Against the background of complex flows of migration, socio-economic inequities and urbanisation, the mass media have an important function in society. They are information providers and evaluative voices of the public, and the way they portray diversity shapes young people's encounters with difference and their perception of society and identity (Schorb, 2009; Theunert, 2009). Especially youth radio stations that broadcast in large cities provide a platform for social exchange for young people struggling to fit in and find their place in increasingly diverse sociocultural environments. The mass media, however, have been frequently criticised for their negative portrayal and insufficient coverage of ethnic diversity (Gabrielatos & Baker, 2008; Geißler, 2010; Van Dijk, 2000). While the focus in such studies is mostly on media coverage, little is known about the journalistic practices that underly representations of ethnic diversity in media messages and about how radio stations wish to present themselves to their audiences.
My paper is based on the pilot component of a larger ethnographic project which investigates radio journalists' work in relation to encountering difference and sheds light on possible issues that lead to an unbalanced and negative portrayal of ethnic and linguistic diversity on youth radio. The project contributes to current debates in critical sociolinguistics and applied linguistics on a critical reconceptualisation of language and culture to overcome issues of social divide in view of increasing mobility and displacement of people (Canagarajah, 2013). For the pilot, which enables me to test and refine my research instruments for long-term ethnographic fieldwork, I will examine how journalists working at a German youth radio station try to reach an ethnically diverse audience through their station imaging. The self-advertisement of radio stations is so to speak the semiotic fingerprint of these media outlets and therefore essential for a station's success in attracting their listenership. In my presentation, I will outline the results of my fieldwork, which is based on observation, semi-structured interviews with journalists producing station imaging content for both on-air and online promotion and a multimodal critical discourse analysis of the produced self-advertisements. My results will foster a more meaningful engagement of journalists with their station image in relation to ethnic diversity and social inclusion.
References
Canagarajah, S. (2013). Translingual practice: Global Englishes and cosmopolitan relations. Routledge.
Gabrielatos, C., & Baker, P. (2008). Fleeing, sneaking, flooding: A corpus analysis of discursive constructions of refugees and asylum seekers in the UK press, 1996-2005. Journal of English Linguistics, 36(1), 5–38.
Geißler, R. (2010). Mediale Integration von ethnischen Minderheiten: Der Beitrag der Massenmedien zur interkulturellen Integration. In Zur Rolle der Medien in der Einwanderungsgesellschaft (pp. 8–22). Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung.
Schorb, B. (2009). Mediale Identitätsarbeit. Zwischen Realität, Experiment und Provokation. In H. Theunert (Ed.), Jugend-Medien-Identität: Identitätsarbeit Jugendlicher mit und in Medien (pp. 81–93). kopaed.
Theunert, H. (Ed.). (2009). Jugend - Medien - Identität: Identitätsarbeit Jugendlicher mit und in Medien. kopaed.
Van Dijk, T. A. (2000). New(s) racism: A discourse analytical approach. In S. Cottle (Ed.), Ethnic minorities and the media (pp. 33–49). Open University Press.
