essay cultural diversity

8/3/2019 Essay Cultural Diversity

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Cultural diversity in the

Dutch media

Essay

Cultural Diversity and European media Policy

Suheyla Schroeder

Martine Kuik (11057)

Kelly Brunninkhuis (11056)

EMW

Sommersemester, Juli 2011


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Introduction

The Netherlands is known for their cultural diversity. There are 3,2 million

immigrants in Holland, with 16,4 million citizens on 34.000 square meters.

This is 482 people at 1 square km which is 94 immigrants at 1 square

meter. The Dutch society is daily confronted with citizens from different

cultures, therefore the Netherlands is a cultural diverse country. In this

essay we will discuss the following:

- The Dutch media and its landscape

- Facts and numbers about cultural diversity in the Netherlands- Cultural diversity in the Dutch media landscape

- Mira Media

Martine Kuik & Kelly Brunninkhuis


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1.Dutch media landscape

1.1 Overview

he Netherlands have a unique media landscape, for starters theyhave one of the highest readerships in the world; there is a highlyconcentrated print media. For a small country (16 million citizens)

they have a lot of television and radio stations, local and regional as wellas national. There is a high use of internet in the Netherlands, but despiteof the progressive nature of Holland and its media the grow of digitaltelevision is slow, which may be because of the wide range of programs onthe cable television.

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Public BroadcastingHolland has an unique and interesting history, but also the social, politicaland economical structure of today makes the media landscape a specialone. Public broadcasting for instance is still divided by the religions thatsplit up the society over 50 years ago. All the public broadcasters havetheir own ideological background. The EO for instance is a Christianbroadcaster, and they only broadcast programs that are in the line of theirbelieves.

There are 3 public television channels and 5 public radio channels. Thereis also a satellite channel BVN, and an international radio channel, bothaimed at Belgians and Dutch people living abroad. There are 5 public radiochannels, 1 digital channel, and 2 channels which belong to the sideactivities of the public broadcasters. There is also a wide range of regionaland local public broadcasters, financed by the provinces and thecommunities.

Public broadcasters receive revenues of the State, publicity revenues ofSTER (Foundation Ether Advertising), and revenues of the members ofthe broadcasting associations.

There are three supervision agencies for the broadcasters:

Board of Culture

Commission for the Media

Foundation Advertising Code Commission

The Commission for the Media is the most important one. It makes surethat the rules that are established in the media law are correctly appliedby the broadcasters.

Commercial broadcasting


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Since 1991 there has been a boom of commercial broadcasters in theNetherlands. The most important commercial media groups are:

Holland Media Group

SBS Media Group

Talpa Media Holding

They all offer a wide range of commercial television and radio channels.

Written pressThere are 12 newspapers that are released over the whole country. Themost important publishing groups are:

Telegraaf Media Group

PCM Publishers N.V.

Debate concerning audiovisual mediaRecently, there are three main questions that illustrate the debateconcerning audiovisual media in the Netherlands:

The strong competition between public and private broadcasters; The recent reorientation of the public broadcasting channels and the

result of this; The digitalizing of radio and television.

1.2 Trends and scenarios

he media landscape has changed dramatically over the last fewyears. New technologies provide an information market that ismoving constantly. The trend anywhere, anyway, anytime

integrates various networks of media which gives the consumer theopportunity to mix up traditional ways of media consuming. For instance:watching television on the internet, reading a newspaper on the smartphone etcetera. These new developments have a lot of consequences for

the old media landscape.

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Also the changes in society like individualization, globalization anddemographic developments like the multicultural society providechallenges. As a consumer you can now get interactive information theway you want it, whenever you want it, when you want it. For the media itbecomes harder to identify and reach the consumer.

Television & Radio


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The number of Dutch commercial television and radio stations hasincreased rapidly over the last decade. The main development intelevision is of course digital television; viewers now are in charge of theirtelevision experience. They can decide whether or not they want to seethe commercial breaks, when they want to view their favorite shows

etcetera. In 2009 49% watched digital television, in 2010 it rose to 57%.Also 40% watches television online. These numbers are likely to increaseover the next decade. Also due to the economical crisis a discussion wasstarted to eliminate some of the public broadcasters. This all will have ahuge impact on the traditional television landscape as we know it rightnow.

Radio got hit hard in 2009 by decreasing advertorial income. By now radioregained their listeners, and by providing digital radio, listening to streamsor through mobile telephones it actually increased in popularity.

Newspapers & Magazines

Despite of the variety of news portals online the newspapers contain theirreading numbers. The addition of free papers (spread at for instancestations) kept the newspaper rating high.

The magazine market is very dynamic. A lot of magazines are launchedand even faster stopped. They are often directed to a small, targetedaudiences. In Holland there are 1200 magazines, they reach 91 % of thepopulation of 13 years and older. New features are added to keep readersinterested, like the Q Reader, which makes it possible to read a magazinewhile watching interactive parts online through the smart phone.

Internet & Tablets

In Holland 87% of the households have access to internet. The averagetime they spend on it is 8.3 hours a week. Using internet on mobile phonesincreases fast; in 2009 only 18% used it, in 2010 it already went up to27%.

There are 20 million cell phones in Holland and that makes it one of thebiggest in Europe. Not only texting and of course- calling is popular, alsogaming, listening to music and using the internet becomes more and moreintegrated in the mobile phone experience. The market of phones isconstantly on the move, new models keep hitting the market and newapps are launched every day.


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In line with this development Apple introduced the iPad in 2010. Thiscaused a huge buzz and made media companies start developingapplications for these tablets. After the iPad was launched in Holland the

first newspaper applications came on the market. At the end of the firstquarter of 2011 almost all the big newspapers had presented theirapplications. Magazines are also launching their right now, which seems tobe a huge success.

1.3 Relation to cultural diversity

he media landscape as it used to be was clear and manageable.Before the introduction of internet there were only so many TVstations, newspapers and radio that left room for cultural diversity in

the media. With the arrival of internet, especially when almost everyonegot access to fast and cheap internet, there was a new opening fordiversity in the media.

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In the next chapter we will look deeper into the current situationconcerning cultural diversity in de Dutch media. Interesting to look at hereis what the shift in communication and media mean for the opportunitiesand threats for cultural minorities and their position in the Dutch medialandscape.

Opportunities

On the internet there is no program director who determines who getsairtime. Everyone, including people who may not be well integrated insociety, can display themselves and their opinions and interests on theinternet. For minorities who are that much underexposed in the media,this is their opportunity to profile themselves. Through blogs, podcasts,YouTube channels and of course normal websites every minority canrealize their own speaking portal.


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Threats

With over 2.500.000.000 websites worldwide there is a lot available towatch and listen to. Getting noticed becomes a task on its own. Gettingfollowers, keeping people interested, its only a few of the problems they

will face. And the hard part, getting people to listen who dont belong toyour minority and can actually mean something, whether its in theregular media or in society, is even harder.

The conclusion we can draw is that the new decade and its medial andtechnological developments mean a lot of new opportunities, the chancesto get out there are more equal. But we can only wait and see if somethingdrastically will change, or that its just another storm in a glass of water.


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2. Facts and numbers

2.1 Demographics ethnic groups in the Netherlands

n the first of January 2010 there are 3,2 million (legal) immigrantsin the Netherlands, this is almost 20% of the population. A littlemore than half of these people are not from western origin (11%).

42% of this group is from the second generation: they were born inHolland. 60% of the Western immigrant was born in Holland.

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Population in Holland January 2010:

Turks: 372700Moroccans: 335100Surinamese: 335800Antillean: 131800

Other non Western: 590200

Chinese: 47100Iraqis: 45500Afghans: 37400

Iranians: 29800

Total non Western: 1765700Total Western: 1449700Total Natives: 13100000

Total: 16405400

The Turkish society is with 372700 the biggest non Western populationgroup in the Netherlands.

New immigrant groupsIndonesians and Germans are the biggest group among Westernimmigrants. With each 380 thousands persons are they slightly larger thanthe largest non-western group, the Turks. This will change soon: theamount Indonesians and Germans decreases because of the relative highaging of the groups. Other immigrant groups have grown like: the Polishand Romanians. This because of the accession to the European Union.

