rights and Rule of Law to realize thisstudy. The Study consist of three sections which have been delivered by different experts
and a common section of Conclusions and recommendations. The authors are (following thestructure of the report):
Section I: Community Media in Europe - an overview
Salvatore Scifo, senior lecturer in Communication & Social Media at the School of Journalism,
English and Communication at Bournemouth University, UK
Section II: Study based on ethnographic interviews with refugees in Austria
Jonas Hassemer, PhD candidate at the Linguistics Department, University of Vienna, A
Brigitta Busch, professor at the Linguistics Department, University of Vienna, A
Section III: The right to have a voice – Portraits of community media productions by migrants
and refugees
Nadia Bellardi, journalist and transcultural consultant, CH
Concept and editorial compilation
Helmut Peissl, COMMIT – Community Media Institute, author of several studies on public
value of community media in Austria and Europe for the regulatory authority RTR and theMinistry of Education in Austria.
Contact: hp@commit.at
The authors would like to thank Ameer Al-Buni, Marina Gazmagomadova, Wadee Ghattass,
Jehad Nour Eddin Hussari, Lale Farahani, Ramin Siawash for their support and forcontributing their perspectives as an essential part to this study. Furthermore, they thank allparticipants at the “Voices of Inclusion” Conference 15th of June 2017 in Salzburg and at the“Conference on Migration & Media Awareness” 23rd – 25th of 2017 November in Hamburg
for all their feedback on the presentation of preliminary results of the report.

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Table of content

Introduction................................................................................................................................ 5
Section I: Community Media in Europe – an overview .............................................................. 7
Section II: Study based on interviews with refugees ............................................................... 14
Section III: The right to have a voice – portraits of community media productions by migrants
and refugees ............................................................................................................................. 27
Executive summary and recommendations:............................................................................ 46
Bibliography.............................................................................................................................. 49

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Introduction
Due to conflicts and crises in the Middle East, most prominently the ongoing war in Syria, anincreasing number of European countries has been faced with the arrival of bigger numbersof refugees and migrants since 2015. Whereas the media coverage of the ‘refugee crisis’ andthe ways in which refugees are portrayed have been in the focus of a range of academic
studies and public debates, media practices, communication needs and possibilities ofparticipation and self-representation of recently arrived migrants and refugees have beenrather neglected.
Addressing precisely these questions, this explorative study aims at providing an overview of
key issues that will deliver first indications on how to develop adequate responses. In
focusing on the role and the potential of local initiatives and more specifically of community
media, the study is less concerned with private or interpersonal communication via mobile
devices than with the possibility for migrants and refugees to access spaces of wider
communication in order to exercise their right to freedom of expression, including the rightto information.
Media as facilitators of public communication and discourse are widely viewed as key tool tomanaging the increasing diversity in society and promoting inclusion. This role cannot be
fulfilled, however, when whole segments of the population, such as the recently arrived andoften also migrants with significant length of residence – who may still encounter similarbarriers in their media practices – are excluded from participation in media communication.
In this context, inclusion means the recognition of refugees and migrants as relevant andrespected parts of the audience with specific interests and needs (e.g. concerning
information about rights, resources and duties) as well as the possibility to develop a voicethat can be heard.
What role do media in general and community media in particular play for (recently arrived)
refugees and migrants in response to their particular needs and with regard to their humanright to freedom of expression, which includes the right to information? This is the researchquestion which the authors of this explorative study set out to respond, focusing inparticular on the following aspects:(1)
What role do different media, formats and genres play in the daily routines ofrecently arrived refugees and migrants?
(2)

In how far do offers correspond to needs, expectations or desires?

(3)
What possibilities of participation and self-representation can be made use of and in
how far do these possibilities correspond to the needs, expectations and desires regarding
the freedom of expression/right to information?
(4)
What barriers do refugees and migrants meet when they want to make use of their
possibilities for media participation and self-representation?

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In how far does active participation in community media or similar media projects
facilitate coping with the challenges of the new environment?
These questions will be addressed through the method of qualitative or, more precisely
ethnographic interviewing. Ethnographic research is not oriented towards generating
representative ‘facts’, but rather towards uncovering the complexity of social life. This study
sets out to investigate practices, experiences, and orientations of a ‘group’ of people whoarrived as ‘refugees’ in Europe. The debates about this and other related labels within
academia, the media, and – most importantly – among those who come to bear these labels,
suggest that they do not correspond to a neutral reality but that they imply terminologicalchoices that construct and select certain realities.
Leaving aside the evaluative implications of certain terms, the evocation of ‘groupness’ of anumber of people through a label, in itself is problematic. This is because it suggests
common practices, experiences, and orientations that are not always there. Furthermore,
the boundaries of the category of ‘refugee’ are rather unclear under societal andbiographical aspects: there are, e.g., questions of legitimacy (who is perceived to be ‘entitled’
to call themselves a ‘refugee’?), of situational relevance (is being a ‘refugee’ relevant to whatkind of TV program a person prefers?), of identification (does every ‘refugee’ relate to theterm in the same way?) and of durability (does one ever stop being a ‘refugee’?). As a firstmeasure to address this terminological challenge, this study uses the broader label ‘refugees
and migrants’.
This broader label still refers to a highly diverse group – considering the many different life
trajectories that may lead to someone being attributed the label of ‘refugee’ or ‘migrant’.
For that reason, an explorative, qualitative approach was chosen that allows addressing the
research questions in their complexity. The research questions target individual experiencesof and the values attributed to media (practices) by the participants. While the method of
qualitative interviewing does not offer comprehensive insight into actual practices by theparticipants – data which is very difficult to access – it facilitates an understanding of how
the participants make sense of their media experiences. This, in turn, allows the authors to
draw certain conclusions about the role played by media and community media in particularfor newly arrived refugees and migrants.

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Section I: Community Media in Europe – an overview(Salvatore Scifo, Bournemouth University, UK)

1. Community Media and the European institutions
The Council of Europe (CoE) has over the last four decades, jointly with other supra-national
institutions such as UNESCO and the European Parliament, played a key role in the
promotion of a more diverse media landscape in Europe and in the rest of the world. The
contribution of bottom-up organised community media in adding diversity to the local media
landscape and preserving identities has been emphasised consistently and keeps gaining
acknowledgment.
Already starting from 1973, at a time when local radio and TV stations were spreading acrossWestern Europe,1 the CoE commissioned studies to discuss the role of media in a moredemocratic society. Those studies analysed decentralised and ‘access’ projects by publicbroadcasters as well as community-based initiatives, their democratic credentials andfinancial challenges in order to share such information among European policymakers andpractitioners. Their findings were later echoed in the reports of the MacBride Commission,2that described community-based media as a crucial tool, especially for minority groups, forthe preservation of local cultures and identities and thus of relevance within a wider humanrights context. The Council of Europe Committee of Ministers’ Declaration on freedom of
expression and information of 29 April 1982 stated that “the existence of a wide variety of
independent and autonomous media” could help to reflect “the diversity of ideas andopinions and broaden exercise of the freedom of expression and information”.3
More recently, the importance of community media as a sign of diversity of national media
systems was confirmed in two documents, adopted by the European Parliament and theCouncil of Europe respectively. The Resolution on Community Media in Europe, adopted by
the European Parliament on 25 September 2008,4 was the successful outcome of work
started by the Community Media Forum Europe (CMFE) with the Committee on Culture and
Education of the Parliament. This co-operation led to the commission of the study The Stateof Community Media in Europe in March 2007. 5 While resolutions of the European
Parliament are not binding for EU Member States, this instrument is a landmark policy
reference for the sector, as it acknowledges the need for a third tier of broadcastingalongside public and commercial media.
1

Beaud, P. (1980) Community Media? Local Radio, Television and Audiovisual Animation Experiments in
Europe. Strasbourg: Council of Europe
2
UNESCO (1978) Interim Report on Communication Problems in Modern Society. International Commission for
the Study of Communication Problems. Paris: UNESCO
3Council of Europe (1982) Declaration on the Freedom of Expression and Information. Strasbourg: Council ofEurope.
4European Parliament (2008) Resolution of 25 September 2008 on Community Media in Europe(2008/2011(INI)). Brussels: European Parliament.
5
European Parliament (2007) The State of Community Media in the European Union. Brussels: European
Parliament.

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The second important standard-setting instrument was developed at the Council of Europe,
also with the involvement of CMFE. The contribution of community media to pluralism,
diversity and dialogue was emphasised in the 2007 Recommendation of the Committee of
Ministers on Media Pluralism and Diversity in the Media.6 In November 2007, CMFE started
contributing directly to the work of the Group of Specialists on Media Diversity (MC-S-MD)of the Steering Committee on the Media and New Communication Services (CDMC), where it
was admitted as an observer. Gradually increasing its presence and credibility, in 2009 CMFE
was admitted as observer also to the Steering Committee on the Media and new
Communications Services (CDMC), the Group of Specialists on New Media (NC-NM), and it
was granted participatory status at the Council of Europe as from 29 December 2010 as partof the International Non-Governmental Organisations (INGO) conference.
Participation in these committees has been important to inform relevant stakeholders ofwhat community media are about. Indeed, CMFE’s participation led the MC-S-MD tocommission a study to a leading scholar in the field, Peter Lewis. The contribution ofcommunity media to social cohesion, 7 has become a reference resource for related
discussions at the Council of Europe. It further contributed to the adoption of the
Declaration of the Committee of Ministers on the Role of Community Media in promoting
Social Cohesion and Inter-Cultural dialogue in 2009. 8 In connection with previous
recommendations of UNESCO, the European Parliament, the OSCE and the Council of Europe
itself, the Declaration recognises the social value of community media and encourages states
to examine the possibility of committing funds at national, regional and local level to support
the sector, to engage in studies of good practices in community media and in the exchangeof good practices, to facilitate capacity building and training of community media staff, andto promote the media’s contribution to intercultural dialogue.
The European Commission also began paying attention to community media as an integral
part of a truly pluralistic media landscape. According to the study Indicators of MediaPluralism which was commissioned by the European Commission in 2009, “…community
media play an especially important role (…) because they underpin cultural alternatives
which media diversity is supposed to deliver (…) how this potential is used and exercised inpractice will depend heavily on government policies on regulation, subsidies and control”.9

2. Defining Community MediaAny effort to define community media should start with how those who produce such media
content define themselves. According to The Community Radio Charter for Europe, 10
adopted in 1994 by the European branch of the World Association of Community
6

