The importance of migrant media: African-Australian media

Abstract

This paper presents interview data from the initial stages of what will become a larger research project on African migrants and the media in Australia. Interviews were conducted with African-Australian media producers, writers, journalists and presenters in Melbourne. Participants included in the study represent four community radio programs, a community television program, a website and a magazine. The aim of the research is to better understand the aims and motivations of African-Australian media producers, as well as their targeted audience and the socio-cultural role of their media both within the African communities in Australia and amongst the wider Australian public. The media production of ethnic minorities is an important yet under-analysed area of research (Browne, 2005; Cover, 2012). Analyses that do focus on ethnic minorities and media have predominantly focused on transnational media consumption or the way in which ethnic groups are represented in mainstream media. Existing research on ethnic minority media production emphasises the importance of these media not only in terms of empowering minority communities, but also in potentially connecting with and affecting the majority public sphere (Husband, 1998; Couldry and Dreher, 2007). As Husband (1998) argues, it is important that minority media provide a space through which migrant voices can be heard and understood by the wider public. 2 It is argued in this paper that African media in Melbourne play an important dual role in both providing important symbolic and cultural resources for African-Australians and also in their capacity to encourage cross-cultural communication between African and non-African Australians. While participants aim their media at an African audience, a wider Australian audience is both explicitly targeted and implicitly engaged with. African-Australian media producers encourage positive cross-cultural understandings between African communities and the wider Australian public.