PressEthic

While race has long been a central aspect of American politics, the struggle of ethnic inequality in Europe is a phenomenon of more recent post colonialism immigration. In fact, one of the problems that I quickly recognized when studying in Europe was the sharp disparity of migrants and their children from the native populations, which were much more much more pronounced from what I’ve observed here in the States. Unfortunately, it seems that the media is a direct reflection of this imbalance in European society. In a recent statement, by President Chirac, he acknowledged the lack of diversity in newsrooms and television and said “the media must better reflect the France of today”. The news coverage of the riots in France was not extensive, and part of the reason lies in that the country’s media was not adequately prepared to cover the uprisings that occurred in the French suburbs. Karim Baïla, a French reporter born to Algerian parents talks about his role in the riot coverage in a progressive online magazine called Pacific News Service

They use us to cover these crises," he says, referring to minority reporters in France. "But when the story is over, they forget about us."

[He reported] on the fires in the Parisian suburbs, or banlieues, for 14 days straight. He's been covering it for French TV and has spent every night cruising the streets in his car with a video camera leant to him by the network. They didn't send him with a cameraman because, he says, none would go.

Another large issue I've found is the absence in news coverage regarding the domino effect that the French riots had on other parts of Europe. In Rome, Athens, and Rotterdam, the non- European minority have also spoken out and taken action against their respective state governments. In fact, according to the previous article,

the past weeks rioting erupted and cars were torched in Germany, Holland, Belgium, Greece and Italy. European media are asking what this means for the future of Europe.

Since the beginning of the Paris banlieue's revolts the most serious incidents outside France have been registered in Belgium. Like France, Belgium's immigrant population is composed mostly of people of Moroccan origin, and the country register double-digit unemployment among youths.

The turmoil going on the underprivileged towns of Europe is grossly under covered here and abroad. Does it have to take major crisis such as a hurricane or 3 weeks of disastrous rioting for the media to recognize and report on issues regarding minority communities?