10 Normalising racism in the Irish media
-
Lucy Michael
Abstract
Opinion columns and pseudo-scientific articles exploring immigration and integration are now the primary channels for overt racism in the Irish media, and their proliferation prompts a necessary exploration of their established form and growing influence. A range of columnists regularly vilify Muslims, Roma and Travellers, particularly drawing on ideas of barbarism, cultural genocide and population control, and defiantly testing the legal limits of incitement to hatred. Constructions of Irish culture as monolithic in the face of an immigration regime which imports failed multiculturalism and racism necessarily position migrants as continuing outsiders and the creators of their own exclusion. Clear connections can be made between racist discourses in Irish media and violence against migrants and ethnic minorities. This chapter explores how Irish media outlets are facilitating and promoting the normalisation of racist discourses, and the implications of this for the construction of debates which take seriously the challenges of integration in practice and in the context of growing anti-immigrant racism.
Abstract
Opinion columns and pseudo-scientific articles exploring immigration and integration are now the primary channels for overt racism in the Irish media, and their proliferation prompts a necessary exploration of their established form and growing influence. A range of columnists regularly vilify Muslims, Roma and Travellers, particularly drawing on ideas of barbarism, cultural genocide and population control, and defiantly testing the legal limits of incitement to hatred. Constructions of Irish culture as monolithic in the face of an immigration regime which imports failed multiculturalism and racism necessarily position migrants as continuing outsiders and the creators of their own exclusion. Clear connections can be made between racist discourses in Irish media and violence against migrants and ethnic minorities. This chapter explores how Irish media outlets are facilitating and promoting the normalisation of racist discourses, and the implications of this for the construction of debates which take seriously the challenges of integration in practice and in the context of growing anti-immigrant racism.
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Contents v
- List of figures and tables vii
- Notes on contributors viii
- Introduction 1
- 1 Traveller health inequalities as legacies of exclusion 22
- 2 Sectarian legacies and the marginalisation of migrants 33
- 3 Institutional responses to racism in both Irelands 47
- 4 African asylum seekers and refugees in both Irelands 58
- 5 African non-employment and labour market disadvantage 72
- 6 The lives of Filipino-Irish care workers 89
- 7 Polish spaces in a divided city 100
- 8 Experiences of racism in social housing 113
- 9 Roma rights and racism 126
- 10 Normalising racism in the Irish media 140
- 11 Children and young people on the margins 160
- 12 Immigrant-origin children and the education system 173
- 13 Young Muslims as insiders and outsiders 186
- 14 Brexit, borders and belonging 200
- 15 Hyphenated citizens as outsiders 213
- Conclusion 229
- Select bibliography 243
- Index 250
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Contents v
- List of figures and tables vii
- Notes on contributors viii
- Introduction 1
- 1 Traveller health inequalities as legacies of exclusion 22
- 2 Sectarian legacies and the marginalisation of migrants 33
- 3 Institutional responses to racism in both Irelands 47
- 4 African asylum seekers and refugees in both Irelands 58
- 5 African non-employment and labour market disadvantage 72
- 6 The lives of Filipino-Irish care workers 89
- 7 Polish spaces in a divided city 100
- 8 Experiences of racism in social housing 113
- 9 Roma rights and racism 126
- 10 Normalising racism in the Irish media 140
- 11 Children and young people on the margins 160
- 12 Immigrant-origin children and the education system 173
- 13 Young Muslims as insiders and outsiders 186
- 14 Brexit, borders and belonging 200
- 15 Hyphenated citizens as outsiders 213
- Conclusion 229
- Select bibliography 243
- Index 250
