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MUCH DEBATED: Debates on immigration and integration are oten about Islam and Muslims. Ater Dagbladetpublished Muhammad caricatures in February 2010, Oslo Hyre (Conservative Party) city council representative,Amir Sheikh (in the middle) initiated a dialogue meeting between Dagbladets acting chie editor Lars Helle(on the let) and Imam Mehbob ur-Rehman (on the right). Photo: Scanpix

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www.imdi.no/aarsrapport2009


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Immigration and integration are issues high up onthe political agenda, and receive widespread mediaattention. The Norwegian people are also concernedwith these issues. A search in the newspaperAtenpostens debate pages shows that immigrationand integration are the topics in 324,319 contribu-tions. By comparison, there were 19,049 contribu-tions about schools and education and 62,209 on theenvironment.1

The topic o IMDis annual report is how immigrantsare portrayed in the Norwegian media. We have

invited leading researchers, key media people andother players in the eld to shed light on this topicrom dierent angles.

One in ten Norwegian citizens is an immigrant or hasparents who have immigrated to Norway. In Oslo, asmany as one in our inhabitants is rom an immi-grant background. Is the diversity o the Norwegianpopulation and among immigrants refected on tele-vision, radio and in the newspapers? Are immigrantsportrayed as a problem or a resource in newspa-pers? Are certain groups subject to criticism? Is this

the case or Muslims more than or others? How dothe Norwegian media portray integration in Norway?What denitions o Norwegian are used?

Hal the population thinks that integration in Norwayis a ailure.2 The Norwegian media is criticised orportraying immigrants, and especially Muslims, in ageneralising and stereotypical manner.3 Immigrants,and Muslims in particular, experience discriminationin several arenas in Norwegian society.4 In this arti-cle, IMDi puts the dierent contributions in context,highlights the main points and discusses the relati-onship between the portrayal o immigrants in the

media, attitudes in the population at large and im-migrants experience o lie in Norway.

Iam dmiate the media pictue

Immigration and integration receive a great deal oattention in the media. But not all stories about im-migration and integration receive equal attention. In2009, there were almost twice as many hits or Islam/Muslims as or the word immigration. With 77,000 hitsin 2009, there were almost as many hits or the topico Islam/Muslims as or Prime Minister Jens Stolten-berg, and more coverage than or the swine fu.

This emerged rom an analysis carried out by Retri-ever on assignment or IMDi concerning the medias

coverage o issues relating to immigration and inte-gration in 2009. Retriever has searched hundreds oNorwegian media print newspapers, online news-papers and TV and radio stations. In addition, theyhave carried out a content analysis o ten editions oeight Norwegian print newspapers.5

WHAT Is InTEgrATIon?

Having good Norwegian language skills is the actormost requently mentioned by the Norwegian popu-lation (82 per cent) as an important aspect o beingwell integrated, ollowed by being able to support

onesel and ones amily through employment (69per cent).6 The opinions o the population at largeconcerning what characterises good integration arerefected in the authorities integration policy. Mosto the Governments integration measures are aimedat immigrants learning the Norwegian language andbecoming nancially independent.7

While there were 77,000 hits or Islam/Muslims in2009, there were 2,225 hits concerning tuition in theNorwegian language or immigrants. This means thatNorwegian newspaper readers, radio listeners and TVviewers were presented with 35 times as many stories

about Islam as about Norwegian tuition or immigrants.

In other words, the integration topics that receivemost attention in the media do not refect the popu-

Text: IMDiImmiat i thenweia media


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lation at large and the authorities denition o whatis important to good integration.

HoW WEll Is InTEgrATIon WorKIng? IT

DEPEnDs on YoUr PErsPECTIVE

In the Norwegian Broadcasting Companys (NRK)debate on immigration and integration during theelection campaign in autumn 2009, the presenterbegan by saying: We will attempt to nd out whyintegration is not succeeding in Norway. This state-ment was not ollowed by an explanation o what ismeant by integration, or what not succeeding implies.

IMDis annual report or 2008, How well is integrationworking? presented the status o work on integrationin Norway on the basis o the Governments objecti-ves. The report highlighted challenges in severalareas: young people with immigrant background areover-represented among those who ail to completeupper secondary school. There are big dierencesbetween dierent groups o immigrants with respectto participation in society and living conditions. Des-pite having lived in Norway or a long time, some

groups have low participation in the labour market.However, over time the dierences between immi-

grants and the rest o the population are evened outor most groups the longer they live in the country.

