aenjournal Representing Ethnic Communities in the Media

Does ethnicity matter in the media? If so, when and what is the role of ethnic and mainstream media in promoting the good news as well as the bad news about migrants and refugees? The results of an AEN quick-survey suggest that mainstream media is a key cross-over point for inter-cultural exchange and a primary vehicle for promoting inter-cultural awareness and understanding. Ethnic media publications provide an alternative to an increasingly homogenised mainstream media. They are essential to the health of a civic society and make an essential contribution to promoting and sustaining social movements. Communicating horizontally, rather than from the top down, ethnic media help to build communities, reduce social isolation and keep culture and language alive. They are able to bring about social change from within communities (Lalley & Hawkins, 2005). The news media play a major role in society around establishing and disseminating cultural references and are pivotal in representing and giving voice to community members. However, they can unintentionally strengthen racist discourses rather than fighting them (ERCOMER, 2002). According to a California New Media study, nearly a quarter of all U.S. residents regularly get information from the ethnic media (Briggs, 2005). A national, multilingual poll of almost 1,900 Latino, African-American, Asian-American, Arab-American and American Indian respondents showed that 13 % o