Indicator history

There is relatively little comprehensive knowledge about the media and journalists with a foreign origin. A study from 2000 shows that journalists with a migrant background particularly those with non-European background, are largely underrepresented in the majority of media workers. The study is based on a large survey ”Journalist 2000” which showed that about 3 % (or about 500) of the journalists had a foreign background that year. Of those, 1 % grew up in a Nordic country, 1 % in other European countries, and 1 % in outside Europe (Djerf-Pierre &Levin 2005: 172; Djerf-Pierre et al, 2001: 72; Weibull 2001: 15).

Although figures are not strictly comparable, one can not ignore the fact that the difference between 3 and 11.3 %, which represented the proportion of foreign born in Sweden of the total population in 2000 (see Statistical Yearbook of Sweden 2004: 95 ) is large.

Compared to their colleagues with Swedish / Nordic background, journalists with a foreign background were overrepresented in the Stockholm region, especially at Swedish Radio and Swedish Televison, while they are under-represented in the provincial press (Djerf-Pierre, and Levin, 2005: 172-3). [1]

The representation of foreign-born journalists is mainly found among a segment of media workers with very specific features. They are relatively young, born in Sweden and immigrated at an early age, have a Swedish school and college education and speaks flawless Swedish.[2]

In a study by media researcher Håkan Hvitfelt (1998), he shows that Islam in Swedish television news is reported as a particularly violent religion. 85 % of all news items related to Islam and Muslims is wholly or partly about violence. War, terrorism are common themes. Although reports about violence are prominent in television news, it normally accounts for "only" one in four news reports about violence.[3]

Ylva Brune (2000) describes how young women with origins in Muslim countries are interviewed and portrayed primarily in two contexts. As victims of oppression and violence in a relentless patriarchal culture that requires a woman's virginity. And as victims of migration for cultural conflict and cultural collision, where they fall "between two cultures."[4]

In the report ”Where did our right’s go? Experiences of racism and discrimination among Somalis in Sweden, published by the Centre Against Racism (Kalonaityte, Kawesa, Richards & Gasimelseed, 2011), the authors describe how Somalis in Sweden are victimized in the media. ^[5]

In a series of articles published in Göteborgs Posten, one of the articles begins by describing the situation for Somalis in Sweden as: "The Swedish Welfare system and the closed labor market contributes to the disaster, which can be translated into serious crime, widespread abuse, benefit fraud, poor school grades, broken families and sky-high unemployment."[6]

This description is illustrative of the negative stereotypical image of Somalis that the majority media communicates to the public.