Immigrants in Norway have a relatively high rate oparticipation in the labour market compared to otherEuropean countries; this applies to women in parti-cular. Norwegian-born children o immigrants have ahigh participation rate as regards both higher educa-tion and the labour market; here too, Norway scoreswell compared with other European countries.8 In2007, the proportion o people participating in highereducation was 35 per cent or Norwegian-born personswith immigrant parents in the 19 to 24 age group,compared with 30 per cent or all young people.9

The annual report or 2008 shows good results inimportant elds relating to integration, and concludesthat immigrants are becoming increasingly betterintegrated, but that it is a time-consuming process.

In other words, the premise o the election debate men-tioned above, namely that we are not succeeding withintegration in Norway, does not accord with the status

o what the authorities have dened as important indi-cators or integration, which are the same indicatorsthat the population at large consider most important.

The population and the authorities agree on whatisimportant in relation to good integration, but not onhow it is progressing. About hal the populationthinks that integration is progressing quite or verybadly. Only one person out o a hundred thinks inte-gration is working very well, while 20 per cent be-lieve it is working quite well.10 Is there a connectionbetween what the population thinks about integra-

tion and how it is portrayed in the media?

THE PorTrAYAl oF IMMIgrAnTs In THE MEDIA

Pbem ad eati-ieted

The problem-oriented ocus o NRKs election debaterefects the slant taken in most media stories con-cerning immigrants and integration.

Articles about immigration and integration ocus muchmore on problems than on resources. This is one othe ndings o Retrievers content analysis o eight oNorways print newspapers. O all the stories that had

immigration or integration as their main topic, 71 percent are considered to be problem-oriented and 18 percent to be resource-oriented, while only 11 per cent othe stories are considered to be neutral. Crime was

InTEgrATIon MEAsUrE: Having good Nor-wegian language skills is the actor most re-

quently mentioned by Norwegians as an impor-tant aspect o being well integrated. This isshown in IMDis Integration Barometer.


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MEDIA

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the topic most covered in all the newspaper articlesabout immigrants and reugees rom 1976 to 2002.11

The media is and should be concerned with pro-blems. As or other players in the integration eld,such as researchers and the authorities, it is journa-lists job to shed light on the challenges acing inte-gration, and to generate debate about importantsocial issues. There may be relevant journalistic argu-

ments or why individual cases are reported rom aparticular angle, but what will the consequences bei the cumulative eect o all the stories about immi-grants and integration is to paint a picture o immi-grants as a problem and integration as unsuccessul?

Paticua fcu cetai atiaitie

Some immigrant groups get more media attentionthan others. There is no connection between thescope o coverage and the groups size. Somali im-migrants, or example, get three times as muchcoverage as Polish immigrants, even though thereare almost twice as many people with Polish back-

ground living in Norway than people with Somalibackground.12 Somalis are one o the most discussedgroups, and they are also one o the groups thatreceive most negative attention.

Immigrants rom Somalia are used to illustrate howintegration is ailing, also in articles that discuss oth-er completely dierent groups. This is highlighted inseveral o the articles in this report. A systematicreview o media coverage o Somalis rom 1999 to2008 shows that there are three issues especiallyassociated with stories about Somalis: crime, culturalpractices and lack o integration. These issues unc-tion as explanations or each other, yet the relation-

ship between these actors has never been system-atically investigated or precisely dened.13

Paied ptaya:

Khat-chewe pa expe

The portrayal o Somalis is polarised. The ocus isusually negative; the exceptions mainly consist o aew success stories about particularly well-integratedSomalis who go walking in the woods or ski to theNorth Pole. These polarised stories put normal, eve-ryday lie in the shade, and this in turn results in alack o nuance in the stories about Somalis in themedia. This is highlighted by Elisabeth Eide and

Anne Hege Simonsen in their contribution to theannual report.

In EMPloYMEnT: Immigrants in Norway have a relatively high rate o participation in the labourmarket compared with other European countries; this applies to women particular.

Somali immigrants get three times as much coverage

as Polish immigrants, even though there are almost

twice as many people with Polish background living

in Norway than people with Somali background.


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Which up wi take ve?

That one minority is portrayed in a particularly nega-tive light in the media is nothing new. Previously,other groups, such as Sami people and Jews, havebeen in the medias spotlight.14 Danish researchersbelieve Somalis have taken over rom Bosnians asthe most visible group in the Danish media.15 In thepast year, there has been a lot o media coverageabout criminal Eastern Europeans, particularly peo-ple rom Romania. Perhaps Romanians are takingover the Somalis role in the Norwegian media?

