Page - 145 - in Media – Migration – Integration - European and North American Perspectives

Augie Fleras | Ethnic and Aboriginal Media in Canada 145 and ethnic media are multidimensional in logic, process, and outcomes, no single assessment is possible or desirable (Riggins 1992; Ojo 2006). Content is organized thematically as follows: 1. to conceptualize the contrasts between mainstream media (namely private and public) and populist media (including ethnic and aboriginal media) in terms of underlying logic, operating principles and process, and anticipated outcomes; 2. to theorize aboriginal and ethnic media as both insular and integrative, that is, inward- and outward-looking as well as active and proactive; 3. to focus on the nature of news coverage in ethnic media. What topics are covered – local stories or homeland stories for diasporic community members (Lin and Song 2006)? 4. to look into the popularity and success of ethnic and aboriginal media in Canada; 5. to discuss their implications for facilitating migrant integration (ie. to settle down, fit in, and move up) while helping established minorities to construct community & culture. 6. to demonstrate how ethnic media are critical in constructing a multilocal sense of belonging by linking contemporary migrants with Canada and their homeland. 7. to entertain the possibility that, for purposes of analysis, mainstream newsmedia constitute a type of ethnic media (but with power) 8. to acknowledge the role of ethnic and aboriginal media in contributing to a robust public sphere (Husband 2005), in part by asking those awkward questions beyond mainstream expertise (Color-Line 2002) 9. to demonstrate how the logic underlying Aboriginal media differ from that of ethnic media, given the distinctive constitutional status of Canada’s Aboriginal peoples. 10. to explore the possibility of framing ethnic and aboriginal media as social capital because of their bonding and bridging ‘functions’. 11. to determine the status, role and responsibility of both mainstream and aboriginal/ethnic media within the context of an inclusive multiculturalism.