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Project
The influence of identification on use and interpretation of television news among Flemish persons of Moroccan and Turkish origin.
This study enters upon two new themes in Flemish minority research. On the one hand, it studies the news consumption among 25 Flemish families with children of at least 12 years old, of whom 12 with Moroccan and 13 with Turkish ancestors. The 102 family members in total were interviewed two times three hours at their homes. On the other hand, it explores the possibilities of using identification (Brubaker, 2004; WRR, 2007) as an alternative to the prevailing concepts ethnicity, identity, religion that appeared to be inadequate and too problematic to describe what surfaced from the interviews and the analyses: the layered diversity of attitudes towards ethnic and religious labels, the fact that identifications are individually and contextually dependent, but especially the many other identifications that were not infrequently more important than ethnic or religious labels. The results were ethnographically built up, using Grounded Theory, from well over 4700 pages of interviews and observation notes and the field experiment the screening of a VRT-newscast , with linguistic pragmatics as a watchdog for ananalysis based upon systematic findings.
Identification allows us to diversify depthwise as well as widthwise. For informants are not reduced to ethnic (ethnonormativity) or religious (chain of equivalence, Laclau & Mouffe, 1985) identifications, which in addition seldom prevail. The attention given to other identifications and the division into three functional (day-to-day roles), normative (values) and emotional (feelings of belonging) dimensions of identification, that complement and nuance one another, creates a more layered and diversified approach. The attention devoted to the internal diversity and to theprimordial role of individual and context in the identification processes, provides more substantiated results and explanations in various domains (e.g. with regard to language, religion, channels). Identificationfor instance fits in closely with the finding that there is indeed (Cesari, 2003, 1998) a privatisation and individualisation of religion: most family members deem religion as something between them and god and create their personally and contextually defined balance of what has to be done in order to be sufficiently Muslim. This balance is weighed against various interpretations of doctrine and traditions, but also against the spirit of the age, feasibility, human and age related beliefs and processes, et cetera. The presence of one dimension of identificationdoes not necessarily imply that other dimensions play a role. Normativeidentifications often have a distinct dynamic, whereas emotional identifications are often broader than the sense of belonging to an (sic) ethnic or religious community. Functional identifications play a primordial role in numerous analyses (also in relation to origin and religion), while they are generally absent in literature. It is impossible to discuss the different findings concerning this topic here. Therefore, two examples are given to support what was previously argued. Those who watch a religious programme during Ramadan, do not necessarily do this out of a normative identification (e.g. content based confirmation), but often rather out of emotional (e.g. sphere, anthropological curiosity) and functional (e.g. direct context) identifications. In an unemployment and minorities related item in the screened newscast, origin did not play a role at all for several youngsters and employees, but rather the fact that as youngsters and employees they were not interested in unemployment related items.
Most family members consume news on a (almost) daily basis; however, the group of 11 to 15 year olds comprises less news consumers, above all because this group balances between adult newsand youth news. In the families news consumption is often stimulated although not always successfully through (a combination of) active incentives (e.g. asking to watch together), passive incentives (e.g. creating habits) and conversation related incentives (e.g. discussing the news). Most informants consume news because it is a daily ritual and motivations that surfaced were particularly information gathering, self-cultivation, social and functional functions. Television remains the most popular news medium, followed by the internet (in particular websites of television channels and newspapers). Printed newspapers and especially radio are less popular, certainly among the young. The possibilities of thedifferent media are often combined, but especially habit / ritual viewing behaviour, ease / tranquillity, the visual culture and the selection possibilities determine their choices. Most family members rather watch their television news on Flemish channels (VTM, één, Canvas and regional channels). The Turkish channels Kanal D and Show TV are a little less popular, but the gap between the Flemish and the Arabic-language channels (especially Al Jazeera, 2M and RTM) is much wider. News on satellite channels is watched primarily by the first generation. Furthermore, we deduced the 15 most important characteristics that play a role in the choices concerning television news, as uttered by the informants: the suspicion regarding Moroccan and Turkish channels, the proximity of a source in case of an event, the reputation of channels, language use, use ofimages, vivacity, broadcasting time, habit / ritual viewing behaviour and the related channel fidelity, functional identification, relative self-perception, critical mindset, the social viewing context, the new aspect in news, international or foreign news and the individual interest in topics such as politics, culture, sports, fait-divers, etc. The fieldexperiment largely confirms these analyses and adds a number of findings: the contextualised,
polysemic and intertextual readings and evaluations of the items, the important role that age plays in consumption andthe fact that the family members (consciously or not) choose along which lines they want to (des-)identify themselves. The often mentioned critical attitude of minorities has to be nuanced: besides critical, there are also non-critical and selective-critical consumers (e.g. only regarding certain topics). Moreover, most informants specify that their critical mindset varies, depending on topic, level (e.g. general information vs. details) and interpretation. Due to the larger offer of the public broadcaster VRT, no channel loyalty can be found with regard to current affairs programs, which are mostly appreciated because of their depth and the diversity of voices that are given a chance. Their counterparts on satellite are almost exclusively watched by men. With regard to portrayal,this dissertation draws special attention to the fact that quality (concerning content, the people shown, ...) is more important than pluralismon screen which is rather a matter of principle, next to an element of recognition and acknowledgement and to the fact that a layered definition of pluralism is essential (e.g. based on identification instead ofethnic groups or minorities). Subaltern minority groups (non-religious people, youngsters, and women) indeed do not feel represented by the actors on screen. Moreover, the negative portrayal addresses the Flemish rather than the minority side of family members since it hinderstheir day-to-day functional identifications. Pluralism on the screen isfor example not recognised because of the lack of attention for especially functional identifications (i.e. language knowledge, contextualisation here, the own environment, gender ...).