Council of Europe (2007) Recommendation CM/Rec (2007)2 of the Committee of Ministers to Members States
on Media Pluralism and Diversity of Media Content. Strasbourg: Council of Europe.
7
Lewis, P.M. (2008) Promoting Social Cohesion. The role of Community Media. Strasbourg: Council of Europe.
8
Council of Europe (2009) Declaration of the Committee of Ministers on the Role of Community Media in
Promoting Social Cohesion and Intercultural Dialogue. Strasbourg: Council of Europe.
9
European Commission (2009) Indicators for Media Pluralism in the Member States. Towards a Risk-based
Approach. Leuven: Katholieke Universiteit.
10
AMARC Europe (1994) The Community Radio Charter for Europe. Retrieved fromhttp://www.amarceurope.eu/the-community-radio-charter-for-europe/8DG(2018)01
Broadcasters (known by its French acronym AMARC, Association Mondiale desRadiodiffuseurs Communautaires) community radio should try to promote the right tocommunicate and provide access to training, production and distribution facilities that leadto programmes for the benefit, entertainment, education and development of its listeners.
The stations should be established as not-for-profit organisations and should ensure their
independence by being financed from a variety of sources. They should further be managed
by a body that is representative of the local geographical communities or of thecommunities of interest that are being served. Finally, in determining their programme
policy, community media should be editorially independent of government, commercial, or
religious institutions and political parties, and provide the right of access to minorities andmarginalised groups, thereby promoting and protecting cultural and linguistic diversity.
This description, based on practices of community broadcasters across Europe from the1970s to the 2000s, attempts to establish community radio as different from mainstream
broadcasting. It recalls the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of the United Nations
General Assembly of 1948 and, explicitly, affirms communication as a fundamental humanright11: it asserts not only the ‘access’ or the right to reply in public and commercial
broadcasting, but also the possibility of having one’s own tool to exercise this right,
independent from state institutions and commercial interests. The Charter also emphasises
the use of media training for the development of its listeners/producers that comprisegroups marginalised and neglected by mainstream media, including ethnic minorities.
Bruce Girard, a community media scholar and an important contributor to the campaigns
that have promoted the idea of communication as a fundamental human right, compiled theanthology of community radio initiatives, A Passion for Radio, in 1992. There he argues that
community radio is,(…) a type of radio made to serve people; radio that encourages expression
and participation and that values local culture. Its purpose is to give a voice
to those without voices, the marginalised groups and to communities far
from large urban centres, where the population is too small to attractcommercial or large-scale state radio. 12
The dual role of the community as listener and as producer is also emphasised by Frances
Berrigan, a community media consultant for UNESCO who had edited several reports by theend of the 1970s, including one of the first comparative research studies in the field. 13 In
reviewing the use of community media for development, she describes the sector as:(…) intended to be based on more than assumed audience needs andinterests. Community media are adaptations of media for use by thecommunity, for whatever the community decides. (…) They are media in
11

United Nations (1948) Universal Declaration of Human Rights. New York: United Nations.
Girard, B. (1992) A Passion for Radio. Radio, Waves and Community. Montreal: Black Rose Books, p.xi.
13
Berrigan, F. (1977) Access: Some Western Models of Community Media, Paris: UNESCO
129DG(2018)01
which the community participates, as planners, producers, performers.
They are the means of expression of the community, rather than for thecommunity.14
What emerges from these definitions other than a general and admirable commitment toletting a thousand voices thrive? Perhaps most clearly, it is concern about the role of thetargeted community in the radio production process. The target community is afforded adual role as listener and as producer so that it gains editorial control over the broadcast
content. Thus, the organisational structure of a community radio station has to allow its
listeners significant influence over the station’s policies and administration. Advertising ispermitted as long as it contributes only to covering the running costs, without being
envisaged as a source of pure profit. The transmission footprint of the station can vary,depending on local specifications. Community media share the concern of providing
representation to social groups that are under-served, marginalised, neglected, ormisrepresented by mainstream media, from the local up to the international level. While thishas in the past applied mainly to other social and ethnic minority groups, they have become
relevant again during recent refugee crises, as they have shown how locally based andcommunity-owned media can contribute to dialogue, inclusion and a more sociallyrepresentative media landscape. The following sections of this study will discuss this in moredetail.
It is relevant here to point briefly also to the role that a more diverse media system can playin the context of humanitarian crises (for further information on the media coverage of the‘refugee crisis’, see CoE’s 2017 report authored by Georgiou and Zaborowski). 15 Local
initiatives such as the Radio for Refugees project run in 2005 by Manchester’s Radio Regen,have played a very important role at the local level in supporting integration efforts,
promoting social cohesion and contributing to the professional development and selfconfidence of refugees. This is illustrated by the following quote from the Project Manager:… self-confidence and a degree of independence… how do you makesomeone independent? ... it’s by gradually giving them control over theprocess and giving them the space to experiment and so now on a
Wednesday morning you have Joyce getting there at 9 -9.30, she’s alreadytaken the kids to the childminder, she jumps on the Internet starts looking
for news, reads her emails. (…), Ameneh’s gone off and done an interview
at Zion Arts Centre, caught the bus by herself, comes back and does theediting. And suppose if you contrast that to the first couple of weeks when
you saw them come into the room and Ameneh had been here for 2 or 3
years and hadn’t caught a bus, Joyce had never used a computer, shewanted me to go to the nursery with her cos she was worried they wouldn’t

14

Berrigan, F. (1979) Community Communications: the Role of Community in Media Development, Paris:
UNESCO, p.8.
15
Georgiou, M. and Zaborowski, R. (2017) Media coverage of the “refugee crisis”: A cross-European perspective,
Council of Europe report DG1(2017)03, Strasbourg: Council of Europe.

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understand her English and now she’ll jump on the phone and talk …theself-confidence and the independence…16
Such stories highlight the importance and the impact of media platforms that give thepossibility to local communities to express and represent themselves through media outlets
that are self-owned and self-managed.

3. Community media as a tool for self-representation
Clemencia Rodriguez has provided a very vivid conceptualisation, based on research on the
ground in Colombia, on how these media (although she uses the term ‘citizen media’), canimpact on the participants’ sense of themselves:
It implies having the opportunity to create one’s own images of self andenvironment; it implies being able to re-codify one’s identity with the signs
and codes that one chooses, thereby disrupting the traditional acceptanceof those imposed by outside sources; it implies becoming one’s own
storyteller (…); it implies reconstructing the self-portrait of one’s own
community and one one’s own culture (…); it implies taking one’s own
languages out of their usual hiding place and throwing them out there, into
the public sphere and seeing how they do, how they defeat otherlanguages, or how they are defeated by other languages.17
In other words, community media can support local, cultural production and local heritage
and they can improve social and political participation of those communities, in their own
language and on their own terms. As far as refugee communities are concerned, whose
coverage in mainstream media is often driven by external agendas, content that is produced
from local communities (or refugees) can facilitate, encourage and promote ‘spaces ofinclusion’.
It is also important in this context to draw attention to the ways in which community media
challenge the view of mainstream broadcasters and policymakers who believe that media
production should be limited to professionals in order to achieve the highest quality. This,
she argues, has led to non-dominant groups being prevented for a long time fromparticipating in the process and from circulating their views through the airwaves.
American scholar James Hamilton argues that media should also be “available to ordinary
people without the necessity of professional training, without excessive capital outlay andthey must take place in settings other than media institutions or similar systems”.18 Theseissues have been further conceptualised by McQuail who argues that “communication is too

16

Manchester, H.L. (2005) Radio for Refugees. Radio Regen/ ALL FM. Refugee Integration Challenge Fund
Project: External Evaluation. Manchester: Radio Regen, p.40.
17Rodriguez, C. (2001) Fissures in the mediascape : an international study of citizens’ media, p.3
18
In Atton, C. (2002) Alternative Media, London: Sage, p.25.

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important to be left to professionals”.19 He goes on to argue that groups, organisations andlocal communities should all have their own media.20
In his view, small-scale, interactive and participative media should exist primarily for theiraudiences, who would in this way exercise their rights of access to media in order tocommunicate, and their content should not be subject to centralised political orbureaucratic control. McQuail envisages the ‘democratic participant’ as someone who
searches for his or her way of social and political action outside the traditional channels ofparticipation, such as a political party. He points out the failures of the mass media system inengaging with the communicative needs of citizens, especially within minority groups. He
thus calls for locally originated media that use horizontal structures of production and for
not leaving communication only in the hands of professionals.
In an elaboration of this argument, van Vuuren states that,21 instead of focusing only on the
broadcast quality of the content, community radio stations should be considered for theircommunity development functions: “these include the quality and the management ofvolunteers, the sector’s training capacity and the nature of various networks of which
community broadcasting is a part”.22
It emerges from these arguments that community media do not merely allow access toaudiences and local communities to participate in the production for their own sake. Accessof community groups to the media is important because small-scale stations, with their local
outreach, can be tools that allow these communities to speak for themselves and to shape
their own identities by discussing issues that are relevant to them through their own
channels of communication.
In short, community media aim at providing access to communication on the community’s
own terms, meaning that they allow participants to “make their own news, whether byappearing in it as significant actors or creating news relevant to their situation”,23 correcting
imbalances derived from the media content produced in mainstream media, where“powerful groups and individuals have privileged and routine entry into the news itself andto the manner and the means of production”.24

4. Community Media, Social Media and Diversity
When debating the local, national and global media ecologies, one must consider that
communication outlets around the world are mostly in the hand of a few powerful
institutions. In the past, reference was made to international audio-visual companies. Today,
reference is made even more to social media networks that are, unregulated or partially
19

McQuail, D. (1987) Mass Communication Theory: An Introduction, second edition, London: Sage, p.121.
McQuail, D. (1987) Mass Communication Theory: An Introduction, second edition, London: Sage, p.121-3.
21van Vuuren, K. (2002) ‘Beyond the Studio: A case study of community radio and social capital’, MediaInternational Australia, 103, pp. 94-108.
22
van Vuuren, K. (2006) ‘The enclosure of the Community Public Sphere’, Media, Culture and Society, 28 (3), pp.
390.
23
Atton, C. (2002) Alternative Media, London: Sage, p.11.
24
Glasgow University Media Group (1980) More bad news, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, p.114.
20

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regulated, mainly based in the United States and not subject to national media authorities’
jurisdictions. They contribute to the shaping of perceptions of ethnic and social minority
groups, including refugees, and often contribute to their misrepresentation. Facebook andTwitter have surely given space and relevance to many issues that have often been
overlooked by mainstream media. However, it is important to reflect upon the fact that
platforms that ultimately are designed to aim for maximum profit for their shareholders andnot necessarily for the social good or for values such as societal inclusion, are the main
source of news, entertainment and education for many particularly young people, and thatthey contribute to shaping views and political opinions, thereby influencing our publicspheres and democratic practices. By deduction, one must also reflect on the fact that local
issues, that people may feel are relevant to discuss, have less or no space in how local andinternational social and political agendas are formed and discussed.
Community media can strengthen local identity and interest in local affairs through the
production of broadcast and online programmes that are closer to its listeners, viewers andusers. Thereby they help the growth of an ‘informed citizenry’ who has not just a higher
awareness of local issues and challenges but of political processes generally. As a result, theyalso have a community development function. They contribute to diversity in the media
landscape and therefore tackle issues such as misrepresentation, stereotyping, bias andracism.
Community media are often accessible centres of communication and technology in theircommunities. They are the places where all citizens, regardless of their skills, age orbackground, can learn about new media tools and developments with a critical literacy
approach. Community media pioneer the use of new technologies for creative media
production and can use social media to enhance promotion and distribution of their content.
Finally, as highlighted by the 2016 Media Pluralism Monitor, with specific reference toAustria,25 access to community media for minority groups is among the indicators of social
inclusiveness in a pluralistic system. A ‘lively community media sector’ is seen as animportant part of it, also “because openness to the idea of community members
participating in the creation of media content will be a highly important topic in future
media production”.26

25

Seethaler, J., Beaufort, M, Dopona, V (2016) Media Pluralism Monitor 2016. Monitoring Risks for MediaPluralism in the EU and Beyond Country report: Austria. Florence: Centre for Media Pluralism and Media
Freedom. Retrieved from http://cmpf.eui.eu/media-pluralism-monitor/mpm-2016-results/austria/
26
Seethaler, J., Beaufort, M, Dopona, V (2016) Media Pluralism Monitor 2016. Monitoring Risks for MediaPluralism in the EU and Beyond Country report: Austria, p.11

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Section II: Study based on interviews with refugees
Jonas Hassemer and Brigitta Busch (Linguistics Department, University of Vienna)27

1.

