LITERATURE REVIEW Media and minorities: Media and minorities have always had a nuanced and often complex relationship. Public perceptions affect not only minorities but also the societies in which they exist; societies that have a stake in promoting equality, social integration and cohesion (Bleich et al, Cottle 2000, devroe). In today’s world where media is ubiquitous, not only as an institution but also as a practical means of gathering, assembling and processing knowledge, the media can do much to augment or curtail public perception of situations, phenomena or people. In other words, the media plays an important role in the construction of public perception of minority identities. The media are a key site within which politics of cultural …show more content…
The literature has been arranged thematically instead of chronologically as this best serves the particular purpose of this study. Media and Minorities: A global perspective The term minorities may be used to connote to different groups that are differentiated from the largely more hegemonic majority based on religion, sexuality, ethnicity, occupation and so on. The intention here is to explore the relationship between media and various groups identified as minorities, irrespective of the basis on which they are categorized as such. Minorities in newspapers: A global …show more content…
It is also particularly interesting to note that reportage of cultural events and issues of minorities is often lacking. In an initiative taken by BEMIS (the national Ethnic Minorities led umbrella body supporting the development of the Ethnic Minorities Voluntary Sector in Scotland) and GRAMNet (Glasgow, Refugee, Asylum and Migration Network, a research entitled “Public perception of A8 migrants: the discourse of the media and its impacts” was carried out in three stages which included a content analysis of 5 top circulating newspapers in Scotland. In May 2004, eight countries joined the European Union that marked the biggest enlargement of the Union in its history. The countries- Czech Republich, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland,Slovenia, Estoniia, Latvia and Lithuania have been grouped together as the A8 or the Accession Eight. Exercising their right to travel, live and study anywhere in the EU, an estimated half million people have migrated into the UK, essentially making them minorities in their adopted nation. It was the representation and portrayal of these minority communities that this study focused on. The results of the content analysis revealed that none of the newspapers brought any of the A8 minority issues to the forefront save a few articles about their lives in