Population GrowthThe 4 classic population groups: Turks, Moroccans, Surinamese and theAntilleans are only growing because of the second generation. The firstgeneration decreases, the second generation has a steady grow the lastcouple of years. The Dutch population will only grow by an increase in


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immigrants. Two out of ten people have a migrant background. Theexpectation is that in the year 2050 this will be three out of ten.

Media use Ethnic groups

Research has shown that the difference between media use betweenimmigrants and natives is not that big. At least not that big as theyexpected. The SCP (Social and Cultural Planburo) started a researchtowards the use of media in ethnic groups. The following was the result:

Members of immigrant groups read at least once a week a Dutchnewspaper, watch Dutch Broadcaster and use the internet (less thannatives). The first and second generation use media differently. Thesecond generation has more in common with the natives than the firstgeneration.

Cultural relative are relatively popular in the Turk, Moroccan, Surinameseand Antillean society in the Netherlands. For youth is cultural mediaappealing, especially radio and internet. Dutch daily magazines are wellread by the Dutch immigrants. (Research by Motivaction, 800 migrants inthe age of 13 till 65)

Cultural media is very popular by immigrant.

2.2 Cultural print media

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He Turkish magazine Ekin has the biggest reach under the cultural printmedia. The youth magazine Mzine (Moroccan) and the daily magazineAmigoe (Antillean) came on the second place. Immigrants do not oftenhave subscriptions for magazines. They pass it on to each other.

Interesting is to see how many Dutch immigrants read their own mediaand the Dutch media. The Turkish population in the Netherlands readsalmost just as much Turkish media as Dutch media. This because themedia landscape of regular Dutch print media in the Netherlands are much

more extensive than the Turkish print media in the Netherlands.Antilleans however are spending more time reading regular media thancultural media.


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Bron: Motivaction, 2007The purple is the regular media and the blue line is the cultural media.

Cultural online media30% of the Moroccans are once a week on the internet sitewww.marokko.nl. 24% of them visit this website every day. 25% of theSurinamese society visits once a week www.waterkrant.nl (Surinameseinformation website) 16% of them visits daily. Half of the Antillean andTurkish youth under the age of 20 visits partypeeps2000.com (socialnetwork) daily.

Print mediaPeople often assume that Dutch immigrants are not interested in the

Dutch newspapers. Research has shown that 20% of the Surinamese, 15%of the Moroccan and 12% of the Turkish reads a Dutch newspaper once aweek. An important fact is that Dutch immigrants get there newspapersfrom others, just like with the cultural magazines.

The use of internetResearch has shown that under the 4 of the biggest non Westernimmigrant groups, the Morrocan use the internet the most (11 hours and 8minutes a week). The Turks out of these four groups have the mostaccessability to internet (73%). The Surinamese have the less access tointernet (68%) and they spend the less time on the web (9 hours and 56min a week). Youth between 15 and 19 years spend die most time on theinternet.

The results of this research by Foquz Etnomarketing were muchunexpected; they expected a much bigger gab between immigrants andnatives.

The biggest gab is between the elder Turkish and Moroccans and thenatives. These elder immigrants have less accessibility and have nointernet skills. Especially the age of 46 and 64 and the low educators do

not use internet often. The Surinamese Antillean immigrants are in theiruse the most like the natives; they do have less access to internet than
http://www.marokko.nl/http://www.waterkrant.nl/http://www.marokko.nl/http://www.waterkrant.nl/


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the natives. The natives do use their computer at work more for internetthan immigrants do.

Ethnic background from those who chat/email with who?Western Own culture Half Westers Diverse

Half own culture

Research in de age of 15 till 64, in percents.

Interesting is to see how much contact there is between natives andimmigrants over the internet. Turkish pay according to this research themost time chatting and emailing with their own group. The other groupsare more mixed. Turkish also use their own language more than othergroups, while 80% of the Moroccan use Dutch only. (SCP, 2008).

