Ethnicity and intercultural communication in the media: experience of Norway

Abstract

One of the main problems on the world agenda remains the problem of international relations. The processes of globalization in the modern world lead to the expansion of cultural contacts at different levels: from everyday life to political. Recently, there has been an increase in interest in the problems of intercultural communication, which actualizes the study of the role of the media in such communication as one of the areas of journalism science. This article explores the issues of intercultural communication in the mirror of the largest media in Norway. The theoretical foundations of the study were the ideas of academician V. A. Tishkov about the ethnic and religious diversity of the modern multipolar world, the dialogical model of the media approach in the formation of society’s tolerance, proposed by I. M. Dzyaloshinsky, as well as theoretical approaches to the study of modern communication processes, presented in foreign and Russian journalism works. Based on the content analysis method, the article analyzes the representation of intercultural topics in three Norwegian leading TV-programs related to the coverage of international and domestic news – “Dagsrevyen”, “Urix”, “Debatten”, as well as in the materials of Norway’s largest online-media “Aftenposten”. Much attention is paid to the study of Norwegian legislation and media codes in relation to groups of migrants and refugees. It is noted that Norway, being initially a predominantly ethnically homogeneous state, has turned into a multicultural one, on the territory of which people from more than two hundred countries of the world live. It is concluded that the Norwegian media play an important mediating role in the field of interethnic interaction. Following the spirit and letter of the Immigration Act of 2008 and the Norwegian Code of Ethics for Journalists, publications try to maintain the level of quality journalism in covering issues of ethnicity and intercultural communication. Of course, the direction of the modern agenda of the Norwegian media has changed, shifting after February 2022 towards coverage of situation in Ukraine, which the whole world is following today. But despite the modality of some materials, we note that in the analyzed materials much attention is paid to explanatory journalism.