Should we start subtitling in Arabic? Is it our editors? Editorial chief Ivar Lingen of The Hague FM is not sure what to do with one of the conclusions in a recent report from the Media Authority. In a large-scale study into the state of local journalism in the Netherlands, the researchers paid extra attention to the media use of Dutch people with a non-Western migration background. Interest in local media is significantly lower there than among the rest of the Dutch population.
Dutch people with roots in Turkey, Morocco, Suriname and the Caribbean part of the Kingdom were questioned separately in the study. Especially because the researchers still knew little about their viewing, reading and listening habits. While 89 percent of Dutch people without a migration background are at least somewhat interested in local news, the percentage among Moroccan Dutch people is 43 percent.
Lingen is not sure how to persuade fellow citizens with a non-Western background to listen to his broadcaster, he says to the editors of The Hague FM. While the public city broadcaster does have the task everybody reachable in the city. “Of course we can’t do that. I find that annoying.”
“I didn’t expect this group to have such a low interest in local media,” researcher Edmund Lauf said of the report. Lauf himself, with his German background, reads Dutch newspapers. Yet he also follows German media. A possible explanation for why bicultural Dutch people follow the local news less. “The next step is the question of why the interest is so low. And then you can see how you can promote media use.”
Nearly two thirds of the residents of The Hague know The Hague FM and half use the local broadcasting station, according to research by Motivaction. It has been known for some time about young people that they are less interested in what is going on in their municipality. When Lingen looks at his own editorial office, he sees more and more young people walking around. “At Den Haag FM there is no fresh air from old men who practice their hobby.” For example, the city broadcaster works together with FunX, a public radio station that focuses on young people with urban music. The Hague FM also makes the radio program Young Agga and thus reaches both young people and residents of The Hague with a migration background.
Arabic articles
However, the editors still have some work to do when it comes to ethnic diversity. While more than half of the residents of The Hague have at least one parent who was not born in the Netherlands, this is not yet the case at the editorial office of The Hague FM. None of the six permanent employees has a migration background, and only about ten percent of the volunteers, Lingen estimates. No surprise for a journalistic editor. NRC conducted a survey on media diversity in 2018 and found that 94.6 percent of permanent journalists had a Western background.
Lingen was shocked when he visited the School of Journalism. “You hardly see anyone with a non-Western background, that really pisses me off. Ultimately it has to come from there.” He tries to bring in program makers without a journalistic background who do represent this target group. “Actually, I give that priority.”
For the residents of The Hague who do not speak the Dutch language, various regional public broadcasters will come up with a translation function for the online articles. The app of The Hague FM will also receive this function.
It is a possible solution for residents of the Schilderswijk and Transvaalkwartier, two multicultural neighborhoods in The Hague. “We don’t hear much from those areas. Like the municipality, we make use of so-called key figures, people who, thanks to their network, have access to a community that is more difficult for us to reach. But then the Turkish community will not suddenly start listening to The Hague FM. Sometimes you think it’s an illusion, reaching everyone.”