Cultural Ad marketTo reach more immigrants, media use diversity marketing. Diversity

marketing means that the marketing policy conceders the diversity in thesocial society. They pay attention to cultural diversity, religious influenceand the fact that ethnic cultural groups consult more alternative newssources than natives. The key to success is the communication towardsthe target group. This communication can take place in different ways like,brand communication, direct communication to the staff, in writing andwith sound and vision. Important is that the target group feels takenseriously and the communication is tuned to the environment of the targetgroup. (Romer, 2002; Gelijke Kansen in Vlaanderen, 2005)


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- Viva (magazine for woman)- Spunk (internet magazine www.spunk.nl)- NOS headlines (news program)

Multicultural Media

Multicultural media are media for a composed audience from differentperspectives. They are made by a cultural diverse editorial and arespecificly directed to different population groups in the multiculturalsociety. These programs are also interesting for people who are interestedin other cultures. These are some examples of cultural media who bringscultural diversity in focus:

- MTNL (radio sender)- FunX (radio and TV)- Raymann is laat (late night show)- Dichtbij Nederland (show)- Dunya & Desie (youth series)- Colorfull magazine (magazine)- Hyves (multicultural website)

Target MediaTarget media is designed for a specific ethnic group and highlights issuesrelating to this group. Often appears target media in the language for thisspecific group. Lacal ethnic target programs have a special and importantfunction in the ethnic communities. These groups will be informed aboutevents within their own circles and in the Dutch society. The programs pay

often attention to their own language en culture, which connects thelisteners and the viewers. The local broadcasters also serve as a platformfor discussions in the community and in the Dutch society. These are someexamples:

- Amor FM (radio)- Ujala Radio- Kadin (magazine for Dutch Turkish woman)- M-kids (magazine for Islamic children)- Podolsk (weekly newspaper for Polish people in Holland)- www.marokko.nl (community site, internet)

3.2 Makers (staff)Cultural diversity in media organisation

Cultural diversity in the Dutch media is not reflected in mediaorganizations.

Editors within the broadcasting sector consist mainly of native menand women who work according to their own patterns and have theirown native network. It is very difficult for ethnic minority media

professionals to get a job in this established order.
http://www.spunk.nl/http://www.marokko.nl/http://www.marokko.nl/http://www.spunk.nl/http://www.marokko.nl/


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In 2008, 5% of the staff from the Dutch public broadcasting wasfrom an ethnic minority. The target of 10% is still far away.

Immigrantsare still underrepresented in media organizations. Despite thegrowing support for diversity in media policy and the growing demand for

ethnic media professionals, they still face major barriers to get in thissector and stay in this sector. Here are five reasons why:

- Objectivity is paramount: immigrant colleagues are seen as specificand objective.

- Programs are the priority. It is not a priority to educate newemployees.

- Unknown makes unloved: immigrants differ the majority of thenatives.

- You have to be seen and ask, it is easier to select from your own(white) network.

- Everyone has the same opportunities: managers feel no need to lookinto processes that increase the change of immigrants.

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Organizations with a cultural diverse staff:

- Have a bigger amount of knowledge, ideas and experience.- Are more attractive for the world outside the company.- Are familiar with a diversity of cultural manners.- Intern has everyone the same opportunities.-

Media use ethnic target groupsImmigrant do not often watch programs of the Dutch public broadcasters,they often watch programs in their own language. Especially the elderimmigrants. Younger immigrants watch both. This gives them a biggerperspective on the news than the average Dutch media user. The viewand listening behavior from the second en third generation immigrants(born in Holland) have a lot in comment with the autochthonous youth.Both listen and view the commercial broadcasters. Dutch immigrants arevery attached on cultural related print media. They are less willing topayfor a daily paper. Elder immigrants dont use the internet a lot. The youthuses the internet as much as the autochthonous youth. The so called

(digital gab) is mostly based on age than it is on ethnicity. Culturalmagazines are more popular by the Dutch immigrant than the Dutchautochthonous youth. Besides that, is there not a big difference betweenthese two groups.

