Studying and Evaluating the Role of the Media in Migrant Integration: Introductory remarks for the MEDIVA project

The MEDIVA project seeks to strengthen the capacity of the media to reflect the increasing diversity of European societies and promote immigrant integration. To achieve this objective, the project will organize the knowledge produced so far and will create a searchable online database of all relevant studies on media and diversity/integration issues that will be made available for use by the media professionals as well as the general public. Building on the existing work and combining it with a series of in depth interviews with senior journalists across Europe, the MEDIVA project will generate a set of media monitoring indicators (which will be available in 8 languages) that can work for different media, in different countries, and that can provide the basis of a self- and other-assessment and future monitoring mechanism in the media. Four thematic reports will be written to reflect on how journalists and other media professionals deal with migrant diversity in five areas of their work: in recruitment/employment conditions; in training provided; as regards codes of ethics; in news making and programme production; in presenting diversity (news content). Finally, five Regional Workshops will bring together media professionals, NGOs and researchers to discuss the role of the media in promoting migrant integration.