Aim and design of the study

1.1.

Analytical framework

This study contributes to a body of literature concerned with community media (see part I),28
and in particular to research concerned with community media and migration.29 Addressing
media practices and their social meanings in heteroglossic societies – societies which are not
only multilingual but also diverse in terms of experiences and orders of social values30 - suchan approach contrasts with types of research on ‘mass media’ and ‘integration’ that basethemselves on rather static notions of media and society.31
Calling for a revision of metaphors for media in the context of online communication,
Androutsopoulos speaks in favor of a space metaphor, a space that is constructed throughdiscourse and involves the aspects of “movement, presence, interaction, and agency”.32
Making use of such a space metaphor, Busch encompasses aspects of inclusion andexclusion in media practices:33 as mainstream media tend to retain a monolingual habitus,
they do not accommodate the needs for negotiation and representation of a heteroglossic
society. Mainstream media thus systematically marginalise and exclude certain segments ofthe population. She proposes to view community media as creative and experimental spaces
where new ways may arise to develop more inclusive practices.
In the conceptualisation of ‘media practices’, the authors draw on the notion of media
repertoire34 and linguistic approaches to (biographical) narrative.35 The concept of media
repertoire offers a subject-centered perspective on how individuals engage with different
media in their everyday lives. As such, this concept allows for a qualitative analysis of how
participants organise and situate their media practices, and which social meanings they
attach to these practices36. Media repertoires can be considered to carry traces of biography
and to contain social meanings that are subject to ideologies and to specific discursive
regimes. Moreover, there is an affective dimension of lived experience – Erleben – to it.37
The authors thus understand the notion of media repertoires as pointing to the dimension ofsocial meanings in media practices. Therefore, the notions of narrative positioning,
27

The authors would like to thank, among others, (in alphabetical order) Ameer Al-Buni, Marina
Gazmagomadova, Wadee Ghattass, Jehad Nour Eddin Hussari, Lale Farahani, Ramin Siawash for their support
and for contributing their perspectives as an essential part to this study.
28
E.g., see Purkarthofer et al. (2008), Weyand (2008), Day (2009), Peissl et al. (2010), Peissl & Lauggas (2016),
and Bellardi & Ortiz (2017).
29
E.g., Bozdağ (2014), Hepp et al. (2011), and Weber-Menges (2006).
30
See Busch (1998; 2004).
31
E.g. Geißler (2005; 2006).
32
Cf. Androutsopoulos (2016: 287).
33
Cf. Busch (2006).
34
See e.g. Hasebrink and Domeyer (2012).
35
Cf. Georgakopoulou (2007), Deppermann (2013), and Busch (2015).
36
Cf. Hasebrink & Domeyer (2012).
37
Cf. Busch (2013; 2015) with regards to ‘linguistic repertoires’.

14DG(2018)01
ideology,38 discourse and subjectivity are salient to this study.39 These concepts renderindividual practices and experiences, as well as the values attributed to them (as formulated
in the research questions in terms of “needs, expectations and desires”) and concepts suchas ‘participation’ accessible to empirical research.

1.2.

Data collection

The data is derived from in-depth semi-structured interviews conducted in Austria withrefugees and migrants with experience with local community media or other media specificprojects (4), and refugees and migrants without such experience (4). This was meant toensure that a variety of experiences would be included in the study through the choice ofparticipants. Yet, there are limitations to this picture as some individuals refused to takepart, more or less explicitly referring to “bad experiences with interviewing”. While it is notentirely clear what kind of interview experience (thinkable is everything from research or
media interviews to encounters in asylum procedures) they were referring to when refusing,it still suggests that the data resulting from the interviews may be biased towards more
‘felicitous’ accounts of experience with the local media (or other institutions).
The interviews were based on guiding questions that aimed at eliciting narratives and acts ofpositioning by the interviewees. Because of the explorative character of the study – whichaims at deepening the knowledge of the topic as it proceeds rather than producing auniform set of comparable data – the guiding questions were revised and updated for eachinterview. In addition to these interviews with refugees and migrants, an additional
interview was conducted with the leader of an advanced training program for journalists
targeted at refugees.40
Moreover, the authors participated in a workshop at radio FRO in Linz, organised for a groupof newcomers by COMMIT. This was an occasion to establish first contact with potential
participants of the study and, through dialogue, conceptualise the approach and questions
to be followed in the interviews. Preliminary findings of the study were presented at theoccasion of the civil media Conference in June 2017 in Salzburg.
The participants were recruited through several networks and channels: (1) Two of themwere reached through contacts in an NGO working with refugees. They had no previous
experiences with community media. (2) Two other interviewees were participants in theabovementioned workshop organised by COMMIT. They therefore had gained a first insight
into the work of community media, but had no previous experience in the field. (3) Threecontacts were established through direct requests made to (three different) local community
media (TV and radio). Two of them worked as media professionals in their countries oforigin, one started her/his career in Austrian community media. (4) The last person was acontact suggested by one of the previous interviewees. S*he operates a news channel on
Facebook.

38

Cf. Deppermann (2013) and Georgakopoulou (2007).
Cf. Busch (2013).
40
This program was a specialised version of the so called 'biber-Akademie' run by the Viennese magazine biber(http://www.dasbiber.at/akademie-mit-scharf [last checked: 2017-09-06]). See also the editorial of the'Refugee Edition', summer 2017 (https://www.yumpu.com/de/document/view/59127966/biber-07-17-ansicht[last checked: 2017-09-06]).
39

15

DG(2018)01
The approximate age of participants ranges between 20 and 40, the group includes three
women and five men from Syria, Afghanistan, Chechnya, Iran and Somalia.
The interviews were conducted either in English or in German.41 The participants were
informed about the background, aims and scope of the study and their written consent toparticipating in the interviews was obtained. The interviews were audio-recorded, additional
consent was asked at the beginning of each recording. When requested by the participants(this happened in two cases), the interviewers went through the questions before starting
the recording, so that the participants had the opportunity to ask for clarifications and gain
more control of the situation. It was made clear to participants that all questions were nonmandatory. However, no participant expressed a wish to skip any of the questions. Someparticipants explicitly requested to be informed about the results of the study. After eachinterview, contextual aspects and other situational observations were described in shortfield notes.

2. Findings
As half of the participants is actively involved in media production, while the other half is
not, the results of the study contain both perspectives, from audience and from production.
The findings will not be presented separately, but clustered around thematic categories. A
neat distinction between audience and media agents does not match the reality ofcommunity media practices (or even media practices in general), that seem to alternate
between the two, allowing for hybrid positions. As a result, the findings are clustered aroundthe following thematic focus areas that reflect the research questions: media practices andrepertoires (section 2.1.), participation and exclusion (section 2.2.), needs expectations anddesires (section 2.3.), and functions attributed to community media (section 2.4.).

2.1.

Media practices and media repertoires

Participants described their media practices generally in rather diverse ways. Information on
their daily media practices was elicited through dialogue. With the active media
professionals, this question was less focused upon, leaving more space to accounts of theirwork. From the collected data, the following aspects can be distinguished as relevant whenassessing the media practices of participants:a) Physical access and devices
Irrespective of the purpose (news, general information, learning, or leisure activities) media
were described as being accessed mostly via smartphone, 42 with television and radio
receiver playing minor roles. In most cases, this was due to possession and accessibility of
the respective devices. Non-virtual platforms (such as libraries for books, the metro for freejournals) were mentioned by some. Preferences for different genres varied, including blogs,
radio, online editions of newspapers, videos and applications (e.g. for language learning).

41

Quotes from the interviews conducted in German are rendered only in their English translation.
This observation is confirmed e.g. by the research project Smartphones in the lives of refugees (Tobias
Eberwein, Katja Kaufmann, Mouhamad Alhassan, Fridolin Mallmann) at the Austrian Academy of Sciences:https://www.oeaw.ac.at/de/cmc/research/media-accountability-media-change/societal-challenges-and-therole-of-the-media/everyday-use-of-smartphones-by-refugees/ [last checked: 2017-12-21].
42

16

DG(2018)01
b) Networks and platforms
According to the interviews with the participants, networks of various kinds assume an
important role in the exchange of information and therefore in media practices of refugees
and migrants. Social capital, in form of friendships and acquaintances, was described in all
the interviews as playing a significant part in relation to their media routines. At the centerof these networks are often NGOs and local initiatives working with refugees, cultural
associations and German language courses. Such networks/platforms are seen as a relevant
resource for accessing information on daily life matters in Austria (e.g. administrative
procedures, housing, education, social activities, welfare). For some, informal networks
drawing on the shared experience of newcomers seem to play an important role as well. In
the case of media professionals, platforms providing professional training and job
opportunities, such as join media,43 seem to assume a particularly important role. The latter
was referred to in three of four interviews with persons working in the media.
Social media, in particular Facebook, appear to have the role of a platform for assembling
content from different media, constituting an important space for information exchange andestablishment of networks. This impression is confirmed by anecdotal references made by
the participants regarding the media practices of other refugees and migrants.44 As could be
drawn from the interview with the participant operating a news channel on Facebook, thequality of the information is viewed as varying greatly, but the anonymity of the medium –often assumed to be one of the main causes for its unreliable quality – plays less of a role:
the informant stated that most of the people active in large platforms do know each other inperson. Still, so called ‘fake-news’ figured in at least two of the interviews as a source of
mistrust in Facebook.45 On the other hand, Facebook was also described as a space for easy
access to news, as news seem to be distributed automatically and can be passively
consumed. Two participants also described it explicitly as a space for vivid discussions.
YouTube was often mentioned as an additional source of content, especially in relation tolanguage learning activities.
c) Spaces of reference
Most participants declared that they consume news regarding their countries of origin, while
two explicitly stated that they avoid or disregard them, explaining this decision with a senseof priority of matters concerning their current location. One participant explained that s*hewould continue to participate in discussions on political issues with friends and family via
Facebook and WhatsApp, while another declared to be actively involved in projects by NGOs
targeted at the country of origin. Thus, disengagement with the political situation in theformer home country exists besides continued and active participation. Sources for news
from the countries of origin are in part big media houses, e.g. Al-Jazeera, BBC Somali, Middle
East Broadcasting Center – these play also a role in the consumption of ‘world news’ –, but
43

Join media is a platform for “professional exchange of experiences between the newcomer journalists andAustrian media”; for more information see http://www.join-media.eu/en/ [last checked: 2017-11-13].
44
Also, an explorative inquiry conducted by the authors in late August 2017 on Facebook independently fromthe interviews showed that a wide range of content with reference to ‘Austria’ is being produced in Arabic
language. There is an almost uncountable number of such pages with high numbers of followers. A similar
picture, though maybe less copious, was referred to by a participant with regards to pages in Farsi.
45
As one of the participants put it: “when i need it [i.e. information, JH] | i will search it on so many (.) way |like (( )) facebook and google and (( )) | because normally now (.) in facebook (.) okay | you will hear a lot of the
fake news”.