Identification allows us to diversify depthwise as well as widthwise. For informants are not reduced to ethnic (ethnonormativity) or religious (chain of equivalence, Laclau & Mouffe, 1985) identifications, which in addition seldom prevail. The attention given to other identifications and the division into three functional (day-to-day roles), normative (values) and emotional (feelings of belonging) dimensions of identification, that complement and nuance one another, creates a more layered and diversified approach. The attention devoted to the internal diversity and to theprimordial role of individual and context in the identification processes, provides more substantiated results and explanations in various domains (e.g. with regard to language, religion, channels). Identificationfor instance fits in closely with the finding that there is indeed (Cesari, 2003, 1998) a privatisation and individualisation of religion: most family members deem religion as something between them and god and create their personally and contextually defined balance of what has to be done in order to be sufficiently Muslim. This balance is weighed against various interpretations of doctrine and traditions, but also against the spirit of the age, feasibility, human and age related beliefs and processes, et cetera. The presence of one dimension of identificationdoes not necessarily imply that other dimensions play a role. Normativeidentifications often have a distinct dynamic, whereas emotional identifications are often broader than the sense of belonging to an (sic) ethnic or religious community. Functional identifications play a primordial role in numerous analyses (also in relation to origin and religion), while they are generally absent in literature. It is impossible to discuss the different findings concerning this topic here. Therefore, two examples are given to support what was previously argued. Those who watch a religious programme during Ramadan, do not necessarily do this out of a normative identification (e.g. content based confirmation), but often rather out of emotional (e.g. sphere, anthropological curiosity) and functional (e.g. direct context) identifications. In an unemployment and minorities related item in the screened newscast, origin did not play a role at all for several youngsters and employees, but rather the fact that as youngsters and employees they were not interested in unemployment related items.
Most family members consume news on a (almost) daily basis; however, the group of 11 to 15 year olds comprises less news consumers, above all because this group balances between adult newsand youth news. In the families news consumption is often stimulated although not always successfully through (a combination of) active incentives (e.g. asking to watch together), passive incentives (e.g. creating habits) and conversation related incentives (e.g. discussing the news). Most informants consume news because it is a daily ritual and motivations that surfaced were particularly information gathering, self-cultivation, social and functional functions. Television remains the most popular news medium, followed by the internet (in particular websites of television channels and newspapers). Printed newspapers and especially radio are less popular, certainly among the young. The possibilities of thedifferent media are often combined, but especially habit / ritual viewing behaviour, ease / tranquillity, the visual culture and the selection possibilities determine their choices. Most family members rather watch their television news on Flemish channels (VTM, één, Canvas and regional channels). The Turkish channels Kanal D and Show TV are a little less popular, but the gap between the Flemish and the Arabic-language channels (especially Al Jazeera, 2M and RTM) is much wider. News on satellite channels is watched primarily by the first generation. Furthermore, we deduced the 15 most important characteristics that play a role in the choices concerning television news, as uttered by the informants: the suspicion regarding Moroccan and Turkish channels, the proximity of a source in case of an event, the reputation of channels, language use, use ofimages, vivacity, broadcasting time, habit / ritual viewing behaviour and the related channel fidelity, functional identification, relative self-perception, critical mindset, the social viewing context, the new aspect in news, international or foreign news and the individual interest in topics such as politics, culture, sports, fait-divers, etc. The fieldexperiment largely confirms these analyses and adds a number of findings: the contextualised,
polysemic and intertextual readings and evaluations of the items, the important role that age plays in consumption andthe fact that the family members (consciously or not) choose along which lines they want to (des-)identify themselves. The often mentioned critical attitude of minorities has to be nuanced: besides critical, there are also non-critical and selective-critical consumers (e.g. only regarding certain topics). Moreover, most informants specify that their critical mindset varies, depending on topic, level (e.g. general information vs. details) and interpretation. Due to the larger offer of the public broadcaster VRT, no channel loyalty can be found with regard to current affairs programs, which are mostly appreciated because of their depth and the diversity of voices that are given a chance. Their counterparts on satellite are almost exclusively watched by men. With regard to portrayal,this dissertation draws special attention to the fact that quality (concerning content, the people shown, ...) is more important than pluralismon screen which is rather a matter of principle, next to an element of recognition and acknowledgement and to the fact that a layered definition of pluralism is essential (e.g. based on identification instead ofethnic groups or minorities). Subaltern minority groups (non-religious people, youngsters, and women) indeed do not feel represented by the actors on screen. Moreover, the negative portrayal addresses the Flemish rather than the minority side of family members since it hinderstheir day-to-day functional identifications. Pluralism on the screen isfor example not recognised because of the lack of attention for especially functional identifications (i.e. language knowledge, contextualisation here, the own environment, gender ...).
Date:1 Oct 2008 → 3 Jul 2012
Keywords:Television news, Moroccan origin, Turkish origin, Flemish persons
Disciplines:Communications, Communications technology
Project type:PhD project