Thursday, June 27, 2013
5.60 (PC Hoofthuis)
This study questions the predominance of the multiculturalism debate while studying migrant representation in the media. The paper proposes to revisit the cosmopolitanism and communitarianism debate while aiming to identify patterns in the print media representation of Muslim migrants in the 2000s. By drawing on evidence from the news reporting in Germany, France and the UK, the paper argues that both communitarianism and cosmopolitanism remain as relevant frames for explaining the nature and content of reporting as well as the patterns that emerge throughout the 2000s. The paper will work with a sample of events or happenings which resulted in news reporting in all three cases, and qualitatively analyze how the different frames are able to capture the characteristics of the issue in the different cases. The paper is organized as follows: first, it discusses the debates on multiculturalism, communitarianism and cosmopolitanism used to identify migrant representation in the print media. Second, it presents the patterns of media representation which emerge around samples of events such as Islamic practices and tests how different theoretical approaches would explain these patterns. It concludes by a discussion on how the limits of multiculturalism may be calling for a return to reconsidering what communitarianism and cosmopolitanism has to offer on how states respond to and media represents religious diversity.
