Creating Interfaces
Polyethnic Media and Cultural Diversity
Otto Tremetzberger / Alexander Baratsits
Facticity, Diversity and Globalization
Social, ethnic and cultural diversity is not just a social reality. It
is to an increasing
extent a political issue as well. Our societies have long since become
polyethnic,
and the way back to the way things were before—questionable in any
case—
that the platforms of populist, right-wing parties term “homogeneous
national communities”
is an illusion. In polyethnic societies, diversity can no longer be reversed
even by the most restrictive immigration laws.
In order to diminish the potential for conflict and prevent discord in
a multiethnic society,
it has long been insufficient to merely oppose racism. Above all in the
domain of
media, this is a matter of creating the framework conditions and prerequisites
for a
multiethnic media landscape. Charles Husband
(1) points out that in the past, practitioners
and scholars paid far more attention to the “elimination of racism”
than, for example,
to the conceptualization and implementation of a “polyethnic media
landscape.” (2)
Radio FRO’S Approach
Radio FRO’s (a free, non-commercial radio station based in Upper
Austria) mission
is to function as a model for a polyethnic media landscape—a forum
for a discourse
that is open, wide-ranging and diverse in its mode of reflection, an open
space of selfformulation
and autonomous media utilization. The spectrum of diversifying and contradictory
opinions is very broad and provides a stark contrast to paternalistic
and hesitant
efforts on the part of establishment media, whose reduced offerings of
information
and communication are far to loosely-knit and thus non-inclusive with
respect to
linguistic and cultural minorities to make the differences within these
spheres visible.
For instance, in the Turkish and Kurdish language alone, Radio FRO currently
makes
available seven programs with highly diverse content. With “incitement
of initiative”
as its guiding principle, an attitude that has its roots in the artistic
and media policies
of the Stadtwerkstatt, Radio FRO, in contrast to conventional consumer
media,
pursues an approach that is also not uncontroversial even within the free
media scene.
Debates and conflicts surrounding attitudes and positions are not watered
down or
inhibited. From the very outset, “the other” is a party to the
discourse that is carried
on by a wide variety of groups or individuals— “segments of
the general public.”
Since establishment media tend to contribute to a homogeneous image of
“the
other” in the sense of “good-natured acceptance,”
(3) the task at hand is representing
the experiences and interests of ethnic minorities, and displaying thereby
their full
diversity that is so often swept under the carpet. This is an openness
and diversity
that can also ultimately reveal the potential for conflict that is hidden
within
this sphere and the enmities that exist between the groups that make it
up. The
existing establishment media are not the only potential mouthpieces for
racist smears
and political rabblerousing. “Possessing a particular ethnic identity—be
it that of
the majority or of a minority—is no guarantee for virtue.”
(4)
Multi-Ethnicity and Suspicion of Terrorism
Ultimately, in the wake of migration and globalization, national borders
have become
increasingly permeable for political, ethnic and cultural conflicts that
in certain cases
have their roots far outside concrete regional circumstances or go far
beyond them—
a development that reached its preliminary climax in the events of September
11. With
the attack on the WTC, the problematic issue of multiethnicity and migration
has
become entwined in a most dubious fashion with the phenomenon of terrorism.
Especially
Moslem immigrant associations and mosques have been confronted by the
charge
of working hand in hand with extremist terror organizations. Austria's
equivalent of
the FBI, for example, noted a radicalization of the political climate
in several such groups
shortly after the attacks and beefed up its surveillance.
(5)
Interaction and Responsibility
Media bear considerable responsibility for coexistence (not only) in transnational
contexts.
Radio FRO is cognizant of this responsibility and of the necessity of
dealing
sensitively with ethnic and cultural diversity. According to Husband’s
hypotheses, a
functional polyethnic media landscape on one hand furthers a dialogue
that transcends
ethnic boundaries and thus gives rise to interfaces on the borders between
different
segments of the general public. On the other hand, this is a matter of
a dialogue within
ethnic communities and thus has to do with the reflection of internal
diversity.
Contribution to the Festival
Radio FRO’s contribution to the 2002 Ars Electronica Festival is
an analysis of this
issue together with its scientific and political contexts. Experts from
academia,
politics and everyday practice will be discussing the role of polyethnic
media in
contemporary societies, their necessary framework conditions and their
contribution
to integration and understanding. Opportunities, structures as well as
lines of conflict
will be elaborated on by a research project on Radio FRO’s foreign-language
programming, the results and conclusions of which will be presented to
the public
for the first time in conjunction with Ars Electronica. Radio FRO’s
contribution
sheds light on “the others” in the microculture of Linz and
in the context of the concept
of a polyethnic media landscape. It is above all the portrayal of the
current political
explosiveness of this issue that is a matter of particular importance.
It is evident
that immigration and asylum policies are being made more restrictive all
over
Europe. Integration measures are increasingly becoming compulsory procedures—
consider, for example, “language courses for foreigners.” Aside
from regional and
national political debates and approaches, the international and European
dimensions
of this issue are increasingly shifting into the foreground.
Translated from the German by Mel Greenwald
(1) Charles Husband
is professor of social analysis at the University of Bradford (U.K.) and
heads its “Ethnicity, racism and the media” research program.
(3) See ibid., p. 17.
(4) Ibid., p. 18.
(5) Michael Völker,
„Terror in den USA: Ausländische Extremisten und Geheimdienste
aktiv“,
in: Der Standard, (September 14, 2001).