FroM IMMIgrAnT To MUslIM

Debates about immigration and integration are oten

about Islam and Muslims. Retrievers content analy-sis shows that a third o all the articles on immigra-tion and integration are about religion, and primarilyabout Islam.

Debates about sneak-Islamisation, extreme Islam-

ism and use o the hijab in the police orce were allbig issues in the 2009 media year. Islam has alsobeen the topic o widespread debate in the mediain other countries: a ban on wearing burkas hasbeen debated in both Denmark and France. At theend o the year, the reerendum in Switzerland onbanning the building o minarets received a greatdeal o attention. The prevailing tendency since 11September 2001 is or Islam to play a central role inmedia stories about immigrants and integration. Pre-viously, immigrants were usually discussed in termsdenoting nationality (Pakistani). Now, religiousterms (Muslim) are more common especially

when it comes to people with backgrounds romcountries in which Islam is the dominant religion (c.Eide and Simonsens article).

rElIgIoUs FoCUs: Previously, immigrants were usually discussed in terms denoting nationality (Pakistani).Now, religious terms such as Muslim, are more commonly used. Photo: Scanpix

Retrievers content analysis shows that

a third of all the articles about immigration

and integration are about religion, and

primarily about Islam.

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MEDIA

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WHo Is norWEgIAn AnD WHo Is

An IMMIgrAnT?

The ew, nweia we

In 2006, the Norwegian Language Council stated thatcalling people rom other countries Norwegians isincorrect, and that Norwegian was synonymous with

a person o ethnic Norwegian origin.16 The statementgave rise to protests and a great deal o debate,which resulted in the Language Council apologisingand changing its view. In its reply to the Equality andAnti-discrimination ombudsman, it wrote: It is notnecessary to be an ethnic Norwegian in order to callyoursel a Norwegian or to be called a Norwegian.

Reality shapes language. It is natural that a wordlike Norwegian changes its meaning as the compo-sition o the population in Norway changes. But lan-guage also shapes reality. Our understanding o whois Norwegian and who is an immigrant and in whatconnections this applies is aected by how theseterms are used.

In 2007, the Minister o Foreign Aairs Jonas Gahr

Stre presented the concept o the new Norwegianwe in a eature article inAftenposten.17 Here, heargued that a narrow understanding o we weakensthe meaning o what it means to be Norwegian. Wecannot just mean those o us who look like Norwe-gians did 50 years ago.

To be Norwegian today does not mean that you can-not have immigrant parents or that you cannot haveimmigrated to Norway yoursel. What Norwegian

we is the media creating and portraying?

Typicay nweia t be dThere are clear unwritten rules or how the pressincludes and excludes people rom immigrant back-grounds rom the Norwegian community.

The main rule appears to be simple: when journal-ists discuss people linked to crimes or other negativecircumstances, they turn to terms that indicate thatthe people in question do not belong to the Norwe-gian community. But when immigrants are success-ul, they do not have to have stayed in the countryor long beore they are promoted to Norwegians(c. the article by Lindstad and Fjeldstad). Successul

immigrants, especially in the sporting and culturalcontext, are usually described as Norwegian. Criminalsare usually described as non-Norwegians (o oreignorigin, Somali background).

Retrievers analysis also shows that characteristicssuch as country o origin or immigrant status arecited more oten when persons rom immigrantbackgrounds have the role o victims or are involvedin criminal activity.

What it means to be Norwegian is also delimitedthrough the use o the terms immigrant and Norwe-gian as opposites. Immigrants claim less disabilitybenets than Norwegians (Dagbladetonline, 18 May2009). Parents with immigrant background set great-er requirements or their children than Norwegianparents (NRK morning news, 6 January 2010). Theseheadlines do not allow individuals to be both immi-grants and Norwegians at the same time. They reerto a narrow denition o the Norwegian we that doesnot include people who have immigrated to Norway.

Wh i efeed t a a immiat?

The typical immigrant in the media has an Arican,Eastern European or Asian background. People whohave immigrated to Norway rom Western Europe or

MEDIA HABITs: TV and the internet are the most requently usedmedia in the Norwegian population, also among immigrants.


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rom the USA are ar more rarely reerred to as im-migrants. In other words, whether you are portrayedas an immigrant is based on where you come rom.This is shown by Merete Lindstad and ivind Fjelds-tad in their article.

In media stories, it is not always clear whether theperson reerred to as an immigrant actually is animmigrant. The term reers just as oten to Norwe-gian-born children who have immigrant parents.

Immigrant pupils, immigrant boys or immigrantyouth are terms commonly used both in the mediaand in research to denote people who have, in act,not immigrated themselves, but who were born andraised in Norway.

