Minoritetsmedier och minoritetsmediepolitik i Sverige - Myndigheten ...

the proposition, the national minorities constitute part of Sweden’s cultural heritage
and it is held that the state is responsible for giving them the support and
protection they need to maintain their distinctive characters and to keep their
languages alive. Further, the document stresses that the national minorities are also
embraced by the goals of integration policies – goals such as equal rights and
opportunities for all, regardless of ethnic and cultural background.
In their analyses of the minority, immigrant and integration policies of recent
decades, several scholars agree that efforts towards assimilation have been an
undercurrent throughout the period. They also consider that a lack of long-term
planning characterizes state policies and that immigrant policies are marked by
reaction rather than action on the part of the government. Jarmo Lainio points to
the lack of discussion of an overall ideology in the final report Sweden, the future
and diversity from 1996, which was the basis for the integration policies adopted
in 1997. He states that the report contains no discussion on the type of society
Sweden wants to build upon the existing multiethnic foundation.
In his summary of the integration efforts of the past three decades, Charles
Westin considers that some have worked well, but that there has been little success
in central areas such as the labour market, where systematic ethnic discrimination
does occur. Westin, however, welcomes the fact that the final report Sweden, the
future and diversity introduces the concept of diversity into the debate – a concept
he believes entails certain theoretical and practical possibilities and highlights
something of a perspective shift in that “the Swedish side” of the interplay begins
to be considered.
State policy and minority media production
There is no articulate, coherent policy on minority media in Sweden today. There
are, however, a number of declarations concerning political goals, regulations and
forms of support that directly or indirectly affect the production of minority
media. These are mainly found in two areas of Swedish government policy that
partially overlap: minority/integration policies and media policies. There are also
forms of support for minority media production in other areas of state policy as
well as in municipal and other institutions’ policies and activities.
Minority and integration policy and minority media production
Minority policy constitutes a (in an official sense) new policy area beginning in
2000. The proposition National minorities in Sweden reports on nationwide
measures the government intends to take to support national minorities and minority
languages in areas such as education, culture, mass media, eldercare, translation
of certain statutes, etc. For the sake of consistency, media-related measures
are reported in the section on media policies, below.
We could say that, generally, many of the stated reasons for the new integration
policies adopted in 1997 evoke new insights from culture and identity theories and
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