The mass media's construction of gender, race, sexuality and nationality: An analysis of the Danish news media's communication about visible minorities from 1971--2004

This dissertation focuses on the Danish news media's images of visible minorities from the early 1970 to the early 2000s. Through analyses of television primetime news clips and national newspaper articles, the dissertation throws light on how the news media have represented visible minorities in Denmark and on what functions these representations might have had for the construction of Danish nationality. By drawing upon post-colonial theory, queer theory, feminism, media theory and theories of nationalism, the dissertation explores three aspects in depth: Firstly, it throws light on the actual representations and demonstrates how visible minorities have been represented in the news media. Secondly, it nuances theses representations by comparing them to their societal and historical contexts. Thirdly, it reflects upon the functions these representations might have had for Danish television viewers and newspaper readers. Regarding the third aspect, the dissertation especially examines how news coverage might have influenced viewers' and readers' constructions of Danish nationality and their understandings of gender, gender relations and sexuality.; This examination of representations in the news shows that the news media predominantly represented visible minorities in 'us' vs. 'them' constructions and in a series of dominant stereotypes: 'The arriving immigrant', 'the criminal immigrant', 'the oppressed immigrant woman', 'the veiled woman', 'the sexually aggressive Muslim male', and 'the unintegrated immigrant'. These descriptions implied opposite constructions of the ethnically Danish population. When visible minorities were constructed as criminal, rapists, and oppressive towards women, the ethnically Danish population appeared as law-abiding and respectful.; This representation can be explained partly by the news media's narration, especially the use of the actant model. This led to simplified stories where realities were presented in binary, racialized oppositions, such as good white Danes vs. evil visible minorities. The employment of the actant model combined with efforts to appeal target audiences, led to constructing news that appeared discriminatory against visible minorities, in particular because the news narrated complex and many-sided realities as simplified stories about 'good' ethnic Danes vs.'bad' visible minorities.