In 2008, Statistics Norway (SSB) changed the termsused to reer to immigrants and the children o immi-grants in their publications. Among other things, theyhave stopped using the immigrant population as ageneric term. The reason or this is that the dier-ences between immigrants and Norwegian-born chil-dren o immigrants are so great, or instance when it

comes to living conditions, that it is rarely expedientto report statistics or these two groups combined.Another reason or this decision is that people whoare born and raised in Norway may eel excludedwhen they are locked in the immigrant category.

IMMIgrAnTs As MEDIA ConsUMErs

TV and the internet are the most requently usedmedia by the Norwegian population, also amongimmigrants. However, the percentage that readsprint newspapers and listens to the radio is consider-ably lower among immigrants rom Asia, Arica, LatinAmerica and non EU/EEA European countries thanamong the population at large and among immigrantsrom the EU/EEA area, the USA, Canada and Australia.Most immigrants nd it easy to understand the newsin newspapers, on the radio and on TV, however. Thesendings are rom an SSB survey about media habits.18

On the one hand, the survey highlights the act thatimmigrants make up a large percentage o mediaconsumers in Norway. On the other hand, it showsthat some types o media have challenges they needto overcome with respect to reaching more immi-grant groups, and that these challenges are probablynot due to language problems.

Multicultural Norway is here to stay. To adapt newsdissemination to a multicultural population is about

reaching the media consumers o today and tomor-row. For private players, this adaptation can be cru-cial i they are to survive in a market characterisedby erce competition. You cannot just write or Olai you want Ali as a reader, write Lindstad and Fjeld-stad in their bookAvutenlandsk opprinnelse [Ooreign origin]. People rom immigrant backgroundsread newspapers as well. I the newspapers are tosurvive in the uture, they have to accept that Nor-way is a multiethnic society and cater to a multieth-nic audience. It is not enough to write or the well-established, white middle class to which most

journalists themselves belong.19

This point is alsoemphasised in the article by Majoran Vivekananthan,the editor oUtrop. Adapting news broadcasting to amulticultural audience is about investing in the me-dia market o the uture.

UnDEr AnD oVEr-rEPrEsEnTED

People rom immigrant backgrounds are under-rep-resented in Norwegian media as news reporters,sources and interviewees. They are highly visible,however, in stories about immigrants in particular.

suce ad iteviewee

Three o our journalists share the general view thatpeople rom immigrant backgrounds rarely partici-pate as protagonists or sources in stories that arenot specically related to immigrant issues. Seven

nEW TArgET groUP: You cannot just write orOla i you want Ali as a reader, write Lindstad andFjeldstad in their bookAvutenlandsk opprinnelse.

If the newspapers are to survive in the future,

they have to accept that Norway is a multiethnic

society and cater to a multiethnic audience.


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out o ten agree that immigrant sources are rarelyused in stories where their immigrant status is com-pletely irrelevant.20

Retrievers analysis conrms the impression o Nor-wegian journalists: only two per cent o the sourcesand interviewees in the countrys biggest print news-papers have immigrant background.

In other words, people rom immigrant backgroundsare ar less visible in the media than their proportiono the population would indicate.

Wh ept the ew?

The question o representation in the media is alsoabout who reports the news. The act that there areew visible minorities among journalists is the basisor projects carried out by both NRK and the Facultyo Journalism, Library and Inormation Science atOslo University College aimed at recruiting more

journalists with a multicultural background. In theirarticle, Anne Fogt and Nazneen Khan-strem high-

light several challenges connected with introducing aquota scheme or students rom minority back-grounds, or instance the danger o stigmatisation.

Even though an immigrant background can be anadvantage when reporting issues relating to immi-gration and integration, it is neither a preconditionnor a guarantee. Insightul, act-based and balancedreporting about immigrants and integration requires

journalists to have qualications and expertise aboutNorway as a multicultural country. Such expertise isabout understanding culture and language andabout having networks in dierent communities. As

Fogt and Khan-strem write: Educating journalistswho can cover all aspects o society regardless oethnic background is as much about students romethnic Norwegian background being willing to seekout other communities than they usually do.

Pitive devepmet: eate viibiity

In recent decades, we have seen increasing diversityin the portrayal o immigrants in the media. While agreat deal o space is devoted to stories about crimeand immigrants living on the margins o Norwegiansociety, there has also been a clear increase in storiesabout people rom immigrant backgrounds presented

in a positive light. This applies in particular to storiesabout sports and culture, but immigrants also appearmore in general news stories and reports. This is em-phasised by Lindstad and Fjeldstad in their article.