17DG(2018)01
also individual news blogs/pages (on Facebook and other web platforms) by journalists. The
latter figure especially in the media repertoires of the media professionals, who sometimes
know the media producers as colleagues or friends.
Austrian sources are also consulted by some of the participants, although the language but
also general knowledge on the media environment is cited as barrier.46 ‘Austrian’ media
mentioned by other participants include newspapers and magazines available free of charge
in the metro – even though they were referred to in a critical light, as biased, sensationalist
and of low quality. The dailies Der Standard and Kurier were also mentioned by participants,
but access here is achieved mainly via Facebook. One participant reported that s*he madeuse of an online service by public service television ORF where current news are fed to asmartphone. This, according to the participant, facilitated understanding since news can beheard repeatedly and subtitles can be made use of.
d) Displacement
One of the questions asked was if the media-related behavior was (perceived to be) different
before coming to Austria. The most salient examples for changes in media practice asreported by some of the participants were the following:(1) Trust and reliability: A participant referred to the trust s*he had in sources of
information (such as Dubai TV), regularly consulted before the start of the war in Syria.47 Thisis contrasted by the perception of others who describe restrictive aspects of media
consumption in their countries of origin, with one participant referring to a specific media
style characteristic of totalitarian regimes that one needed to distance oneself from.
(2) Topic shift: With regards to media reporting, one of the participants emphasised theomnipresence in her/his home country of conflict reporting, an aspect that is perceived tobe less dominant in Austrian media coverage.
(3) Material resources: The change in availability of resources and devices as a result of
displacement is invoked in a number of cases as a reason for change in media behavior: one
participant described a shift from watching television with the family in Syria to accessing
almost exclusively online media in Austria, another one remembered a time without
smartphones and internet in Somalia. On the side of media production, a participant
described the lack of financial support and thus the lack of access to basic infrastructure formedia initiatives in her/his home country in contrast to her/his perception of the situation inAustria.
(4) Gender inequality: A more societal aspect figures in one of the biographical narratives, as
the participant described being withheld a career in the media in Chechnya for being awoman, a situation that radically changed in Austria.
(5) Value of linguistic and cultural capital: One of the former media professionals described
his/her move from Syria to Austria as a career break, given that s/he had lost linguistic and46

This was described by one of the participants as follows: “we still we don't know have all the backgroundabout the channels […] you still you don't know exactly which channel you have to follow | which channel doyou can trust | and same times even if you watch it | you not understand”. S*he went on and describes a rather
instrumental view of German-speaking channels used mostly “just to hear the language”.
47
In the words of the participant: “in Dubai yah I can (-) for example see the news in dubai teevee | because
almost they will not give you something fake | yah they will give you only the true | they will be only not:(sided/decided) to this or to this one”.

18DG(2018)01
cultural capital. Skills and abilities as a witty professional cannot be valued in Austrian
mainstream media, since they are tied to Arabic as a linguistic resource which is perceived as
worthless in this context. S*he can only exercise her/his profession in the context of local
community media.

2.2.

Participation and exclusion

Instances of participation (and exclusion) in media practices can be detected in various
dimensions and domains. Instances of the two ideal types – participation by becoming partof the audience and participation by becoming part of media production – can be observed in
the data. Both are strongly connected to questions of self-representation, i.e. of finding
inhabitable positions that become adequate and accessible sites of identification. Thisentails finding oneself represented and perceived as legitimate part of the audience, which isa precondition to the availability of a place from where to speak.
a) Participation through becoming part of the audience
Obtaining access to the media in the sense of becoming part of its audience is a topic thatfigured more or less explicitly in all of the interviews, in terms of ‘barriers’ as well as‘opportunities’ or ‘resources’. Most participants mentioned the ‘language barrier’ as an
obstacle to access monolingual German media in Austria. In most cases, this was considereda challenge to be overcome, often evoking internalised discourses of having the duty to learn
the dominant language of the host country. While one person declared s*he had no accessat all to Austrian media, others reported individual strategies for achieving comprehension
and access such as supplementing information from Austrian newspapers with informationfrom e.g. (Arabic language) Al-Jazeera, translating headlines, practicing linguistic immersion,e.g. simply listening even without fully understanding,48 and using formats that allow for
repeated playback.
b) Meta-knowledge
Beyond a mere ‘language barrier’, participants mentioned also difficulties in obtaining basic
knowledge of the Austrian media landscape that could serve as orientation, especiallyrelated to quality. In this context, the concept of ‘fake news’ was introduced by one
participant as a knowledge-related barrier to establishing trust in ‘the media’. This, s*hereported, led to disengagement from certain media practices such as watching news. The
lack of meta-knowledge led to mistrust and a sense of insecurity with respect to the media
environment. Other participants, however, opined that this was “just a matter of simply
having a look” at different sources,49 affirming that they dispose of appropriate strategies totackle the insecurities encountered when evaluating the quality of information.
Participation can mean access to public (political) debates in Austria, but also in the countryof origin; in these cases, social media play a significant role. Explicitly set up for the purposesof promoting access to information and media education is e.g. the Facebook page run by
one of the participants. The page offers videos of speeches by Austrian politicians subtitledin Arabic language. The participant particularly emphasised that s*he follows clear rules for48

One of the participants said s*he would watch television “just to i hear the language | not to watching forexample what i'm see | no | only to hear the language | hear how the way they speaking | or (( ) ) to catchingsome new word or something like that”.
49
Translation, JH.

19

DG(2018)01
the sourcing, selection and editing of the information in order to ensure transparency andthe accuracy of the contents presented.
c) Participation through self-representation
While some participants – mostly those working in the media – reported considerable
experience as interviewees for Austrian media and expressed their satisfaction rather thancritique with these experiences, there are two observations to be made. Firstly, this picture
might be biased by the selection of participants, since some refused to participate in thisstudy because of reportedly ‘bad experiences with interviews’. Secondly, participants often
foregrounded their own responsibility for the outcome of such media encounters rather
than the ways in which such encounters were framed and re-contextualised by the media.
An exception was the account by one participant of an interview in public service radio, thats*he experienced as a silencing of his/her voice. Insufficient time for preparation was named
as a reason for this. In addition, the organisation of the interview was not perceived to beadequate as it seems to have lacked basic understanding of the situation of the interviewee
as a second language speaker. As a positive example, however, an experience made at a
community radio is cited where sufficient time was provided to prepare an argument andwhere the structure of the show was transparent to the participants.
Connected to the questions of (self-ascribed) responsibility touched upon above, there isanother issue regarding self-representation: many participants described their purpose orgoal in self-representation as ‘being a role model’, as presenting an especially good example
to the Austrian public.50 Another participant took a clear stance against this approach,exposing the obstacles that this may pose for the participation of more disadvantaged
individuals, as a result of which public recognition of the situation of refugees and migrants
may be obstructed. S*he rather urged an approach that appreciates differences and fosters
mutual understanding, and that does not result in making comparisons risking to devaluate
the experiences of others – which s*he described as central to her/his work in community
media.
Content also plays a role with respect to self-representation. One participant consideredthat coverage of the war in Syria was scarce in Austrian media; a claim that is connected to aperceived disregard for the hardship experienced by Syrian refugees. Another participant
cited this – apparently common – claim and objected to it, stating that this perception often
stemmed from a lack of experience in and knowledge of Austrian media. This points again to
the importance of meta-knowledge about the media system referred to above as well as toquestions of access and participation.
d) Linguistic regimes and participation
In their accounts, some participants referred to the linguistic regimes that operate in the
media as important prerequisite for participation or exclusion. While this is connected towhat has been discussed above regarding language barriers to participating as audience, theissue goes beyond that of simple access. As the linguistic regime in the media is also an
important factor in audience design, including the newcomers’ languages means recognisingthem as addressees, thus making the linguistic diversity of society visible and audible for all.
50

One of the interviewees described this as follows: “but we try i personally try to present always something
positive on refugees | that i am decorously learning German | I am working at the moment not for money but
so i can help other people” (Translation, JH).

20

DG(2018)01
The generally monolingual set-up of mainstream media, so the view of one of theparticipants, neglects large numbers of people as part of their audience. With a frustrated
tone, s*he asked why private or public service TV would not broadcast talk shows in Arabic
language since there potentially was such a large audience. Shabab Talk, a show by theGerman broadcaster Deutsche Welle, was cited as a positive counter-example. Being
acknowledged as an addressee of media – and particularly by mainstream media – thus
plays an important role for recognition and participation. While this argument was put
forward by a speaker of Arabic, a speaker of Farsi added that the situation is even worse forother languages than Arabic, which are often under-represented even in the sparse efforts
to include refugees into media.
In a wider sense, this linguistic exclusion also connects to questions of access to aprofessional career in the (mainstream) media. As long as the audience is seen as
monolingually German, there is no interest in promoting, for instance, Arabic-speaking
media professionalism.

2.3.

Needs, expectations and desires

This section discusses the general needs, expectations and desires with regards to media
that were articulated by the participants or can be derived from their accounts. They
concern both questions of access (e.g. to material and immaterial resources) and ofrecognition.
a) Information and entertainment
Access to information and to a more general understanding of the media environment arebasic needs that are articulated in the interviews. This involves language-related needs, suchas surpassing the ‘language-barrier’, learning the host country’s dominant language, andhaving access to information in the first languages. But access to media is not only viewed as
essential with respect to information, access to media is also considered a source ofenjoyment and entertainment, which provides a sense of normality in an otherwise often
challenging life situation. Again, this relates to experiences with German-language media as
well as to media formats in the refugees’ and migrants’ first languages.
b) Access to professional development
Access to media is also seen as a possible entry point to having access to paid work in the
media. The continuation of a career in the media is a clear desire articulated by the media
professionals among the interviewees. This involves the desire for recognition bymainstream media as well as for access to employment and economic remuneration.
c) Influence on media representation
Another desire that is frequently articulated is that of having an influence on the seemingly
distorted representations of refugees/newcomers or their causes in the media. This entails
the desire for agency in public debates. Related to this is the desire for being (adequately)
represented, as audience and as object of media coverage.
d) Assuming a position in public debate
Participants of the study also expressed a desire for assuming a social position beyond thatof a ‘refugee’ or ‘migrant’. In this category figure the different stances towards
denominations such as ‘refugee’ and ‘newcomer’ that are frequently addressed in theinterviews. Some participants articulated the more substantial desire of overcoming inmediated contexts the constraining delineation of their positions as refugees. Interviewees21DG(2018)01
expressed their desire to being perceived not only through their individual life stories as
refugees, but to be granted a position in public debate in general.51 They also aspire to leavebehind the ascribed role of an assisted victim and to assume a more active position, e.g. byhelping others.
One of the participants articulated the desire for acknowledgement of diversity in society, ass*he demanded interest from the ‘Austrians’ for what s*he wanted to share in terms ofher/his cultural background. S*he also expressed the need for having the freedom not toerase personal biographical imprints because of assimilatory demands, but instead urged
exchanges and mutual learning in the media context.

2.4.

