Page - 158 - in Media – Migration – Integration - European and North American Perspectives

Augie Fleras | Ethnic and Aboriginal Media in Canada 158 Ethnic media also play both an outward- and inward-looking role. Outwardly, by supplying information of relevance and immediacy to the intended demographic, including how to navigate the labyrinth of a strange new world. Ethnic media provide communities with a voice to articulate their concerns with the wider public, while providing a counterweight to an increasingly corporate mainstream newsmedia (Hsu 2002). This building of bridges with the outside world reinforces and advances the social capital of minorities both as individuals and community members. Inwardly, as a marker of identity by reporting news of relevance to the community through a perspective and tone that resonates meaningfully with these audiences. Focusing on homeland news or events in the immigrants native language strengthens identities, heritage and culture, especially since mainstream media tend to ignore minority issues or unnecessarily problematize them. In offering an alternative view to mainstream media, ethnic media focus on issues related to social justice, institutional inclusion, and the removal of discriminatory barriers. By providing local news of direct and immediate relevance, ethnic media acquire the potential to mobilize residents to act upon injustices and problems within the community (Lin and Song 2006). Clearly, then, ethnic media can be aligned along a reactive-proactive and outward-inward dimension. With the globalized flows of migrants, ideas, information, capital, and technology around the world, traditional notions of belonging between people and place are changing. Immigrants now have the option of being firmly rooted in their adopted countries, without losing multiple links to their homeland, thereby exerting pressure on ethnic (and immigrant) media to construct a multilocality and transnational sense of belonging (Cheng 2005). In acknowledging the possibility of community as imagined or locality as narrated across national borders, the concept of multiple homelands and attachments challenges conventional notions that reduce the relationship between host country and home country as either-or dichotomies for winning immigrant attention and affection. Even questions regarding the role of ethnic media in helping or hindering the integration process may have to be rethought, according to Cheng. Rather than boxing them into one of these dimensional categories, most ethnic media are multidimensional. If these dimensions (inward-outward; reactive-proactive) are aligned along two continua and then bisected at right angles, a four cell table is created that acknowledges the dynamics and complexity of ethnic media: