Emmy Noether Research Group: The Media Portrayal of Majority and Minority Groups: Understanding the Media’s Role in Constructing Similarities and Differences

States transform through the interlinked processes of migration, transnationalization and globalization. These processes have been altered and accelerated by rapid changes in technology, digital communication, and immigration patterns, particularly over the past few decades. Within such pluralist societies, the media can act as brokers both within and between social groups. Indeed, it is via the media that people learn about the lives of others who are similar to or different from themselves, and through which discursive distinctions between in-groups and out-groups are established. Whilst the study of minority representation in the media has attracted a great deal of academic attention, the study of majority group representation has been largely neglected within extant research. In addressing this gap in the literature, the aim of this project is to reveal similarities and differences in the media portrayal of majority and minority groups by studying them comparatively. This research project will examine changes across time, whilst taking explanatory factors related to minority and majority group coverage into account. Empirically, the news media sample will include data from both newspapers and TV news from Germany, Poland, the UK, and the US over a 20-year period. Crucially, this project shall not only investigate mainstream news sources, but also consider content from regional news platforms and news media produced by and for minority groups. The research will utilise both qualitative and quantitative methods to compare the representation of majority and minority groups in terms of nationality, ethnicity, religion, gender, and sexual orientation.