Functions attributed to community media

This section contains a synthesis of explicit and implicit functions that are attributed tocommunity media or that can be derived from the narrated practices. It is remarkable thatamong the participants in this study, those not active in community media were also
uninformed of their existence. For those active in community media, however, they
constituted an important point of reference in the narratives of their lives in Austria. Most of
the participants reported not having come into contact with the concept of community or
independent media before they came to Austria, with two exceptions: a small-scale projectin Afghanistan that the participant described as very constrained in terms of technology andprofessionalism, and a TV channel run by an oppositional group in Syria.
Based on the interviews, the following key functions of community media for refugees andmigrants in Austria can be identified:a) Professional networks
Community media provide and intensify networks for media professionals. At the same time,they offer space and resources to exercise their professions. This function is complemented
by larger, superordinate networks52 and training programs53. These are specifically targetedat professionals who have been working with or in the media before coming to Austria.
Judging from the accounts of the participants, they provide space for meeting other newly
arrived media professionals as well as for establishing contact to persons already working inAustrian public, private and community media. In the Viennese context, it seems that many‘careers’ in media take off from these platforms. Community media are described as moreaccessible in two dimensions: they do not impose narrow constraints on language choice
and performance, nor are they concerned with the legal status of the person or his/her work
permit, as work is generally done on a voluntary basis. One can assume that the long-termgoal of some of these persons does not lie in working in community media as such, butrather in developing a career in mainstream media. Another conclusion that may be drawn
from the data is that community media are viewed as attractive precisely because they areopen to non-professionals, offering them training possibilities and work opportunities.

51

One of the participants said about his contact with Austrian media: “the question always about me | but I
speak about all the people about other people | am I allowed to say that for example (Translation, JH).
52
Such as the already mentioned join media, as well as fjum – Forum Journalismus und Medien Wien (s.
https://www.fjum-wien.at [last checked: 2017-10-08])
53
such as the biber-Akademie (s. footnote 40).

22

DG(2018)01b) Representing communities
As reported by participants, community media can provide a space for ‘communities’ to be
represented and to allow communication among those who affiliate. Different formats
figure in this category, among them information programs that serve the specific needs of atarget group (such as information for asylum seekers in suitable languages), culture
programs (e.g. literature), call-in programs and talk shows. Such forms of representation
respond to a legitimate desire for ‘groupness’ and ‘internal’ communication, however, they
may also carry the risk of fragmenting the audience and of under- and/or misrepresenting
individuals as they are left out and/or subsumed into the larger group.
c) Education
Educational purposes are also among the functions attributed to the work of community
media. Target groups in terms of audiences are both, other refugees and migrants and thegeneral population (‘Austrians’). As regards the audience of refugees, the functions
attributed to community media range from providing specific, basic information (e.g. on
issues related to the asylum procedure) to providing understanding of societal and politicaldebates in Austria. Educational purposes are also touched in terms of learning in a stricter
sense. Media are often described as spaces for learning German or practicing linguistic
exchange – through specific programs, but also as part of general media practices. The
existence of hybrid formats between language learning and e.g. news programs testify tothis double function of media practices.
With respect to Austrian society as a whole, the projected purposes are mostly connectedwith the idea of adjusting the images of refugees and migrants that are constructed in the
media.
d) Spaces for self-advocacy
Community media are conceptualised as spaces for self-advocacy, i.e. they provide a placefrom where to speak and to be heard. This allows occupying a position in public discourse.
As described above they are perceived to have a lower threshold for access than mainstream
media, enabling encounters of different communities, and contributing to deconstructing
fears of the ‘foreign’. Participants active in community media also expressed theirappreciation for the availability of material facilities and training opportunities, i.e. material
resources that facilitate self-advocacy.
Expectations expressed by participants concerning the role of ‘the media’ in affirming rights
and positions of refugees and migrants can be clustered around three idealised stances:(1) Professional, i.e., impartial media coverage. The goal lies in correct and balanced media
coverage of refugees and their situations and in adequately preventing misrepresentations
and asymmetries. This is the position taken by the two media professionals and the operatorof the Facebook page. Avoiding bias and ‘opinions’ in media coverage is formulated as a signof quality. An example for misrepresentation and asymmetry that was brought forward in
one interview is the disparate approach to criminal refugees and criminal Austrians in termsof media coverage.
(2) The purpose of media is advocacy, i.e. improving the perception of refugees held by“Austrians”.
(3) Community media can ‘build bridges’ between different ways of living and different
cultures.

23

DG(2018)01
As a result of the shortcomings of mainstream media with regards to desires of selfrepresentation, participation and access to various resources, community media aredescribed as filling in for a range of these needs. Thus, community media are assigned a roleof complementing mainstream media. With their multilingual programs, their flexibility as toaccepted formats, and their low threshold for participation, they are viewed as offering
opportunities to evade some of the constraints that structure refugees’ participation in the
media, in particular with regards to the roles refugees/migrants are expected to assume – asobjects of news coverage and as tellers of their individual stories as ‘refugees’.

3. Conclusion
This explorative, qualitative pilot study was concerned with the role that media in generaland community media in particular play for (recently arrived) refugees and migrants in
response to their particular needs and with regard to their human right to freedom of
expression. It was interested in:

media practices and media repertoires, asking the question what role different
media, formats and genres play in the daily routines of the study participants
needs, expectations and desires concerning access to media and media offers
possibilities of and barriers to participation and self-representation in media
the role of community media and media-related projects in coping with thechallenges of the new environment.

The participants were persons with recent experiences of displacement living in Austria,
from diverse geographical, social, and professional backgrounds, and also including persons
who had active contact with community media or other media-related projects.
The study confirms earlier findings regarding the importance of smartphones and similar
devices when it comes to material access to different types of media and media content.
Displacement of course leads to a change in individual media routines and practices. In thecase of media professionals displacement was additionally experienced as a break in theircareers. Media practices develop from the search for information of various kinds, as well as
for entertainment and education. They further refer to different ‘spaces’, such as therespective countries of origin, the current place of residence as well as to transnational
spaces, as e.g. in terms of ‘world news’ or virtual networks (specialised social media groups).
Networks in general, virtual and face to face, are primarily mentioned in their function asproviding social capital with regards to problem solving (administrative procedures, access tohealth care and social welfare, housing etc.). Links around activities by local NGOs, social
initiatives and cultural organisations play an equally important role as informal networks
drawing on the shared experience of newcomers.
This study clearly demonstrates that there is a need for further exploration of the patterns inchange of media routines that are prompted by displacement, as well as the role of different
kinds of networks and platforms in coping with the challenge of reorganising life in a newenvironment.
Access to the media, both as part of the audience and in terms of active participation, isrendered difficult for newcomers/refugees in the context of mainstream media. As thecategory that is constituted by the term ‘refugee’ is by far not homogeneous, the barriers24DG(2018)01
encountered are diverse and are experienced in different ways. Among them are theprevailing monolingual orientation of mainstream media, the lack of meta-knowledge
among newcomers regarding the local media landscape, and the scarcity of available roles
which results from dominant discourses that assign newcomers certain stereotypical roles
but deny them acknowledgement as integral parts of the audience.
The study points to a number of media-related needs that can be addressed throughprojects such as community media:(1) bridging language barriers,(2) providing a less constrained space for alternative narratives and self-representations aswell as for socially recognised positions for refugees and migrants from where they canspeak their own voice,(3) giving access to knowledge, in particular for coping with the new environment,(4) establishing and integrating networks, and(5) accommodating the needs of (language) learners.
As such, community media and other media-related projects targeting refugees andmigrants with the aim of facilitating media access are considered to be spaces that arepotentially exempt of certain constraints that operate elsewhere: Linguistic regimes can berenegotiated, professional requirements are less strict, not all the legal bonds (such as legal
status and work permits) apply that often structure the range of activities available torefugees and migrants. At the same time, especially in the newcomers’ perspectives
gathered in this study, community media can also assume the function of a space fortransition. This applies both to producers, as they seek to develop or return to a career inmedia, be it in order to ultimately gain employment in mainstream media or not, and to theaudience, as community media may constitute an initial space before access to a wider
range of media practices is achieved. While this certainly responds to important societal
ends as well to key individual needs, the authors of this study wish to emphasise that:(1) Even if conditions for accessing community media appear favorable, access must always
be renegotiated at the individual level. It is relevant therefore to ask for each media-related
project, how accessible it really is to non-professionals, and how much it responds to theneeds of a specific audience.
(2) In the dimension of professional development, it is important to keep in mind theprecarious positions entailed in volunteer work. Questions to be derived from this are: how
can transition into regular media-related employment be facilitated? Which resources canbe provided for such a transition (within or outside community media)?
(3) In terms of institutional representation, it should not be forgotten that an established‘space of inclusion’ could become a site of exclusion, when that space is lacking recognition
from outside. A political strategy that acknowledges the needs of refugees and enhances
their access to basic communication rights must also seek their recognition as agents andaudience in the mainstream media.
From the study it can be concluded that it is crucial for refugees and migrants – as it is foreverybody else – that media, be it mainstream or community media, allow for self-25

DG(2018)01
representation and active participation, and that they provide a place from where to speak
and from where to be heard.

26

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Section III: The right to have a voice – portraits of community media
productions by migrants and refugees(Nadia Bellardi, journalist and transcultural consultant)Community media are fora in which migrants have been playing a highly active role since
their inception in the 1980s, 54 compensating the absence of migrant perspectives inmainstream media.
The following portraits of projects involving people with a refugee or migrant background incommunity radios/ TVs aim to produce a first mapping of good practices, focusing on aselected number of European countries and on the general research questions of thepresent study:Why are refugees and migrants involved in community media?
Which needs are fulfilled by their engagement in media production?
How does this relate to the states’ obligations in the areas of human rights andfundamental freedoms, in particular the freedom of expression and the right toinformation?

Migrants have been active in community media since the origins of many such media
projects, looking for access, resources and training for self-expression and participation.
The relevance and continuity of this work - for migrants and non-migrants - is however only
partially documented, and mostly on a local scale.
Research projects in Switzerland and Austria showed that regardless of whether they later
pursued a ‘professional’ media career, migrants have been able to engage on equal terms insociety and improve their professional and social integration skills thanks to their work in
community radio.55
The role of community media in promoting social cohesion and intercultural dialogue andtheir positive contribution to the fight against intolerance has been acknowledged by theCommittee of Ministers of the Council of Europe in 2009.56
The impact for social change of community media is best described as empowerment ofmarginalised communities and individuals. The European Parliament points to this in its
Resolution from 200857 and “Calls on Member States to make television and radio frequency
54

See studies Peissl/Purkarthofer/Pfisterer/Busch (2010) in Austria and Weyand (2008) in Switzerland
See also dissertation by Lucia Vasella: Das Lokalradio als Weltempfänger. Eine Untersuchung zur
Integrationsleistung von Sendungen für sprachkulturelle Minderheiten, Institut für Sozialanthropologie derUniversität Bern, August 2007
56
Declaration of the Committee of Ministers on the role of community media in promoting social cohesion andintercultural dialogue of 11 February 2009.
57
European Parliament resolution of 25 September 2008 on Community Media in Europe (2008/2011(INI))
55

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spectrum available, both analogue and digital, bearing in mind that the service provided bycommunity media is not to be assessed in terms of opportunity cost or justification of thecost of spectrum allocation but rather in the social value it represents.”
The portraits highlight the role of community media in:

Capacity building and inclusion of migrant, refugee, second & third generation media
makers in production and management
Promotion of intercultural processes and integration
Facilitating further (multi)media initiatives and projects led by people with a refugee
or migrant background

Structure of the selected programs and projects:
The portraits are grouped into three broad categories:
1. Refugee/migrant media productions developed within existing community media
 Radio Somalia on Radio LoRa Switzerland Ada Vapuru on Radio Orange Austria
 Indimaj on Okto TV Austria
 New Life in Vienna on Radio Orange Austria
 InterRadional on Radio RaBe Switzerland
2. Independent refugee/migrant media projects sometimes cooperating with
community radios Refugee Radio Network Germany Radio Ghetto Italy
 ReGeneration Radio Italy
3. Specific projects developed through dedicated funding to support multilingual
refugee/migrant media productions within existing community media
 Common Voices on Radio Corax Germany
 Die MIGRAS on Radio LoRa Switzerland Radio Brhan on Radio LoRa Switzerland
 Salam Show on Radio Ara Luxembourg Our Voice on Radio Dreyeckland Germany28

DG(2018)01
1. Refugee/migrant media productions developed within existing community media
Programs in the native languages of minorities and migrants started appearing in European
community radios in the 1980s. Underrepresented and marginalised by private and public
service media, migrant groups identified alternative media projects as a natural channel toreach out to their communities. Producers were either individuals or associations,aiming to share relevant information and news in their mother tongue and clearlyaddressing the diaspora community as target audience.
Community radios thus evolved naturally into multicultural projects, where one would often
hear statements like: ‘‘We broadcast in 12 different languages!”, ‘‘We have six Turkishlanguage programmes”, ‘‘We have 15 non-German-speaking programmes.” Community
radios were reflecting the diversity of the multicultural cities in which they were based, withseveral cultures and languages coexisting next to one another, but not necessarily
communicating with one another.58
To foster dialogue between the different cultural and linguistic backgrounds as well as with abroader audience, community radios in Austria, Germany and Switzerland later started
developing specific training formats to promote multilingual programming and exchange.






