Spaces of Inclusion: An Explorative Study on Needs of Refugees and Migrants in the Domain of Media Communication and on Responses by Community Media

"What role do media in general and community media in particular play for (recently arrived) refugees and migrants in response to their particular needs and with regard to their human right to freedom of expression, which includes the right to information?"

Prepared by experts of the COMMIT - Community Media Institute in Austria for the Council of Europe (CoE), this report uses individual interviews to explore the media habits and particular needs of refugees and migrants in the domain of media communication. In focusing on the role and the potential of local initiatives and more specifically of community media, the study is less concerned with private or interpersonal communication via mobile devices than with the possibility for migrants and refugees to access spaces of wider communication in order to exercise their right to freedom of expression, including the right to information.

The introduction to the report explains how media as facilitators of public communication and discourse may be viewed as tool for managing the increasing diversity in society and promoting inclusion. This role cannot be fulfilled, however, when migrants - who may encounter barriers in their media practices - are excluded from participation in media communication. In this context, inclusion means the recognition of refugees and migrants as relevant and respected parts of the audience with specific interests and needs (e.g., concerning information about rights, resources, and duties), as well as the possibility to develop their independent voices and make them heard in public debate.

Section I of the report provides an overview of community media in Europe. It also defines community media as "concern about the role of the targeted community in the radio production process. The target community is afforded a dual role as listener and as producer so that it gains editorial control over the broadcast content." This definition is tied to its role of providing a tool for self-representation. At small-scale stations, local communities participate in the production because doing so allows them to shape their own identities by discussing issues that are relevant to them through their own channels of communication. Community media can strengthen local identity and interest in local affairs through the production of broadcast and online programmes that are closer to its listeners, viewers, and users.

Section II discusses the study - its analytical framework, methodology, and design. The data are derived from in-depth, semi-structured interviews conducted in 2017 in Austria with refugees and migrants with experience with local community media or other media-specific projects, and refugees and migrants without such experience. The group includes three women and five men from Syria, Afghanistan, Chechnya, Iran, and Somalia who are living in Austria. Next, the findings are clustered around the following thematic focus areas that reflect the research questions: media practices and repertoires (section 2.1), participation and exclusion (2.2), needs, expectations, and desires (2.3), and functions attributed to community media (2.4). Brief selected findings:

• Refugees and migrants highlight the role of networks in general - virtual and face to face - as they afford social capital with regard to problem solving (administrative procedures, access to health care and social welfare, housing, etc.). Local non-governmental organisations (NGOs), social initiatives, and cultural organisations equally play an important role as informal networks that contribute to the shared experiences of newcomers.
• The study confirms earlier findings regarding the importance of smartphones and similar devices when it comes to material access to different types of media and media content. It demonstrates that there is a need for further exploration of the patterns in change of media routines that are prompted by displacement, as well as the role of different kinds of networks and platforms in coping with the challenge of reorganising life in a new environment.
• Among barriers to access to the media for newcomers/refugees in the context ofmainstream media: prevailing monolingual orientation of mainstream media, the lack of meta-knowledge regarding the local media landscape, and the scarcity of available roles, which results from dominant discourses that assign newcomers certain stereotypical roles but deny them acknowledgement as integral parts of the audience. As such, community media and other media-related projects designed to reach refugees and migrants with the aim of facilitating media access are considered to be spaces that are potentially exempt of certain constraints that operate elsewhere.
• That said, the authors point out that, even if conditions for accessing community media appear favourable, it is relevant to ask for each media-related project how accessible it really is to non-professionals. In addition, it is important to keep in mind the precarious positions entailed in volunteer work. In terms of institutional representation, an established "space of inclusion" could become a site of exclusion.

Section III features portraits of projects (including links to relevant websites) involving people with a refugee or migrant background in community radio/television stations, with the goal of producing a mapping of good practices, focusing on these questions: Why are refugees and migrants involved in community media? Which needs are fulfilled by their engagement in media production?How does this relate to the states' obligations in the areas of human rights and fundamental freedoms - in particular, the freedom of expression and the right to information. In short, these good practice examples show how community media can meet newcomers' needs by offering training and spaces for self-representation, and by offering points of entry into local networks. Community media and their bottom-up approach to content production also contribute to a multilingual media environment that reflects the diversity of European societies and includes marginalised communities as respected part of audiences.

Based on their findings, the authors propose a list of recommendations for an inclusive media policy. In brief (see pages 47-48 for more):

• Policymakers should, for example, include and consult with community media when developing intercultural integration or inclusion policies at the national, regional, and local level.
• Civil society organisations should, for example, support (critical) media literacy of organisations' members through participation in community media trainings and programmes.
• Public service and commercial media should, for example, develop media partnerships with community media aimed at multiplying visibility of content produced locally by people with a refugee or migrant background.
• Community media should, for example, strengthen partnerships and exchanges of good practice within the community media sector.