Peace and Third World magazines studied

A group of scholars at the HELP's computer lab. (Photo: Tequila Minsky)

Researchers undertook a study commissioned by the Protestant Academy of Iserlohn in Germany. In the course of that study, six exemplary Third World and Peace Movement magazines from Germany were critically analysed. The focal point of the study was what kind of image of the foreigner is disseminated by media that regard themselves as alternative, and whether it is qualitatively different from that of the mainstream media. This study will be published in book form in late 2004 under the title Für eine Kultur der Differenzen. Friedens- und Dritte-Welt-Zeitschriften auf dem Prüfstand.*

The view from the North

Our evaluation of almost 900 articles, from two volumes of magazine issues separated by a period of 13 years, turned up partly surprising results. The wealth of countries dealt with in alternative magazines is very large. Depicted as a geometric figure map, it resembles the UN ideal of a mosaic of sovereign and equal states. A detailed analysis, however, reveals concentrations and blank spots. Whatever indicators are taken – the distribution of countries and continents, a comparison using the HDI and Freedom House index, a comparison with the distribution based on OECD countries and according to the religion or nationality of the authors – the alternative magazines favour a worldview that is coloured by the perspective of the elite countries. Whole continents are represented by key states: India stands for Asia, Brazil for Latin American, and South Africa for Africa. Often this prevents a view of the periphery on the periphery. Minorities rarely have a place in the reporting. If the distribution of countries is examined on the basis of religious affiliation, then a barrier emerges: the views that predominate in the magazines are similar to those in the respective own cultures. Countries with a majority of Christians are clearly over-represented in the reporting.

Oriented towards consensus?

The study examined the magazines epd-Entwicklungspolitik, INKOTA-Brief zum Nord-Süd-Konflikt und zur konziliaren Bewegung, Zivil – Zeitschrift für Frieden und Gewaltfreiheit (with its predecessor Was uns betrifft (wub). Zeitschrift für Kriegsdienstverweigerer und Zivildienstleistende), Blätter des Informationszentrums 3. Welt (iz3w), Friedens-Forum. Rundbrief der Friedensbewegung and Et cetera. Pädadoginnen und Pädagogen für den Frieden. The comparison between the years 1988 and 2001 brought interesting results: Whereas the way the countries of the North are perceived has varied little, in 2001 there was a definite shift of attention to Africa, at the expense of Asia and Latin America. In the same period, the perception of state actors has declined drastically to the advantage of non-state actors.

Furthermore, most of the magazines show a shift from a conflict-oriented political strategy to one that is marked by a pressure to conform. Thus the alternative magazines have adopted an alternative attitude that is seen by society as being consensual. They pay a lot of attention to the blank spots, like Africa and the NGOs, and so offer a real alternative to the mainstream media.

Vassals of the mainstream media?

If these figures are compared with the findings of studies on the image of the foreigner in the mainstream media, then the perception of the alternative media can be certified as having the widest range of countries. The US magazine Time, in contrast, is strongly crisis-oriented and US-focussed, yet its navel gazing is in no way as intense as that of Der Spiegel. The news programmes on six German television stations deal with a considerable variety of countries in their reporting. What is striking, however, is their unquestioned adoption of a worldview in which the globe is dominated by the USA. Here too, Africa becomes a no man’s land. Apart from South Africa and several crisis regions, that continent practically does not exist in German television news programmes.

As for the authors, foreign male and female authors are somewhat better represented in the alternative magazines (5.9% compared to 3% at the WDR television station). However, with only a little over 20% of women among the authors, an important goal of the New Social Movement has not been achieved, namely, to increase the percentage of women authors.

Maryse Conde and husband and translator Richard Philcox with her book, Crossing the Mangrove. (Photo: Tequila Minsky)

Changes of perspective

All in all, the 16,000 country references examined in the study show that the alternative magazines have a diversified image of foreign countries. Yet these magazines often tend to depict the foreigner as an underdog, as passive, and as a victim of aid from the industrial countries. The alternative media are in no way as alternative as those responsible for them would like to believe and have others believe. Their image of foreign countries is structurally similar to that of the mainstream media.

Discussions with those responsible for these magazines, which formed part of the study, showed that not only can the findings be interpreted as the result of free choice, they are also linked to the editors’ and publishers’ material working and production conditions. The study shows that even today changes in perspective are still needed. More efforts to include female authors and contributions by foreign journalists could be of some help here.

* Für eine Kultur der Differenzen. Friedens- und Dritte-Welt-Zeitschriften auf dem Prüfstand, ed. by Jörg Becker; Christian Flatz; Emanuel Matondo and Uwe Trittmann, Iserlohn/ Germany: Evangelische Akademie im Institut für Kirche und Gesellschaft 2004. 155 pages. ISBN 3-931845-80-X; Price: 9,50 Euro. Send your orders to: Institut für Kirche und Gesellschaft, att. Ms. Helga Weber, Berliner Platz 12, D-58638 Iserlohn, Germany.

Jörg Becker, Professor Dr. (b. 1946). Professor of Political Science at Marburg University, Germany, and Innsbruck University, Austria. Since 1987 he is also managing director of the Centre for Communications and Technology Research Ltd in Solingen, Germany. Research subjects: German, international and intercultural communication research. Publications in German, English, French, Hungarian, Italian, Korean, Polish, Russian, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish and Turkish; 30 monographs, 39 edited books, and approx. 200 articles. Forthcoming is his monograph Conflict and Communication. Studies in International Relations. Preface by Johan Galtung, New Delhi: Concept Publishing House 2004.

Christian Flatz is a political scientist and works in Innsbruck/Austria. His research interests are in normative political theory and comparative research on media, international relations and minorities. Recent publications include: ‘“Even the toilet brush is gilded” - News coverage of the Iraqi Conflict in selected Austrian Newspapers’ (with Angelika Carfora, Martin Hartlieb and Armin Lanzinger), in: Rune Ottosen und Stig Arne Nohrstedt (ed.): The coverage of the Iraqi war in international media, Cresskill, NJ/USA: Hampton Press 2004/05; Für eine Kultur der Differenzen. Friedens- und Dritte Welt-Zeitschriften auf dem Prüfstand (co-edited with Jörg Becker, Emanuel Matondo D., Uwe Trittmann) Iserlohn: Evangelische Akademie 2004; ‘Afrikas Weg in die Informationsgesellschaft - eine Illusion’, in: Widerspruch. Beiträge zur sozialistischen Politik, Heft 45, 2003.