Radio Somalia on Radio LoRa Switzerland
Ada Vapuru on Radio Orange Austria
Indimaj on Okto TV Austria
New Life in Vienna on Radio Orange Austria
InterRadional on Radio RaBe Switzerland

58

Borger, A., Bellardi, N. From coexistence to cooperation: Experiments in intercultural broadcasting in Swiss
community radios. Telemat. Informat. (2009)29

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Radio Somalia on Radio LoRa Switzerland
On-air since: 1998
Producers: 1 responsible producer (male) + various
collaborators
Languages: Main language Somali with occasional use ofGermanTopics: News from Somalia / life in Switzerland / asylum
Airtime: Every Thursday from 2 to 3 pm
Broadcast: Zurich 97.5 FM / 88.1 Cable / DAB+ /Internet streaming / Internet Archive
Specialty: Strong links to Somali diaspora around the world

Broadcasting since 1983, Radio LoRa in Zurich is one of the oldest community radios inEurope. Men and women with a migrant background have been involved in the radio since
its onset and today programs are aired in more than 20 languages. Four of the sevenemployees managing the radio in 2017 have a refugee or migrant background.
Radio Somalia is a weekly one-hour program in Somali reporting news about Somalia,
information related to life in Switzerland and to the life of Somalis in Switzerland, including
asylum-related topics. The program also includes music and cultural topics. It has been onair since 1998 and is coordinated by the promoter of the Somali Swiss Diaspora Association.
Radio Somalia has been able to facilitate links with the diaspora community worldwide
before the advent of social media, thanks to live Internet streaming and an online archive of
the broadcasts. This is true also of many other programs on Radio LoRa hosted by refugees
from countries with strict media censorship such as Iran, Sri Lanka, Sudan and Iraq.
According to their producers, until a few years ago their programs were one of the few
means for residents of their home countries to hear unbiased news.
Nowadays the broadcasts are complemented by YouTube channels and Facebook pages thatallow promoting and multiplying the work produced at the community radio.

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Ada Vapuru on Radio Orange Austria
On-air since: 2002
Producers: 1 responsible producer(female) + various collaborators
Languages: Main language Turkish withoccasional use of German
Topics: Culture
Airtime: Every Saturday from 10 to 11 am
Broadcast: Vienna 94.0 FM / 92.7 Cable / Internet streaming / Internet Archive
Specialty: Intergenerational

Radio Orange in Vienna is one of the largest community radios in the German-speaking
world, with over 500 volunteers and 150 programs. Broadcasting since 1998, it provides
diverse content in 25 languages and alternative music to its audience.
Ada Vapuru takes its name from the ferry boats connecting since 1846 the city of Istanbul
with the Princes’ Islands, an archipelago of 9 islands just off the coast of Istanbul in the Seaof Marmara. The islands were formerly a place of refuge and asylum for Byzantine Princesand deposed monarchs, later they became a popular holiday destination for people ofvarious communities - Jewish, Greek, Armenian, Turkish. As the multicultural life in Vienna
reminds the producer of the atmosphere on these ferry boats, she has named her program
after them.
The aim of the program is to be a bridge for the first, second and third generation Turkish
citizens living in Vienna, to provide solutions to their issues and concerns, as well as topromote human rights and democratic principles.

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Indimaj on Okto TV Austria
On-air since: 2017
Producers: team of 4 men and 1 woman
Languages: German
Topics: Arts & culture / Integration and life of
migrants and refugees in Austria
Airtime: Monthly
Reception: Austria A1 TV / UPC / kabelplus /DVB-T2 simplyTV / Livestream / Internetarchive
Specialty: Bridge-building with local
communities

Okto is a community television in Vienna, established in the fall of 2005, providing training,
infrastructure and support to around 500 volunteer producers.
The monthly Magazine Indimaj (“Integration” in Arabic) presents stories from theperspective of newcomers, in particular refugees. Every episode features 3-4 stories andaddresses diverse topics such as poetry, arts, films, cuisine, integration, cultural diversity,
politics or music. Through reporting about events and initiatives in the Austrian society,Indimaj helps newcomers integrate and connects people together. The video element isparticularly powerful, as it effectively counters narratives and images of refugees as helpless,giving visual space and voice to their needs and aspirations. Indimaj was one of theoutcomes of the Austrian initiative Join Media, facilitating professional exchange ofexperiences between newcomer, refugee journalists from Afghanistan, Austria, Iraq, Iran,
Lebanon, Pakistan and Syria and Austrian media.

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New Life in Vienna on Radio Orange Austria
On-air since: 2016
Producers: team of 3 women and 1 man
Languages: Arabic, Dari, Somali, English andGermanTopics: Practical information about Vienna
for newcomers
Airtime: Every Friday from 1 to 1:30 pm
Broadcast: Vienna 94.0 FM / 92.7 Cable / Internet streaming / Internet Archive
Specialty: Multilingual

Radio Orange in Vienna is one of the largest community radios in the German-speaking
world, with over 500 volunteers and 150 programs. Broadcasting since 1998, it provides
diverse content in 25 languages and alternative music to its audience.
New Life in Vienna is a multilingual information program in Arabic, Dari, Somali, English andGerman, that addresses newly arrived refugees in Vienna. The aim of the program is toprovide its listeners with practical tips and useful information about everyday life in Vienna.
The program’s topics are, amongst others, mobility and language courses in Vienna, accessto health care, how to live on a budget, tips on affordable accommodation and leisureactivities.
The team of four editors and producers has international roots (Afghanistan, Algeria,
Bulgaria, Somalia) and can rely either on self-involvement or on first-hand experience indealing with these issues. The presenters also have a journalistic background or have worked
as journalists in their home countries.

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InterRadional on Radio RaBe Switzerland
On-air since: 2009
Producers: team of 5 women
Languages: German, Swiss German, Polish,
Portuguese, Icelandic, Arabic and otherlanguages
Topics: Migration, intercultural topics
Airtime: Five times a year
Broadcast: Berne 95.6 FM / Cable / DAB+ /Internet streaming / Internet Archive
Specialty: Multilingual, intercultural
approachRadio RaBe is broadcasting since 1996 in the Swiss capital Berne. Like many community
radios in German-speaking countries, RaBe gave air time to migrants from the start. In 2002,
broadcasting in about 15 different languages, Radio RaBe started the project MigRaBe,
focusing on improving the quality of migrants’ programs and strengthening them as a main
pillar of the radio. Conceived as a two-year project, MigRaBe successfully achieved its goals
and won the first integration award granted by the City of Berne in 2004. Collaborating with
the Swiss radio school klipp+klang, migrant producers were introduced to methods ofmultilingual broadcasting. InterRadional is one of the regular multilingual programs currently
produced in Radio RaBe, aiming to show a diversity of opinions and experiences, as wellbuild bridges across cultures.

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2. Independent refugee/migrant media projects sometimes cooperating with
community radios
Within the context of the ‘refugee crisis’, community media remain a crucial point of contact,
mediation and training and can act as catalysts for further (multi)media initiatives andprojects led by migrants and refugees.
Some high-profile projects are also being initiated independently via online broadcasting,and only at a later stage connect with traditional community media. According to Larry
Macaulay, founder and editor of Refugee Radio Network in Hamburg, “Today migrants aretaking control over their own narrative across Europe”. Macaulay became an activist in the
90s during the Abacha military junta for pro democracy in Nigeria. There was anindependent radio station created by exiles called Radio Democracy and he joined to help
spread the message across the Western part of Nigeria. Since then, he has understood thepower of radio as a tool to educate and raise awareness about the challenges refugees face,which is why he created RRN.

 Refugee Radio Network Germany Radio Ghetto Italy
 ReGeneration Radio Italy35

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Refugee Radio Network Germany
On-air since: 2014
Producers: team of 7 people
Languages: English, German and multilingual
productions
Topics: Migration, life of refugees in Europe,arts, culture
Airtime: 24 x 7
Broadcast: Internet streaming / Internet
Archive / on FM through partner radios
Specialty: Social inclusion

Refugee Radio Network is a self-organized 24-hour online radio, in which own and guest
productions run in many languages, also through cooperation with community radios like
FSK in Hamburg, Radio Corax in Halle and others.
It was started as an independent network for migrants and refugees in Germany, to provide
an alternative voice to mainstream media. “When we started, there was a lot of negative
narratives in mainstream media about people like myself,” the founder said. “We are
dangerous, we are terrorists, we are rapists … in order to deconstruct that we had to engage.
And, how do we engage? By having our own alternative voice.”
The team of Refugee Radio Network is multinational, led by the founder, moderator andmanaging editor, a refugee rights activist from Nigeria. Other team members are fromAfghanistan, Syria, Gambia and Somalia.
Since launching in 2014, Refugee Radio Network reaches over 90,000 listeners per week onradio and over 1.2 million listeners online through SoundCloud. It began with one program
but today has expanded to 30 programs reaching communities across Germany in languages
including English, Arabic, German and Somali. RRN is often run by up to 20 individuals at atime. This includes volunteer independent producers that have never used a computer nor
had media training before, as well as professionals - refugees who were journalists backhome.
The programs address a range of issues faced by refugee communities, from topics such as
discrimination to inequality within refugee groups, as well as integration and cultural
understanding in Germany. RRN cooperates with the network of German and Austrian
community radios so that its contents are available both online and via FM. In turn, RRN
rebroadcasts refugee programs produced locally by the partner radios.
The key issues of who is entitled to speak and who decides what is relevant are at the heartof the project: “If we allow others to tell our story for us, we are doomed.”36

