Diversity becomes hot media topic

Michael Hedges November 24, 2008

All things financial have permeated airwaves and headlines for weeks, usually in funeral tones. Pirates, from bankers bungling to Somalis hijacking boats, have grabbed lots of attention. Bubbling to the surface, perhaps as relief from the nastiness, is a topic a bit more tangible. Diversity in society and media, societies mirror, is getting attention.

An officially designated European Year of Intracultural Dialogue will draw to a close in a few weeks. There have been proclamations and speeches, studies and initiatives. Over the last three years German, French and Dutch public broadcasters have organized mainstream events

Earlier this month Dutch public broadcaster NPO/NPS staged “The Diversity Show” at Hilversum’s Media Park (November 6). The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) took a large role in organizing the event. Cultural diversity was presented by and to media people as a creative opportunity. Workshops tackled subjects from the philosophical to the practical. It followed the annual Prix Europa Festival in Berlin that focuses on the diversity of European cultures.

NPO director Ruurd Bierman announced four new multicultural television programs coming to Dutch airwaves next year. Radio Netherlands Worldwide (RNW) organized a multicultural media debate in Rabat, Morocco called “Moroccan brats and disrespectful Dutch” as the international broadcaster launched its daily Arabic program targeting the Middle East and Maghreb.

Both Ruurd Bierman and EBU President Fritz Pleitgen stressed the importance of newsroom diversity. “This takes time and persistence,” said Pleitgen. NPO’s target for multicultural hiring, said Bierman, is 25%. 

As it happened Swedish public television (Sveriges Television SVT) launched (November 3) a multipart documentary series “Halal TV” that raised cultural diversity to a headline grabbing topic. The series features three young women, Swedes who are Muslim, and allows them to describe what they see, think and do. Since the first chapter was broadcast (November 3) many corners of Swedish society have been moved to comment, much of which has been less than complimentary.

“There are many ways for public broadcasting to use high standards of journalism to address the diversity issues which affect the Muslim part of the population without reducing the group to deeply faithful, headscarf bearing, homophobic teetotalers who believe that women should be virgins until they are married and support stoning for adultery,” wrote one commentator in Svenska Dagbladet the week before the first program aired.

So it is when television strikes a nerve. “The debate on multicultural Sweden isn’t finished with Halal TV,” said SVT producer Joakim Sandberg. “But it has taken yet another step to also allow people living with questions every day to speak.”

Sandberg admitted the audience figures for the first broadcast fell short of his target. First estimates showed 259,000 people tuned in. Pundits, however, found fuel for many minutes and column inches.

Public broadcasters are at their best when they challenge audiences, holding a mirror to societies and institutions. This has never been a problem with SVT.

“The public service broadcasters have an obligation to comment on different events, stimulate public debate and scrutinize authorities, organizations and private firms which exert influence over policy affecting the public,” says the Swedish Broadcasting Commission (Granskningsnämnden) in its rules for public broadcasting.

Public broadcasters have braved the parallel issues of diversity, tolerance and integration, attempting to bridge sides and stereotypes. A Dutch television program intended to reduce anxieties after the brutal murder of filmmaker Theo van Gogh caused consternation among many. Ironically, van Gogh’s murder was four years to the day before SVT broadcast the first edition of Halal TV.

Some, however, prefer public broadcast to offer a different mirror. When former Austrian public broadcasting (ORF) head of news Klaus Emmerich said something racist (“I do not want the Western world directed by a black man. And, if you say that is a racist remark, I say you are damn right.”)after the election of Barack Obama as president of the United States only foreign voices were critical. An ORF spokesperson said nothing could be done about it.

When Wereldjournalisten.nl (November 12) asked participants at “The Diversity Show” to name their biggest source of inspiration the overwhelming choice was Barack Obama.

“Media has been an intercultural dialogue tool from the very beginning, even before the Internet era,” said European Commissioner for Info Society and Media Viviane Reding  at the final debate (November 7) presented for the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue.

As EBU’s Fritz Pleitgen said, “This takes time and persistence.”

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