My generation - Asian culture and the media
8th December, 2004
by Sunny Hundal
Editor
It was the chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality, Trevor Phillips, who this year reignited the multiculturalism debate among ethnic minority journalists in Britain. In a series of public remarks including an interview to the Times he discouraged non-white Britons from emphasising their "foreignness", saying they should "retain a core of Britishness" instead.
"When we stress our foreignness instead of claiming our right to be British," he said, "we surrender our place in society. We all know how patronised we feel when people talk to us as though we are foreigners, even though their intent is to make us feel at home. The fact is that we are at home already."
For those remarks, ethnic minority journalists took against him. In a poll of nearly 200 media professionals by Asians in Media magazine, more than 70% disagreed with him - and 57% felt he should resign.
Nevertheless, during the summer, I noticed a huge proportion of young British Asians expressing their Britishness - by supporting England in Euro 2004, and flying the St. George flag with pride.
Why the seeming disparity between the two points of view?
Like most of my friends and peers, I am a British citizen. I love London and feel like a part of this city and this country. I take part in the media and the political process. I go to the pub, listen to Jazz FM and fanatically followed Spitting Image. At the same time I eat Indian food, frequently speak in Panjabi, watch Bollywood movies, listen to Indian music and attend Asian events.
In the context of this hybrid culture, most approaches to multiculturalism are fraught with danger, because they don't take into account the wide range of opinions on how we ethnic minorities see ourselves and fit into the UK. There are liberals, conservatives, traditionalists, progressives, the highly religious and secular Asians too, same as any.
Take media as an example. From an Asian media rooted in foreign languages, the industry is increasingly aiming for a growing 2nd - 3rd generation demographic where English is the primary language of communication. Magazines, radio stations and websites catering for the young affluent generation are booming.
The paradox is that while we are increasingly soaked in British culture, we want to retain the extent to which we pick and choose British and Asian culture. The Asian media becomes part of this equation. Supporting England and feeling British does not have to mean playing down, or not taking pride in, Asian heritage and roots.
The middle ground between them, of course, should be explored in the media - but the media has become part of the problem.
People like Phillips stress cultural homogeneity partly because they want to neutralise a sensationalist rightwing press, bent on whipping up hysteria against immigrants. But can you really appease a monster?
There is only one way out of this: if you can't beat them, join them. Whether to ensure better representation on TV, counteract press hysteria, or just to promote a wider range of news stories from minority communities, we need to get more people from ethnic minorities into the media.
From the media's point of view, it not only makes commercial sense to reach out to new markets - but because it helps add perspective to often one-sided news. But with the lack of diversity in the media workforce, perpetuated by the current paranoid climate, minorities are distrustful of our industry.
Before anyone asks Asians to be more 'British', it might help to examine how the media can be complicit in pushing them the other way.
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This article was first published in the Media Guardian Media Directory 2005.
Editor
It was the chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality, Trevor Phillips, who this year reignited the multiculturalism debate among ethnic minority journalists in Britain. In a series of public remarks including an interview to the Times he discouraged non-white Britons from emphasising their "foreignness", saying they should "retain a core of Britishness" instead."When we stress our foreignness instead of claiming our right to be British," he said, "we surrender our place in society. We all know how patronised we feel when people talk to us as though we are foreigners, even though their intent is to make us feel at home. The fact is that we are at home already."
For those remarks, ethnic minority journalists took against him. In a poll of nearly 200 media professionals by Asians in Media magazine, more than 70% disagreed with him - and 57% felt he should resign.
Nevertheless, during the summer, I noticed a huge proportion of young British Asians expressing their Britishness - by supporting England in Euro 2004, and flying the St. George flag with pride.
Why the seeming disparity between the two points of view?
Like most of my friends and peers, I am a British citizen. I love London and feel like a part of this city and this country. I take part in the media and the political process. I go to the pub, listen to Jazz FM and fanatically followed Spitting Image. At the same time I eat Indian food, frequently speak in Panjabi, watch Bollywood movies, listen to Indian music and attend Asian events.
In the context of this hybrid culture, most approaches to multiculturalism are fraught with danger, because they don't take into account the wide range of opinions on how we ethnic minorities see ourselves and fit into the UK. There are liberals, conservatives, traditionalists, progressives, the highly religious and secular Asians too, same as any.
Take media as an example. From an Asian media rooted in foreign languages, the industry is increasingly aiming for a growing 2nd - 3rd generation demographic where English is the primary language of communication. Magazines, radio stations and websites catering for the young affluent generation are booming.
The paradox is that while we are increasingly soaked in British culture, we want to retain the extent to which we pick and choose British and Asian culture. The Asian media becomes part of this equation. Supporting England and feeling British does not have to mean playing down, or not taking pride in, Asian heritage and roots.
The middle ground between them, of course, should be explored in the media - but the media has become part of the problem.
People like Phillips stress cultural homogeneity partly because they want to neutralise a sensationalist rightwing press, bent on whipping up hysteria against immigrants. But can you really appease a monster?
There is only one way out of this: if you can't beat them, join them. Whether to ensure better representation on TV, counteract press hysteria, or just to promote a wider range of news stories from minority communities, we need to get more people from ethnic minorities into the media.
From the media's point of view, it not only makes commercial sense to reach out to new markets - but because it helps add perspective to often one-sided news. But with the lack of diversity in the media workforce, perpetuated by the current paranoid climate, minorities are distrustful of our industry.
Before anyone asks Asians to be more 'British', it might help to examine how the media can be complicit in pushing them the other way.
----------------------------
This article was first published in the Media Guardian Media Directory 2005.