CoMPETITIVE ADVAnTAgE: Media that can adapt their news reporting to a multicultural audience will have a competitiveadvantage, according to editor Majoran Vivekananthan (second rom the let) o the Norwegian, multicultural newspaper Utrop.

MEDIA


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According to Fogt and Khan-strem, there is also apositive trend in relation to recruiting students to

journalism studies. While it has long been the casethat, as a proession, journalism has not had highstatus in immigrant communities, the authors o thearticle point out that more and more applicants rom

such backgrounds are now being accepted throughordinary admission procedures. This means thatthey are choosing journalism studies even thoughthey have enough credits to be accepted or otherstudies that require a higher number o credits. Theybelieve that having untraditional journalists as goodrole models is the actor that has the most positiveimpact on recruitment.

The perhaps most noticeable change in the last ewyears is that more and more people with immigrantbackground are active and visible participants in

public debate.

Debate abut the debate

We are now also witnessing a debate about the de-bate, in which several important issues have beenraised. Among other things, there have been callsor more active participants rom minority back-grounds in public debates. In that connection, UsmanRana, a medical student and active debater, hasquestioned whether participating in public debatesdoes Muslims more harm than good. NorwegianMuslims have had a high media prole. We havebeen active, and new voices are being heard. I think

this has backred on us. I ear that there is a stronganti-Muslim sentiment among the Norwegian people,a sentiment that is partly anti-Muslim and that isbecoming more widespread, and whose conse-

quence is that the more exposure Muslims receive indemocratic channels in Norwegian society, the morethe hatred towards Muslims will grow, said Rana tothe newspaper Klassekampen on 2 December 2009.

Ranas statement reinorces the critique in this re-

port about the negative media ocus o stories aboutimmigrants, and emphasises the act that Islam andMuslims are particularly vulnerable in that context.

Immiat tak abut immiat

Immigrants are more visible in the Norwegian mediathan beore, but when immigrants are interviewed, itis usually about immigration and integration. Immi-grants are used as sources in as many as 62 per cento the stories about immigration or integration.21

Is the explanation or this that immigrants usually

choose to talk about immigration and integration, oris it a act that it is dicult or immigrants who wantto discuss other issues to make themselves heard inthe media?

Khalid Salimi, who has contributed with the articleDe tause i tale [Getting the silent to speak] to thisreport, discusses what is expected o immigrantswho participate in the media by the media and bythemselves. Immigrants are also good at exercisingsel-censorship. This has to do with adapting to spe-cic perceptions about us, writes Salimi, who alsoreers to how, in his experience, journalists look or

a particular type o participant in debates. Journal-ists will oten drop you because you do not havestrong or controversial opinions. I you are too nu-anced, you are not interesting.

BETTEr rEPrEsEnTATIon: Since 2000, it has become more common or the media to employjournalists rom immigrant backgrounds.


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Journalists with multicultural background do not wantto be immigrant journalists. Many believe that theyhave experience and multicultural know-how that canbe useul, but no one wants to only report rom mi-nority communities, only write about minority issuesor only use sources with multicultural backgrounds.

This emerges in Marianne Mikkelsens Masters thesisVerdsatt og feilvurdert[Valued and misjudged],which is based on qualitative interviews with 15 mul-ticultural journalists.22 According to Fogt and Khan-strem, one o the main challenges or the Norwe-gian media and journalism training is to stop thinkingthat journalists with minority background shouldprimarily cover issues relating to minorities.

ConsEQUEnCEs oF BlAnKET CoVErAgE AnD

THE FoCUs on ProBlEMs

Attitude i the ppuati

About hal the population thinks that integration isprogressing quite or very badly. The population ismore sceptical towards Muslims than towards peoplewith other religious belies.23

IMDi conducts an annual questionnaire survey othe population on attitudes towards immigrants andintegration, the Integration Barometer. For most othe questions in the survey small changes have beenregistered rom the rst time it was conducted in2005 to 2009. The ndings are not unequivocal:

in some areas, the population shows tolerance andpositive attitudes towards immigrants, while in otherareas, they are very sceptical. More than hal thepopulation agrees that we should not let any moreimmigrants into Norway. The answers here havebeen stable since 2005, with a shit towards increas-

ing scepticism. The population is divided on the is-sue o whether values in Islam are compatible withundamental values in Norwegian society. The per-centage who agrees completely or in part increasedrom 39 to 48 per cent rom 2005 to 2009.

