Speaking Up
- Community
- 22 hours ago
- 5 min read
A mission for more diversity in the media
By Marina Wetzlmaier
It’s a kind of cliché, but my initial motivation to become a journalist was my love for writing, complemented with a sense of justice and commitment. However, I now realize that being a journalist as a woman with migrant roots means a lot more. The Austrian media landscape is still white-dominated or even, when looking at the management level, white and male. This has an impact on how news coverage is done: What is considered relevant, what is not? Who gets a say and who does not? It raises the question of who is represented in journalism. Do newsrooms really reflect society in all its facets? By whom and for whom is the media made?
Who speaks?
My personal mission is to use my work to stand up for others, to take up and report on the concerns and demands of people who are less privileged and who rarely receive the public attention that I believe they deserve. I believe that everyone has a story to tell and that those affected are the experts of their own situation.
As my mother is from the Philippines and the community is important to me, I am very interested in how the Philippines and Filipinos are reported on. At the moment, for example, more Filipino nurses are being recruited to Austria, and there has been a lot of media interest. Unfortunately, inadequate or even racist language has been used, and the community was not represented in many of the reports. I therefore considered it my duty to cover the topic myself, in hope of contributing to the debate.
As a journalist, I research the causes of social inequalities, but I also ask for solutions. I firmly reject the saying “Only bad news is good news.” With the way I tell stories, I want to convey perspectives and hope. This constructive approach may also be my own strategy for not losing optimism.
Lack of balance
Consuming the news every day is part of my job in order to stay informed. And that can be quite depressing. When certain topics are announced on TV or radio, I get nervous, stressed and even angry. Terms such as asylum, migration and integration trigger me, because I already know in advance in what negative contexts they are usually used: crime, alleged “unwillingness” to integrate, lack of German skills, etc. I am reluctant to reproduce these prejudices here again, but I ask myself: what added value does it have when the number of asylum applications is mentioned in the news without any further context or explanation? Why are racist statements by politicians broadcasted without critical classification—over and over again? Why are terms of extreme right-wing origin constantly repeated and thus normalized?
I am not talking about tabloids. What shocks me most is when prejudices are reproduced in quality mainstream media. Why can't you report on a certain ethnic group without always having to mention that there are criminals among them—even if the topic of the report has nothing to do with crime at all? Is this part of the “objectivity” that is held so highly in journalism? Is this “balanced” reporting?
Journalism with attitude
These questions concerned me and I needed answers. I talked to Simon Inou, a journalist from Cameroon who has been living in Austria for over 20 years. He has worked for Austrian newspapers and also founded his own media outlets. He notes that there are many forms of discrimination in journalism: sexism, homophobia and racism. This is why journalism needs an anti-racist attitude. The conversation with Simon Inou encouraged me. But I also realized that there is a long way to go.
First of all, there has to be awareness that more diversity is needed in the newsrooms. Many editorial teams already pay attention to promoting women. However, the promotion of future journalists with a migration biography is still in its infancy. Members of the second migrant generation in particular are claiming their spaces in different public spheres, including the media. There are a few specialized media projects, such as die chefredaktion, which see themselves as training centres and stepping stones for young journalists from a migrant background.
Topics close to the heart
I myself started journalism through editorial internships in daily newspapers and monthly magazines. For many years, I have been passionate about writing for Südwind magazine, a bi-monthly publication with a focus on the Global South. There I find the space for topics that are close to my heart, e.g. the civil society in the Philippines. The Philippines also brought me to Ö1, the most important culture and information radio station in Austria.
Because of my publications (and on the recommendation of Ralph Chan), I was invited to speak about the Philippine elections. I was already working at a local community radio station at the time, so I had some radio experience. My performance as a guest on the program and my journalistic background eventually led to an offer to work as a presenter at Ö1. I have been working there as a freelancer for two years now. It's a new job that I'm grateful for, but it also comes with new challenges, moments of self-doubt and learning.
Migrant perspectives
Incidentally, my biography corresponds to the results of a study on diversity in the Austrian media. This study was published in 2021 by the Media House Vienna, an institute that conducts research on current issues and perspectives in media and journalism. According to their findings, journalists with roots in non-German-speaking countries are mostly female and younger than their native Austrian colleagues. They are more likely to have a university degree and more likely to work freelance. In general, only 6 percent of all journalists in Austria have a non-German-speaking background. This is far lower than the general population, where this proportion is almost 24 percent.
However, diversity in the media not only requires persons with a corresponding background, but also greater sensitivity in editorial teams in general. They could interview more people with migrant roots: why not a teacher of Bosnian origin, a doctor with Nigerian roots or a political scientist with a Filipino background? We need positive narratives and role models rather than stereotypes. I therefore started a podcast on migrant stories in order to move people from different origins and generations to the forefront—their worries, their opinions and their talents. I consider myself lucky and I am thankful to have several cultures within me—the Filipino and the Austrian. I try to integrate these perspectives into my work as a modest contribution to creating more diverse and anti-racist journalism.
About the author
Marina Wetzlmaier works as a freelance journalist for mainly german-language magazines and radio stations.
Website: wetzlmaier.wordpress.com
Instagram: @marinawetzl