Changes in the media landscapeSince the 20th century al lot has changed:

- Geographic boarders fade.- Digitization- Broadcasters and papers develop in the direction of multicultural

organizations


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- User generate content is growing rapidly: the offer is made by theuser

- Internet is still growing- Internet time costs TV time

The Dutch Public Broadcasting and Cultural diversityPublic Broadcasters are controlled by the government. They are motivatedto make sure that the offer fits with the ethnic minorities. It is the legalresponsibility of the Dutch Public Broadcasting (NPO) to reflect thedifferent population groups in the multicultural society.Research showed that the public broadcasters do not succeed to reach theethnic minorities in Holland. There are not many youth immigrants whowatch Public Broadcasters. The public broadcasters are not been used as ameeting place for immigrants and natives. The Board of directors from theDutch Public Broadcasting chose public diversity as the most importantthing in their broadcasting policy. According to their budget plan will theyrealize this in the year 2008-2012 by creating diversity in their personneland their programs.

Media policySince 1990 the Netherland have a dual system of public and commercialbroadcasters. The goal of this dual system is to make sure that as many aspossible citizens have access to an independent, varied and quality mediaoffer. Because of the social importance does the government monitor themedia. By creating conditions, stimulate positive social impacts andcounteracting the negative, important functions as pluralism, accessibility

and quality can be protected.

The history of media and minoritysThe policy on media and ethnic minorities is parallel to the attitude of thegovernment towards ethnic minorities. In the eighties the Dutchgovernment realized that the migrant workers settled permanently in theNetherlands and emphasized the importance of keeping the culture of theethnic minorities. Therefore the Dutch government encouraged programsin the language of the target groups. Since the nineties this became amore important topic. Target programs were no longer a priority. This wasthe start of inter culturalisation in public broadcasting. Since the first of

January a new media law was launched. The goal of this law is to ensurethat the public broadcasting in the digital landscape fulfill his socialfunctions and continue to fulfill the democratic, cultural and social needsof the society.

Research against media and cultural diversity in Holland

Media can create an image of the Dutch multicultural society (de

Bruin)

Programs with actors from minority groups with important roles can

create a positive image of minority groups in the society. (Norris)


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Dutch television drama is used as a reference for identity

constructions by youth. (de Bruin)

Internet contributes identification developments for immigrant youth

and give ethnic groups information about the society. (vanSummeren)

Media gives ethnic groups information in their own language. Thisstrengthens intercommunication. bonding social capital: individualscommunicate witch each other within their own group. (RobertPutnam)

Media creates a platform where groups can communicate with each

other and create relationships between people. Bridging socialcapital: Individuals look further than their own group and exploretheir horizon. (Rober Putnam)

ICT-use by immigrants leads to bridging and bonding. (Robert

Putnam)

4. Mira media


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4 .1 Overview

ira Media is the national knowledge centre concerning media in themulticultural society. Mira means in a lot of languages watching,mirror or reflection. The name stands for the mission of the

organization: a media landscape that is a good reflection of the Dutchsociety.MMira Media works at a national, European and international level. Tofinance the project, they receive money from the Dutch government andthe European Union.

MissionMira Media has the mission to be the link between media and the citizensin the current multicultural society in Holland. Four important statements:

Mira Media researches and monitors the role, function and impact ofmedia on the society.

Mira Media fosters ethnic cultural diversity in media productions. Mira Media fosters active participation in the media for media

professionals, volunteers and critical media consumer.

VisionThe vision we have of the world is formed mainly by the information weget through the media. Therefore it is important that the people who makemedia products have knowledge of all the big (sub)cultures in Holland.

When this is not the case, there is the danger that certain groups cantfind or recognize themselves in the media offer. Also there is thepossibility that a biased vision of certain phenomenons or cultures ariseby the media consumers. In the worst case this will lead up to a societywhere groups live next to each other, instead of with each other. That iswhy Mira Media wants to display a wide offer of opinions, insights andbackgrounds in the media.

4 .2 Projects

ira Media changed into a project organization since the 1st of Juneof this year. All the tasks as a knowledge centre were canceled.Due to the cancelling of the subsidy by the state Mira Media was

forced to let go some of their proceedings. Luckily not all of theorganization will be gone, they will continue and with these projects theytry to realize their mission. Currently the organization is occupied with twomain projects and two smaller ones, a short description of these arebeneath.