Iceai teace twad immiat

SSBs attitudes survey24 shows that, since 2002, thepopulation has shown a steady trend or increasedtolerance towards immigrants. The percentage opeople who believe that immigrants enrich Norwayscultural lie has increased rom 63 per cent in 2002to 70 per cent in 2009. The percentage who wouldeel uncomortable i their own son or daughter mar-ried an immigrant has declined rom 40 to 25 percent in the same period. However, IMDis IntegrationBarometer shows that tolerance o a hypotheticalson or daughter-in-law varies according to his/herreligious aith. Fity-three per cent would be negativei their child married a Muslim, while ve per centwould be negative towards a Christian, and 26 percent would be negative i the potential daughter orson-in-law was Jewish.

MEDICAl sTUDEnT, MUslIM AnD ACTIVE PArTICIPAnT In PUBlIC DEBATE: Usman Rana (onthe right) ears that maintaining a high media prole will backre on Muslims. He became known whenhe wonAftenpostens eature article competition in 2008. Facsimile romAftenposten, 25 February 2008.


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child mugger. Then, all of a sudden, I am Somali,said Mohamed Abdi, who was then on the Olympicnational youth team in athletics, in an interview with

Aftenposten (see Lindstad and Fjeldstads article).The quote tells us something about how the pressdenes the boundaries o the Norwegian community,

but it is also an example o the consequences thatmassive negative press coverage o one group canhave or an individual.

A recently published doctoral dissertation shows thatthe medias largely negative coverage o Iran, Irani-ans and immigrants in general contributes to makingNorwegian-Iranians eel excluded rom Norwegiansociety. By reproducing stereotypes about the oth-ers, the media hampers their sense o belonging inNorway, said Sharam Alghasi in an interview aboutthe dissertation.28 There is reason to assume thatthe connection between negative portrayal and theeeling o being excluded also applies to othergroups o immigrants in Norway.

Muim ae ubject t dicimiati

During the past year, Norwegian Muslims have ex-pressed the belie that public opinion in Norway isbecoming increasingly hostile towards Muslims andthat there is a negative ocus on Islam. AssociatingMuslims with terrorism and violence is highlighted asan increasing tendency in public debate in Norway ina report rom the Council o Europes commissionagainst racism and intolerance (ECRI).29 The report

also points out that immigrants are oten portrayedin the media in ways that do not contribute to chal-lenging stereotypes and generalisations about Mus-lims.

Muslims in Norway experience more discriminationthan others. This is shown in an IMDi survey rom2008 among immigrants in Norway rom Arica,Eastern-Europe and Southern and Central America.30The participants in the survey are better integratedthan the average or immigrants in Norway: almostone third o the sample have lived in Norway or

more than 20 years, more than 80 per cent are inemployment and 86 per cent have an educationcorresponding to or higher than upper secondaryschool. Seventy-six per cent o those who took partin the survey see themselves as well integrated intoNorwegian society. Hal state that they have experi-enced discrimination once or several times duringthe last year. People rom Arica and/or rom coun-tries where Islam is the biggest religion experiencemore discrimination than others. The percentagethat has experienced discrimination in the housingmarket, or instance, is more than twice as largeamong participants rom Muslim countries as it is

among other participants. Eight out o ten agree orpartially agree that Muslims are particularly subjectto ethnic discrimination.

Muslims also experience more discrimination thanothers in other European countries. An EU surveyrom 2009 shows that one in three Muslims has ex-perienced discrimination during the last year.31

One o three Somalis in Norway has experienced

discrimination in connection with employment in thelast ve years. Immigrants rom Somalia experiencediscrimination in the employment and housing mar-ket to a greater extent than immigrants rom othercountries. Twenty per cent o young people withSomali background eel quite oten or oten thatthey are not accepted by ethnic Norwegian youth.The corresponding percentage o youth with immi-grant background rom other countries is 13.5 percent.32

Several surveys thus show that Muslims and peoplewith background rom Arica experience more dis-crimination than others. As we have seen, thesegroups receive most negative attention in the media,and are the groups that the population at large ismost sceptical towards.

MEDIA

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FEW sTorIEs FroM EVErYDAY lIFE: The amount o problemand sensation-ocused stories in the media is at the expense ostories about everyday lie and ordinary events.


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ConClUsIon

In 2009, the Norwegian media devoted a lot ospace to stories about immigration and integration.The amount o media coverage is not synonymouswith broad coverage, however. Some groups areoverexposed, while others are underexposed. Someissues receive too much coverage, others notenough.

The iviibe chaee

As implementer o the governments integrationpolicy, it is IMDis experience that the day-to-dayintegration work that goes on in all municipalitiesthroughout the year rarely gets media coverage.

