THE AFRICAN COURIER. Reporting Africa and its Diaspora! The African Courier is an international magazine published in Germany to report on Africa and the Diaspora African experience. The first issue of the bimonthly magazine appeared on the newsstands on 15 February 1998. The African Courier is a communication forum for European-African political, economic and cultural exchanges, and a voice for Africa in Europe.
As part of its “National Action Plan on Integration”, the Federal Government wants to promote diversity in the media. The package of measures adopted by the federal cabinet on Wednesday (3 February) includes, as one of its core projects, training “for differentiated and factual reporting on the topic of migration and integration”.
Other projects are intended to ensure that more people with experience of flight or migration gain a foothold in journalism and bring more diversity to film and television.
According to the package of measures, an e-learning platform is planned to be developed by the Mediendienst Integration and the Erich Brost Institute for International Journalism at the TU Dortmund University. A survey is also to provide information on diversity and discrimination in film and television.
“In the process of growing together in different areas of life, the media plays an important role in our society,” the action plan states and continues: “The terms and images used in media contents, the way immigrants and ethnic and religious minorities have their say and are portrayed have an impact on the process of integration”.
Representations of minorities in the media have been a source of controversial debate. Most recently, there was outrage over a WDR talk show that discussed the pros and cons of the term “Gypsy sauce”, which the majority of Roma and Sinti reject as discriminatory.
The “National Integration Plan Integration” is divided into five phases, with the cabinet approving the last two on Wednesday.
According to the Minister of State for Integration, Annette Widmann-Mauz (CDU), the two areas contain a total of 49 projects, among others, to promote integration in sports and health care, to expand political education and to strengthen the political participation of people with a migration background.
Sola Jolaoso