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Radio Ghetto Italy
On-air since: Every summer since 2012
Producers: Team of volunteers andseasonal migrant workers
Languages: Bambara, Jola, Wolof, Pular,Moré, Arabic, French, English and Italian
Topics: Life of seasonal migrant workers
in Apulia / Music / Culture
Airtime: Variable
Broadcast: Locally 97.0 FM / Internet
Archive / on FM through partner radios in
Italy and Africa / Facebook page Radio
GhettoSpecialty: Awareness-raising about slavery and exploitation in agriculture

Radio Ghetto is a participative radio project giving a voice to migrant communities living in
the countryside of Foggia, Apulia. The area has an important agricultural production andrelies on seasonal, mostly migrant workers to carry out all activities of the agricultural cycle.
The living conditions of most migrants and their families don’t meet any basic safety or
humane standards. The radio initiative started in the summer of 2012, bringing all necessarytransmission equipment on-site. Since then, it comes alive with the voices of volunteers andfarm workers every summer, providing a space for local debate and information. Until thesummer of 2016, Radio Ghetto broadcasted directly from the “Gran Ghetto” (the migrant
workers living quarters) of Rignano Garganico, also aiming to build bridges with the local
Italian community. After the eviction of the workers from that area, the radio moved to theformer airport landing strip of Borgo Mezzanone, South of Foggia.
During the broadcast, workers discuss issues and difficulties of their life and work, play music,
comment news and organise rap contests for rappers and singers. Their day-to-day stories
come to life and find a place for expression. Throughout the years, Radio Ghetto has becomea place where to reflect on migratory dynamics and life in the area – a free space for debate,
entertainment, relaxation and arguments. Most importantly, Radio Ghetto is an alternative
to isolation and exploitation. The past five years of broadcast have been made possible by
the commitment and enthusiasm of the ghetto residents, who animate the radio after
exhausting days working in the fields, as well as by different volunteers and activists whojoin the team each summer.
Besides providing news and entertainment by and for the local ghetto community, the radio
started also producing programs in Italian, aimed at informing the Italian public about the
exploitative reality of agricultural work, which are re-broadcasted through Italian partnerradios. Since 2015 the project also produces Radio Ghetto Africa, a half-hour broadcast in
French available through partner radios in Africa, with the aim of raising awareness about
the reality of agricultural work in Italy – not to discourage new migrants, but to equip themwith better knowledge.

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ReGeneration Radio Italy

Online since: April 2017
Producers: Associazione Arcivescovo Ettore di Filippo
Languages: Italian, English, French, Mandinka, Arabic, Bangla and many other local
languages from Africa and Asia
Topics: Social activism, nonviolence, interculturalism, international solidarity, herbalist
wisdom, art and interreligious dialogue
Reception: Mixcloud, Facebook Page ReGeneration RadioSpecialty: Interculturalism, live music, migrants’ talents and opinions
ReGeneration Radio is a non-financed grassroots free traveling media lab, intended as an
expression channel for migrants, asylum-seekers and refugees, adults and minors, who areresident or not in reception centres in the Molise region, southern Italy. The web radio
broadcasts not only music of all kinds, ages and parts of the world, sometimes live
recordings, but also insights and reflections on social activism, nonviolence, interculturalsolidarity, herbalist wisdom, art and inter-religious dialogue. Since the foundation in April
2017 ReGeneration Radio has recorded and edited up to ten episodes, involving at least one
hundred people in different reception centres.

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3. Specific projects developed through dedicated funding to support multilingual
refugee/migrant media productions within existing community media
In the late 1990s a group of radio activists from Austria, Germany and Switzerland started
promoting closer cooperation between radio producers of different cultural and linguistic
backgrounds through multilingual programming. The working group babelingo focused on
how to conduct programs using two or more languages within the same program(multilingual programming) versus plurilingual programming (different programs in various
native languages). Some of the methods implemented by the activists participating in theworkshops were language hopping, the use of a bridge language or summarizing. The
listeners could enjoy multilingual productions by broadcasters with different backgrounds,
some of whom had never before used a language different than their own on air. This led toseveral joint projects to develop and implement intercultural radio training schemes andtoolkits, which are still used today.
It became evident that intercultural programming could bring a number of benefits tovolunteer-based organisations like community radios: a stronger cooperation between
different sub-groups, a shared sense of responsibility for the organisation as a common
project and the facilitation of participatory processes. Whilst multilingual methods are now
included in most basic radio trainings offered to volunteers, specific funding fromgovernmental authorities and private foundations is needed for more articulated
intercultural projects.

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Common Voices on Radio Corax Germany
Die MIGRAS on Radio LoRa Switzerland
Radio Brhan on Radio LoRa Switzerland
Salam Show on Radio Ara Luxembourg
Our Voice on Radio Dreyeckland Germany

39

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Common Voices on Radio Corax Germany

On-air since: 2016
Producers: 3 coordinators + teamLanguages: English, German, Persian, Arabic and French
Topics: Life, art, culture and music
Airtime: Every Thursday from 4:10 to 6 pm
Broadcast: Halle 95.9 FM / Internet streaming / Internet archive / Facebook page Common
Voices / Twitter page: @CommonvoicesCX
Specialty: Intercultural dialogue and discussion

Radio Corax is a community radio in Halle, Germany active since 2000 and involving around
300 volunteers.
Common Voices is a multilingual radio show made by refugees and migrants in Halle andsurroundings. It is produced collectively and broadcast live on Radio Corax on a weekly basis,
and also on StHörfunk radio in Schwäbisch Hall.59 The producers want to “pick up questions,issues and problems which are relevant for refugees and discuss them on air. Together wewant to use the radio as a bridge in order to create a more sympathetic community.”
Common Voices is coordinated by three German trainers, involves more than 20 people fromall over the world and produces the multilingual show in English, German, Persian, Arabic
and French.
The people from Common Voices see radio as a bridge between communities, not only about
refugees: “it is more about gathering people and their relevant topics from everywhere”.
The project is funded by the Hallianz für Vielfalt Foundation, by the Ministry for Health andWelfare of Sachsen-Anhalt and by the Regional Office for Integration.
59

You can listen to Common Voices on StHörfunk on 97,5 FM in the region of Schwäbisch Hall and on 104,8 FM
in Crailsheim or via live stream (every Monday from 10 to 12).

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Die MIGRAS on Radio LoRa Switzerland

On-air since: 2016
Producers: teamLanguages: German, Swiss German, English, Portuguese, Spanish, Turkish, Kurdish, Farsi andmany other languages
Topics: Life in Switzerland as a migrant or refugee / racial profiling / integration
Airtime: Once a month on Sunday during OPK (Offenes Politkanal) from 6 to 8 pm
Broadcast: Zurich 97.5 FM / 88.1 Cable / DAB+ / Internet streaming / Internet Archive
Specialty: Multilingual, intercultural approach
Broadcasting since 1983, Radio LoRa in Zurich is one of the oldest community radios inEurope. Men and women with a migrant background have been involved in the radio since
its onset and today programs are aired in more than 20 languages. Four of the sevenemployees managing the radio in 2017 have a refugee or migrant background (Colombia,
Philippines, Syria, Turkey).
Radio LoRa started experimenting with multilingual, intercultural programming in the early
2000’s, recognising that the presence of diversity within the radio was not in itself aguarantee of intercultural dynamics. Die MIGRAS is the most recent of a series ofintercultural projects inviting volunteers with different cultural and linguistic backgrounds to
produce programs together using German as the main language.
The multilingual broadcasts discuss various topics related to migration (employment, health,arts, music, generational and gender relations, etc.) and are produced by groups of 3–8
people who haven’t yet worked together at the radio and who have rarely or never used
German on air. Producers have a diversity of biographies and experiences (‘‘first”, ‘‘second”
or ‘‘third” generation migrants, refugees, asylum seekers, people with a double citizenship,
non-German speaking Swiss, mother tongue German speakers...). Two workshops on
multilingual programming and intercultural work round off the project.
Die MIGRAS is supported by the Zürcher Spendenparlament, by the Integration Fund of theCity of Zurich and by the Integration Office of the Canton of Zurich.

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Radio Brhan on Radio LoRa Switzerland

On-air since: 2016
Producers: team of 5 women and 4 men
Languages: Tigrinya
Topics: News and information about life in Switzerland / humour / music / entertainment
Airtime: Once a month on Saturday from 1 to 2:30 pm
Broadcast: Zurich 97.5 FM / 88.1 Cable / DAB+ / Internet streaming / Internet Archive /Facebook page Radio Brhan / YouTube
Specialty: Topics of interest to the Eritrean community, in particular youth

Radio Brhan is a project initiated by Asylorgansation Zurich in cooperation with the Swissradio school klipp + klang and Radio LoRa. The broadcast talks about life in Zurich and in
Switzerland from the perspective of Eritrean refugees, broadcasting news, music and cultural
topics in Tigrinya. The editorial group is composed of 9 members who meet regularly fortrainings and then broadcast live once a month. Some of them worked as professional radio
and print journalists in Eritrea before fleeing to Switzerland and requesting asylum, others
were teachers, authors or actors.
Asylorgansation Zurich identified the need for specific support and capacity building of theEritrean community in order for a radio broadcast in the Tigrinya language to be produced.
The broadcast focuses on the everyday life and integration of the Eritrean community in
Zurich and surroundings. Topics related to the situation in Eritrea are not part of the
program as a conscious choice. Brhan means light, brightness, clarity in Tigrinya. “For abright future” is the wish of the producers regarding their life in Switzerland.
The funding for the project is provided by the Integration Fund of the City of Zurich and by
the Integration Office of the Canton of Zurich.

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Salam Show on Radio Ara Luxembourg

On-air since: 2016
Producers: 1 responsible producer (female) + various collaborators
Languages: Arabic, English and French
Topics: Luxembourg’s local culture and institutions / Arabic culture / refugee integration
Airtime: Every Monday from 2 to 3 pm
Reception: Luxembourg 102.9 & 105.2 FM / 102.0 Cable / Internet streaming / Internetarchive / Facebook page Salam Show
Specialty: Multilingual, intercultural approach
Radio ARA is the only community radio in Luxembourg. For the past 25 years, it has thrived
mostly thanks to the commitment of volunteers and is a true community media project,based on participation of citizens and associations, diversity in music programming, diversityof languages and intergenerational participation.
Salam Show on Radio Ara/Graffiti is the first radio show in Arabic, English and French in
Luxembourg, that brings together the Arabic and Luxembourgish community.
The producer and her team discuss topics of interest to newcomers from Arab speaking
countries and provide information relevant to the integration process. From interviews withlocals to newcomers retelling their journey, first impressions, their dreams and aspirations…
all rounded off with the best Arabic music.
Salam Show (Salam means “peace” in Arabic) aims to help refugees integrate in society,reduce barriers between both refugees and locals, fill gaps and create an understanding forrefugees and their issues. It actively supports an intercultural, mutual integration process,based on the principle that different cultures can enrich one another and create something
new.
Salam Show is supported by mateneen – Oeuvre Nationale de Secours Grande-DuchesseCharlotte.