The Government has dened goals or its integrationpolicy and concrete measures and indicators tomeasure the policys success. In media debates onintegration, policy and measures are oten criticisedat a general level: The integration policy does notwork, we have to start setting requirements; butthe discussion is rarely based on actual measuresand schemes such as the introduction programmeor newly arrived reugees, the right and obligationto complete Norwegian language training, and set-tlement in the municipalities. These are importantand challenging responsibilities that deserve publicattention and debate.

Baaced ew epti a jit epibiity

Contributing to more knowledge-based news report-ing and debate on integration is the responsibility o

the individual journalist, those responsible or edu-cating journalists and the media companies. But it isalso the integration authorities responsibility. IMDi isresponsible or contributing inormation that caninorm the public debate. The act that integration isusually debated without reerence to the authoritiesintegration policy gives reason to ask critical ques-tions not only o the media, but o ourselves. Do wedo a good enough job o providing inormation aboutintegration in Norway, about the measures that weare responsible or and about what works well andwhere the challenges lie?

However, the extent to which the messages we sendreach their target also depends on the media beingwilling to use and spread this inormation.

Participation in the labour market and mastery othe Norwegian language are important indicators ointegration, but integration is also about a sense obelonging. Using an inclusive language that does notlimit the Norwegian we, is a challenge or everyonewho provides inormation about integration and im-migrants: the media, researchers and the integra-tion authorities. Being conscious o the language andthe terms we use is also about being precise in order

to get our message across. To reer to Norwegian-born children as immigrants in a news story or in areport can make the reader uncertain about whomthe story or report actually reers to.

Cases about immigrants and integration get a

lot of coverage in the media, but the coverage

is unevenly distributed. While some groups

are too visible, others are invisible.

VUlnErABlE groUP: Twenty per cent o young people romSomali background eel quite oten or oten that they are not

accepted by ethnic Norwegian youth.


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What i diveity?

Immigrants get a lot o coverage in the media, butthey are mostly spoken about. People with immi-grant background are more visible in the media to-day than they were just a ew years ago, both as

journalists, participants in debates and interviewees.But the Norwegian media still have a long way to goin relation to refecting the diversity o Norwayspopulation. And what does diversity really mean? Dowe have diversity i most o the visible minorities inthe media are medical students in their twentieswith parents rom Pakistan?33 This question wasasked in a commentary inAftenposten by debateeditor Knut Olav ms.

Diversity in the media is not only about having morevisible minorities on our TV screens. It is also aboutimmigrants and the children o immigrants havingthe same opportunity as others to make their markon the medias daily coverage o real lie. Good rep-resentation o people with immigrant background inthe media as sources, interviewees and journalists is also important in relation to communicating

experiences about immigrating to and living in Nor-way as a visible minority.

People with immigrant background in Norway are acomplex group in terms o age, gender, country oorigin, level o education and reason or immigra-tion, and they have dierent backgrounds and expe-riences. Goals or diversity in the media should aimto refect this diversity.

The media iuece

The review o press coverage shows that the medias

ocus on confict, drama and sensation applies hereas in other areas o society: most news stories ocuson problems. Some groups, such as Somalis and

Muslims, get more attention and negative ocus than others. Stories about Islam/Muslims domi-nate the media.

Focusing on problems is positive and can contributeto progress being made in areas where the integra-tion o immigrants is particularly challenging. Themedia play an important role here. It becomes achallenge, however, i the sum o the media cover-age creates a picture o immigrants that primarilyocuses on problems.

Limited personal experience and the scope o mediacoverage o a topic probably strengthen the mediasinfuence. Relatively ew people in Norway have nocontact with immigrants. Most, however, still havelittle contact and very ew have close relations withimmigrants. Many peoples experience o immigrantsis primarily through the media.

The polarised presentation o immigrants is at theexpense o stories about everyday lie and ordinaryevents. This can make it dicult or newspaper

readers and the TV viewers to identiy with the peo-ple portrayed.

The groups that receive most negative media atten-tion are the same groups that say they are subjectto discrimination in Norway. There is reason to ex-amine the relationship between attitudes in the pop-ulation at large, immigrants experiences o discrimi-nation and the amount o problem-ocused stories inthe media relating to certain immigrant groups.Journalisms ascination with confict, sensation anddrama can result in many stories that, together,

create an image o some groups that is a problemor those concerned, and that can be negative orthe integration o immigrants in Norway.


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15

Notes

1 Debattsentralen,Aftenposten 6 February2010: http://debatt.aten-posten.no/group.old.php: http://debatt.atenposten.no/group.old.php

2 According to IMDis annual attitudes survey, the Integration Barom-

eter, of in a representative sample of the population. The Integration

Barometer 2009 is pending publication.

