News Media Consumption among Immigrants in Europe

Abstract

In recent years, especially with the advent Digital Broadcasting Satellite (DBS) technology, transnational media has become central in the consumption of news by immigrant populations. This has received some attention as a factor associated with the lack of integration into their new societies. The present article demonstrates that diaspora as an analytic term is indeed relevant for observations and empirical investigations of media practices among contemporary immigrants, leaving room for questions of multiple belonging with implications for everyday life. According to recent data, people with migrant experience tend to seek news very broadly. Extensive news media consumption, desire for more international news than found in the national television channels, and a critical stance towards the news from these channels, are also part of the picture. A diaspora perspective transforms the prospect presented by observers and journalists, worried about integration processes, and prompts considerations that immigrants are also emigrants.