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Our Voice on Radio Dreyeckland Germany

On-air since: 2017
Producers: team of 6 people
Languages: German, English, French, Arabic, Kurdish and Turkish
Topics: Journalism / Migration / Integration and life of migrants and refugees in Germany
Airtime: Every second and fourth Wednesday of the month from 4 to 5 pm
Reception: Freiburg 102.3 FM / Cable / Internet streaming / Internet archive
Specialty: Multilingual, intercultural approach

Radio Dreyeckland is a community radio in the South-West of Germany, involving 150
volunteers in the production of diverse and multilingual broadcasts. No other radio in theregion offers such a variety of programs, with more than 50 music shows covering all styles
and genres, 17 broadcasts in different languages, daily news and coverage of political topics,
as well as a special focus on culture and sub-culture, gender, environment and literature.
Our Voice is produced by a group of journalists of different backgrounds from Syria, Turkey,
Togo, The Gambia and Cameroon. In their show, they aim to show people that they are
more than “just” refugees. They talk about personal stories that people have experienced asthey were fleeing from their countries, problems that they face in Germany, and their daily
lives. Furthermore, they discuss current political issues or new laws in the field of migration
and refugee policies. The show is addressed to everyone and currently moderated inGerman, English, French, Arabic, Kurdish and Turkish. New languages as well as refugees
who do not have any experience in journalism are welcome to join. Workshops and trainings
are organised based on the principle that “Everyone can do radio – radio can give voice tothe voiceless!”
The programs are also included in the framework of broadcasts produced by Radio
Dreyeckland for the European project Respect Words.
Our Voice is supported by the Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung and by the Foundation
SEZ (Stiftung Entwicklungszusammenarbeit Baden-Württemberg).

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Concluding remarks
There may be different reasons for participating in community media initiatives – as a hobby,
as training for a future journalistic career, out of a passion for music – but for most people
with a migrant background it is one of the few opportunities to exercise a basic human right:
the freedom to receive and impart information.
Migration is not a new phenomenon in Europe, but creating inclusive societies requires thepolitical willing to actively promote intercultural processes. Migrants – including 2nd and 3rd
generation citizens with a migrant background – are seldom experts, and even more rarely,journalists. Unlike most ‘professional’ media, community media have a relevant history ofcapacity building and inclusion of refugees, migrants, and second & third generation citizens– in both production and management. Within the context of the ‘refugee crisis’, community
media are a crucial point of contact, mediation and training, enabling the rights of access to
information and of freedom of expression, as well as fulfilling the need to speak in one’s own
voice. Legal recognition, support and funding are needed at the local, national andinternational level to enable community media to operate.
Furthermore, through specific multilingual and intercultural approaches, community media
can question the distinction between ‘migrant’ and ‘native’ and aspire to a broader
understanding of culture. For this, specific resources and training are necessary. If culture issketched as a heterogeneous, complex, evolving package of experiences and values, rather
than linked to fixed national identities or other reductive definitions, it can be the basis forembarking on a truly intercultural integration path.

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Executive summary and recommendations:
European societies are diverse and multilingual due to fluxes of migration over centuries.
Diversity and multilingualism are therefore part of the European identity. With the increased
arrival since 2005 of refugees fleeing from conflicts in Syria and other countries, theportrayal of refugees, but also of migrants who have lived in European countries for a longtime, is dominated by stereotypes and negative connotations. Migration-related issues haveeven become the core topic in national elections for right and far-right groups, often incomplicity with boulevard media and assisted by the algorithmic logic of social media
platforms. But even quality media cope only rarely with the needs of refugees and migrants
and seldom try to make their voices heard. This study aims at identifying the needs ofrefugees and migrants in the domain of media communication and highlights existing andpossible responses by community media.
In the first part of the study Salvatore Scifo gives an overview of the concepts of community
media as third media sector - beside public service and commercial media - and its definition
and recognition by European institutions and UNESCO. Community media are defined as
mostly local, independent not-for-profit media which provide access to training, production
and distribution facilities. Community media appear mostly in form of community radio. The
participatory approach to content production leads to the fact that they manage to include
marginalised groups and contribute to community development, social inclusion andintercultural dialogue.
In the second section Jonas Hassemer and Brigitta Busch analyses ethnographic interviews
with refugees they conducted in 2017 in Austria. The aim of the interviews was to identify
what role media in general and community media in particular play for (recently arrived)
refugees and migrants in response to their particular needs and with regard to their humanright to freedom of expression, which includes the right to information. Among the central
needs expressed, they highlight the role of networks in general – virtual and face to face – asthey afford social capital with regard to problem solving (administrative procedures, accessto health care and social welfare, housing etc.). Local NGOs, social initiatives and culturalorganisations equally play an important role as informal networks that contribute to theshared experiences of newcomers. Access to mainstream media, both as part of theaudience and in terms of active participation, is often difficult for newcomers/refugees. As
the group of people that is described by the term ‘refugee’ is by far not homogeneous, thebarriers encountered are also diverse and are experienced in different ways. Among them
are the prevailing monolingual orientation of mainstream media, the lack of metaknowledge relevant to the local media landscape, and the scarcity of available roles as aresult from dominant discourses that assign newcomers certain stereotypical roles while
denying them acknowledgement as integral parts of the audience.
These barriers could be overcome by specific projects or more permanent involvement with
community media. Because of their open and flexible nature, they offer activities that help
bridge language barriers, provide a less constrained space for alternative narratives and selfrepresentation, and accord socially recognised positions for refugees and migrants, where
their voices can be heard. As demonstrated in this study, community media can help getting46

DG(2018)01
access to knowledge, in particular for coping with the new environment, in establishing local
networks and facilitating language learning.
In the third section Nadia Bellardi opens an insight to a series of good practice examples
across Europe on how refugees and migrants can get active in community media or have set
up their own communicative structures to get a voice and to communicate with the broader
society. These examples demonstrate how community media can meet the communicativeneeds of refugees and migrants by offering training, space for self-representation andoffering points of entry to local networks. This bottom-up approach to content production
leads in many cases to multilingual media that reflect to a very high extent the linguistic andcultural diversity of the society.
Based on their findings, the authors propose the following list of actions to improve migrants’and refugees’ access to media as spaces of public communication and in order to facilitate
their exercise of their right to freedom of expression:

Recommendations for an inclusive media policy with respect to migrants’ andrefugees’ right to freedom of expression and access to information
Policy-makers should:
 recognise the contribution of locally based and community-owned media to dialogue,
inclusion and a more socially representative media landscape; include and consult with community media when developing intercultural integration
or inclusion policies at the national, regional and local level; develop adequate policies to implement at national level the European Parliament(2008) Resolution on Community Media in Europe and the Council of Europe (2009)
Declaration of the Committee of Ministers on the Role of Community Media in
Promoting Social Cohesion and Intercultural Dialogue, in particular byo Giving legal recognition to community media as third media sector, alongsidepublic and commercial media;
o Committing funds at national, regional and local level to support the sector;
o Encouraging studies on good practices, outreach and quality development inlocal and community media and the exchange of good practices;o Facilitating capacity building and training of local and community media staff
with an inclusive approach; encourage and support further research on refugees’ and migrants’ needs regarding
their orientation, participation and social inclusion in local society and structures
Civil society organisations should: develop media partnerships with local and community media to raise awareness andvisibility of concerns and issues of under-represented communities;
 support (critical) media literacy of organisations’ members through participation incommunity media trainings and programs;
 encourage public service and commercial media to improve representation of socialgroups that are under-served, marginalised, neglected, or misrepresented.

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Public service and commercial media should:
 recognise refugees and migrants as relevant and respected parts of the audience
with specific interests and needs (such as concerning information about rights,
services, resources and duties); develop media partnerships with community media aimed at multiplying visibility ofcontent produced locally by people with a refugee or migrant background; support exchanges of training and contacts with community media;
 encourage the development and implementation of inclusion policies for personnel
structure and content production.
Community media should: identify and tackle any barriers to access and participation for people with a refugee
or migrant background to the stations’ programming and management; strengthen partnerships and exchanges of good practice within the community
media sector, in particular related to training formats for multilingual andintercultural programming; multiply visibility and access to media content and training through partnerships withcivil society organisations, local institutions, public service and commercial media.

48

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Links
Radio LoRa
http://www.lora.ch/
http://www.lora.ch/sendungen/aktuelle-sendungen
http://www.lora.ch/sendungen/aktuelle-sendungen?mode=2&terms=&list=Radio+Somalia
https://soundcloud.com/user-934179218/sets/die-migras-interkulturelle
http://www.lora.ch/sendungen/aktuelle-sendungen?mode=2&terms=&list=Radio+Brhan+
http://www.lora.ch/aktuell/mitteilungen/506-radio-brhan
https://www.facebook.com/RadioBrhan
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=radio+brhanRadio Orange
http://o94.at/
http://streamintern.o94.at/live.m3u
http://o94.at/radio/sendereihe/ada_vapuru/
http://streamintern.o94.at/live.m3u
https://cba.fro.at/series/new-life-in-vienna
http://o94.at/wp-content/uploads/producers_NewLifeInVienna_EN.pdf
Radio ARA
http://www.ara.lu/
http://stream.ara.lu/stream.mp3
https://www.salam-ara.com/podcast-‫ال ح ل قات‬/https://www.facebook.com/salaamlux/
Okto TV
https://okto.tv/de/https://okto.tv/de/series/58e4c5c687df4
Join Media
http://www.join-media.eu/en/55

DG(2018)01
Refugee Radio Network
http://www.refugeeradionetwork.net/
http://www.refugeeradionetwork.net/listen-on-demand--podcast.html
http://www.refugeeradionetwork.net/moderatoren.html
http://www.refugeeradionetwork.net/programmhinweise.html
Radio Ghetto
https://radioghettovocilibere.wordpress.com/
https://radioghettovocilibere.wordpress.com/archivio-trasmissioni/
https://www.facebook.com/radioghettovocilibere/
https://radioghettovocilibere.wordpress.com/radio-ghetto-italia/
https://radioghettovocilibere.wordpress.com/radio-ghetto-africa/
ReGeneration Radiohttps://www.facebook.com/ReGenerationRadio.UnityandLove/
Radio Corax
http://radiocorax.de/
http://www.commonvoices.radiocorax.de/
https://www.facebook.com/commonvoicesradio/
Radio RaBe
www.rabe.ch
http://stream.rabe.ch/livestream/rabe-mid.mp3
http://rabe.ch/interradional/
Radio Dreyeckland
https://rdl.de/https://rdl.de/sendung/our-voice-die-stimme-der-unsichtbaren
Radio school klipp+klang
http://klippklang.ch/56

PREMS 023518

The role played by media in framing the public debate on
migration, with often divisive narratives focussing on thethreats that refugees and migrants can pose to the security,
welfare and cultures of European societies, has attracted
much attention in political and academic circles. While it isessential to properly equip and prepare journalists for thechallenging task of contextualised and evidence-based
reporting on this complex topic, it is equally vital to ensurethat sufficient opportunities are provided to migrants
themselves to develop an independent voice. This report
explores the media habits and particular needs of refugees
and migrants in the domain of media communication. Good
practice examples show how community media can meet thecommunicative needs of refugees and migrants by offering
training and space for self-representation, and by offering
points of entry into local networks. Their bottom-up approachto content production contributes to a multilingual media
environment that reflects the diversity of European societies
and recognises marginalised communities as integral andrespected part of the audience.

www.coe.int/freedomofexpressionwww.coe.int

The Council of Europe is the continent’s leading humanrights organisation. It comprises 47 member states, 28 ofwhich are members of the European Union. All Council ofEurope member states have signed up to the European
Convention on Human Rights, a treaty designed toprotect human rights, democracy and the rule of law.
The European Court of Human Rights oversees theimplementation of the Convention in the member states.

ENG