3 Report from the Council of Europes commission against racism

and intolerance (ECRI): http://www.coe.int/t/dghl/monitoring/ecri/

Country-by-country/Norway/NOR-CbC-IV-2009-004-NOR.pdf

4 Cf. Integrert, men diskriminert. IMDi-report 9-2008.5 VG, Aftenposten, Dagbladet, Bergens Tidende, Stavanger

Aftenblad, Nordlys, Dagens Nringsliv and Klassekampen.6 Cf. The Integration Barometer 2009 [IMDi report, pending

publication]7 See Proposition no 1 to the Storting (20092010), the Ministry

of Labour. Handlingsplan for integrering og inkludering avinnvandrerbefolkningen and Ml for inkludering.

8 OECD (2008): Jobs for Immigrants: Labour market integrationin Norway. URL: http://www.imdi.no/no/Nyheter/2009/Yrkesaktive-innvandrere/

9 Source: Statistics Norway. Quoted in iFACTS 2009.10 Cf. The Integration Barometer 2009 (pending publication).

Forty-seven per cent of the participants answered that they thinkimmigration is working quite or very badly.

11 Eide, Elisabeth and Anne Hege Simonsen (2007): Mistenkeligeutlendinger. Minoriteter i norsk presse gjennom hundre r.

Hyskoleforlaget.12 Source: Statistics Norway, in iFACTS 2009. Immigrants andNorwegian-born people with immigrant parents, as of 1 January2009. Poland: 44,482 persons, Somalia 23,633 persons.

13 Fuglerud, yvind and Ada Engebrigtsen (2009): Kultur oggenerasjon. Tilpasningsprosesser blant somaliere og tamiler iNorge. Universitetsforlaget.

14 Eide, Elisabeth and Anne Hege Simonsen (2007): Mistenkeligeutlendinger. Minoriteter i norsk presse gjennom hundre r.Hyskoleforlaget.

15 Fadel, Hervik and Vestergaard (1999): De besvrlige somalierein: Hervik, P. (ed.): Den generende forskjellighed. Danske svar pden stigende multikulturalisme. Copenhagen: Hans Reitzels Forlag.

16 Read the letter from the Norwegian Language Council at:http://www.nrk.no/nyheter/kultur/1.1296059,

17 http://www.aftenposten.no/meninger/kronikker/article1761653.ece

18 Vaage, Odd Frank (2009): Kultur- og mediebruk blant personermed innvandrerbakgrunn. Rapporter 2009/29, Statistics Norway

19 Lindstad, Merete and yvind Fjeldstad (2005): Av utenlandskopprinnelse. Quote: page 131

20 See the survey from SKUP: http://www.kim.no/upload/rapporter/0805%20SKUP_Holdningsunderskelse_Nehru%20Sand.pdf

21 From Retrievers media analysis22 Marianne Mikkelsen (2009): Verdsatt og feilvurdert. Flerkulturelle

journalister i norske redaksjoner. Masters thesis, University ofOslo

23 Cf. The Integration Barometer 2009 [IMDi report, pending publication].

Forty-seven per cent of the participants answered that they think

immigration is working quite or very badly.

24 Blom, Svein (2009): Holdninger til innvandrere og innvandring 2009.

Rapporter 2009/44. Statistics Norway.

25 Blom, Svein (2009): Holdninger til innvandrere og innvandring 2009.

Rapporter 2009/44. SSB.

26 Cf. The Integration Barometer 2009 [IMDi report, pending publication]

27 Cf. survey by Tor Bjrklund and Johannes Bergh, referred to in the

article by Lindstad and Fjeldstad.

28 Doctoral dissertation by Sharam Alghasi, from the research programme

Cultural complexity in the new Norway, University of Oslo.See interview: http://www.culcom.uio.no/nyheter/2009/alghasi.html

29 Cf. report from ECRI.

30 Integrert, men diskriminert. IMDi-report 9-2008.

31 EU-MIDIS: European Union Minorities and Discrimination Survey.See the report: http://fra.europa.eu/fraWebsite/eu-midis/index_en.htm

32 Data from the survey Ung i Norge 2006, quoted in Fangen, Katrine(2008): Identitet og praksis. Etnisitet, klasse og kjnn blantsomaliere i Norge. Gyldendal Akademisk.

33 Cf. feature article in Aftenposten 31 December 2009 by Knut Olavms, debate editor: http://www.aftenposten.no/meninger/kommentatorer/aamaas/article3444150.ece

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