Book part:

Die Entwicklung der Ethnomedien in Deutschland / The Development of Ethnic Media Cultures in Germany

Recent decades have seen a steep rise in the availability of ethnic media in Germany. “Ethnic media” include media produced in the countries of origin of migrant communities and available in Germany as well as media produced/distributed especially for migrants in Germany. It is possible to establish six consecutive phases in the development of ethnic media cultures, with some overlap. These phases describe not only milestones in the extension of the range of ethnic media (new topics, forms of organisation) – partly connected with the changing media landscape of the respective countries of origin –, but are also closely connected to media upheavals (technological change) of recent decades. Technical progress – TV, video, cable and satellite TV, the internet, and the switch to digital methods of production, broadcasting, and use of audiovisual media – has made it possible to increase enormously both the number and scope of media for migrants, and to target increasingly narrow groups of recipients. Besides technological change, social and cultural differentiation among the migrant population as well as the behaviour of the German mainstream media form the background to these developments, which since the 1960s have shown a trend that can be summarized as leading from German offers of ethnic media via media from the migrants’ countries of origin to multicultural media and media of migrants in Germany for migrants in Germany.