M

Europe4U

Mira Media in corporation with ETV.nl started with the development of anew project called Europe4U. During the starting workshop in Media Plaza


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at the Jaarbeurs in Utrecht professors from the ROCs together forpresentations and workshops. Jos Leenhouts, secretary of the board ETV.nland chairman of the Board from the Mondriaan education group spoke tothe audience via the webcam.

Multi media education project for the MBOEurope4U is a multi media education project for the MBO (beschrijving), itconsists of television programs, digitals, a website and a lesson packet.While there isnt a lesson packet yet for the MBO the ambition of thisproject is to deliver a substantial effort here to. Mira Media takes care ofthe process management and the research.

European ElectionsEurope 4U is a project of 3 years that will continue after the Europeanelections in 2009. The European elections play an important part in theproject. Students and professors prepare themselves by makingassignments, the education packets and meeting, while the other materialis used to inform the audience about Europe in a different way.

Expected outcome

Two EU television magazines and 4 regional magazines.

Internet platform with 80 digital stories from the students.

Lesson packet for ROC participants. Offer of support for professors.

Use of the lesson packets by other ROCs to prepare for theEuropean elections.

Broadcasting of television programs to prepare for the elections. Results of a Europe survey by ROC professors and students.

CooperationThe project is executed through a cooperation between ETV.nl, ROCs,Mira Media and Newspaper in the class. Because of the joint expertise andexperience of all the partners this project can be executed effectively. Thenational expertise centre ETV.nl is responsible for the production of thecentral television productions and de local/regional broadcasting. Alsothey take care of the coordination of the broadcasts and the website. The

ROCs execute the lesson program. As said before, Mira Media takes careof the researching.

The project is financed by money of the Europe fund from the Ministry ofForeign cases en is also financed by the Commission of Europeansocietys.

Media4METhe goal of Media4ME is to encourage the intercultural dialog, socialcohesion and citizenship by the use of social media and ICT-tools in theneighborhood.

Media in the neighborhood


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Making a newspaper together about the history of the neighborhood,looking up on the web where and when courses are given, children pressbureaus, Skype groups for the elderly, using digital surveys to find outwhat citizens want to change in the neighborhood; these are all tools touse media as an instrument to include citizens in their neighborhood and

improve the communication and the amenities in the neighborhood. Alsothe possibilities to bundle and link the power and expertise oforganizations and institutions in the neighborhood.

Some neighborhood projects have a specific goal: for instance improvingsocial cohesion, improving communication, or making the physical andsocial living environment better. Others combine these goals. They seeneighborhood media as an instrument to reach more than one goal.

Presenting, spreading and sharing of knowledgeIn a increasing number of city neighborhoods media projects are executed.

There are several reasons why this happens more and more: working withmedia is more simple and less expensive, but most of all: its effective.That is why more organizations and directors are willing to invest inneighborhood media, in any form: from digital football fields to mediaateliers. It happens in a lot of ways, ideas keep on coming, none the less itdoesnt always have a permanent character.

Media4ME therefore makes inventory of the current neighborhoodprojects, makes them visible and brings knowledge and expertise togetherto share information. Media4ME focuses on projects that increase socialcohesion and intercultural dialog and stimulates mostly projects wheredifferent neighborhood organizations work together.

World journalistsThis is a Dutch news website with room for opinions and analysis. Thewebsite brings news from migrant and refugee societys, comes with newangles, shows visitors literature, news and weblogs who might beinteresting. The news articles are not exclusively about refugees andmigrants, but they reflect de focus, the perspective and the specificqualities of the journalists with a non Dutch background. Articles for this

website are written by a network of correspondents with a migrant orrefugee background.

The digital generation gapThe developments on the internet are fast, and that is what makes it hardfor the elderly: to keep track of new developments. This is also the casefor the immigrant parents. They have specific questions, where the regularmedia education is not enough. In cooperation with Pharos and the DutchYouth Institute Mira Media started a project with the goal to reduce thedigital generation gap between immigrant parents and their children.


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Chapter 4 Kelly

Conclusion Martine

Lay-out, research Martine & Kelly

essay cultural diversity

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