Participation in radio programmes and immigration. The Romanian case

Research - How to cite this article – referees' reports – scheduling – metadata – PDF – Creative Commons DOI: 10.4185/RLCS-65-2010-882-045-060-Eng – ISSN 1138 - 5820 – RLCS # 65 – 2010 Participation in radio programmes and immigration. The Romanian case Patricia González Aldea, Ph. D. [C.V.] Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, UC3M - patricia.gonzalez.aldea@uc3m.es Abstract: The Spanish social reality has evolved during the last years into a multicultural society, but these “new citizens” are very poorly represented on the media. They rarely become protagonists of any piece of news and when they do, the limitations of informative programming promote an stereotyped discourse. Romanians lead the ranking of immigration by country of origin in Spain and their ethnic media are numerous. Along with these, other multicultural media give voice to the immigrants and deal more deeply with the different identities to promote integration and coexistence. Based on the hypothesis that the participation of the Romanians in radio programmes is scarce, as well as contents referring to this ethnic group, the aim of this research is to undertake a longitudinal analysis of radio consumption, the form of participation of Romanians in radio programming, and the Romanian image transmitted by these contents. Four radio programmes are analyzed: ‘Nuevos Ciudadanos’ (‘New Citizens’) from Punto Radio; ‘Otros Acentos’ (‘Other Accents’) from RNE Radio Exterior; ‘Rumano en el Mundo’ (Romanian in the World) from Radio Tentación; and ‘Buenas Tardes Rumania’ (Good Afternoon Romania) from Integración Radio. In the discussion and conclusion section we highlight the low consumption of radio news and two predominant forms of participation: the legal queries and musical dedications, particularly on ethnic stations, which in this way reinforce their identitary character. Furthermore, with the end of the labour moratorium for Romanians and Bulgarians since January 2009 and the free movement of these workers, the presence of this community on the programming mentioned above has decreased. Keywords: radio; programmes; participation; immigration; ethnic media; Romanians. Summary: 1. Introduction. 2. Methodology. 3. Romanians’ Media consumption habits. 4. Content Analysis. 5. Discussion and conclusions 6. Bibliography. 7. Notes. Translated by Cruz Alberto Martínez Arcos (University of London) 1. Introduction General-interest radio stations have chosen to create specialized magazine programmes, which give voice to immigrants and address the diverse identities more deeply for the sake of better integration and coexistence. However, the short duration of these programmes, the broadcasting time zone and other circumstances have put in evidence the difficulties to normalize these spaces without turning them into redoubts. On national public radio, the show ‘Viento Sur’ (‘South Wind’) by Julia Murga, on Radio 3 between 2001-2004, became one of the pioneers in addressing the issue of immigration, and was followed by other programmes in RNE (Spain’s National Radio) and Radio Exterior like ‘La tierra Prometida’ (‘The Promised Land’), ‘Otros acentos’ (Other accents), ‘Travesías’ (‘Crossings’) –currently on air– or ‘Madrid sin Fronteras’ (‘Madrid without Borders’) in Onda Madrid. In the private radio, 'Ser Latino’ (Being Latino) in Cadena Ser, or the award winning ‘Nuevos Ciudadanos’ (‘New Citizens’) of Punto Radio have all become benchmarks. In parallel, given the increase in the immigrant population and opportunities for the advertising market posed by these new consumers, the so-called “ethnic media” –made by and for immigrants– have multiplied and now exceed 300, according to the census carried out by the European Minority Media research team. As Jessica Retis (2006: 90) points out, "immigrants tend to seek alternative venues of auto media representation and moreover, their demands for information about their countries of origin encourage them to seek alternative routes of access to such content. It was in this context that the first media production initiatives aimed at immigrants emerged". Through local frequencies with local and regional coverage, and even global coverage via Internet, stations such as Radio Tentación, RK 20, La Cultural FM, Radio Pueblo Nuevo, Cerdanyola Radio, and Transmedia FM, among others, have become referent media with programmes about Romanians. Radio Pueblo Nuevo began in 1998 as local radio and later became a radio for the community of Madrid focused on !!! " ## $%&'( $( $ ) * immigration. Every Saturday it dedicates one hour to the Romanians. La Cultural FM, created in Almeria to promote multiculturalism, broadcasts on Fridays the one-hour-long show ‘La actualidad Rumana’ (‘Romanian Actuality’) presented by Marius Dumitrescu in Spanish and Romanian. Also in two languages Alin Mercas produces the program, ‘Român în Lume’ (‘Romanian in the World’) in RK 20 and Radio Tentación. In Seville, ‘Buenas tardes Rumania’ (‘Good afternoon Romania’) is broadcast by Radio Integración and Cerdanyola Radio within the space Inforomanía del Vallés in Romanian and Catalan. The Romanian Annamaria Damian, correspondent of Romania’s National Radio, between autumn 2007 and spring 2008, presented in Punto Radio Corredor the news program ‘Otro Punto de Vista’ (‘Another Point of View’), a micro local 15-minutes-long weekly (on Thursdays) Spanish-speaking show about the community more representative of Alcalá de Henares and the so-called Corredor del Henares: The Romanians. The goal: "to show the unknown face of the immigrant, because there is a very distorted picture, only the bad is shown, robbery gangs... but there is no talk about culture, tourism, gastronomy ... highlighting the good, encouraging people who are doing well and discourage those who are not doing well " [1]. These are just some examples, as this study is not about making an exhaustive list of all of them. There are already studies [2] on the map of the ethnic and general media dealing with topics related to immigration. Unlike these more quantitative analysis about the subject, my contribution is to address qualitative issues involving both forms of participation of immigrants in such radio programmes and the media representation through the discourse promoted in participations in such spaces. According to the provisional data from the 2009 census, the Romanians who live and work in Spain already add up to 796,576 which puts them at the top of the ranking of immigration by countries (accounting for 14.2% of all foreigners), and ahead of Moroccans (710,401) –until recently the most numerous–, and Ecuadorians (413,715). Besides the absence of a monographic work of similar characteristics, the significant share of Romanian immigrants in Spain was crucial motive encouraging this study. Another interesting fact for this analysis is that since Romania’s entry into the EU in 2007 the Romanians are already fully legal European citizens, but not completely due to the moratorium imposed by countries such as Spain to postponed to 2009 the free hiring and circulation of Romanian workers. The first hypothesis tries to establish to what extent the normalization of the Romanians’ situation has been gradually reduced the presence of Romanians on radio. The second objective is to establish whether their media consumption habits are related to their participation. The finally objective is to address the image of Romanian collective derived from its media representation in the radio. The aim is therefore to establish the degree and form of participation of this group in radio programmes, to compare the protagonist representations of these citizens in “ethnic programmes” broadcast by local, and regional Spanish radio stations, and to describe the image promoted about Romanians through these programmes. 2. Methodology This work is based on longitudinal qualitative content analysis to identify trends. The criterion for the selection of programmes is focused on specialized magazine shows exclusively and continuously dedicated to the treatment of immigration, both within public and private broadcasting stations and those created by and for immigrants. The European Minority Media research group of the University of Poitiers has developed a directory of media created as a consequence of the phenomenon of immigrations in Spain. Cristina Navarro establishes three categories in the different media (press / radio / television / Internet): - Ethnic media (created by ethnic minorities, in this case the Romanians are grouped in the Eastern European category); - Migrants (general media targeting the immigrant population); - And multicultural (media aimed at both the immigrant and the vernacular population). In this work we have selected two multicultural media (one of public and one private radio) and two ethnic media (in two representative communities such as Madrid and Andalusia), which are more numerous and representative than the socalled migrant media. Two good examples of current multicultural programmes are ‘Nuevos Ciudadanos’ (‘New Citizens’), directed by Sara Infante in Punto Radio, and ‘Travesias’ (‘Crossings’) directed by Maria Alvarez and broadcast by Radio Exterior and RNE Radio 5. However, we have also decided to analyze the defunct programme ‘Otros Acentos’ (‘Other accents’) of Radio Exterior because of its interesting spaces for their participation. As for the ethnic media, Manuel Lario Bastida (2008: 16) noted in his study that their emergence has had a positive impact, "causing changes in the informative panorama on migrations in the mainstream media, which have started exhibiting a new openness in its programming, spaces and approaches to this sector of the population". Among the programmes created by and for Romanians we have chosen two: ‘Român în lume’ (‘Romanian in the world’) !!! " ## $%&'( $( $ ) * ' for being one of the oldest (2003) and one of the most followed in the Community of Madrid; and another one of regional coverage ‘Buenas Tardes Rumania’ (‘Good afternoon Romania’), formerly ‘La hora de los Rumanos’ (‘The time of the Romanians’), broadcast by Radio Integración of Seville. Both of them share the characteristic of being bilingual broadcasts, in Spanish and Romanian, and being presented by Romanians. As Maria Eugenia González (2009: 708-724) has highlighted, "the participation of minorities as communication professionals represents an excellent opportunity for them to feel fully reflected as part of the citizenry and also makes it possible for them to actively participate in promoting a sense of belonging". The focus of these spaces listed responds to a social journalism, with useful content (legal consultation, information from their countries...) and different formulas of participation. Among them, and following the typology of Susana Herrera (2003: 145-166), are: - Depending on its purpose: the narration of personal and other people’s cases, advice (mostly legal), contests, etc; - Regarding their content it favours social issues; - In relation to the linguistic codes used, they employ both written formulas (like internet, chat...) and oral formulas... Since our aim is to offer content analysis, out of the five criteria of participation identified by professor Herrera (according to purpose, content, linguistic codes, technical design, and thematic planning), we will only discuss the two related to this area, i.e. participation formulas according to the purpose and thematic. The sample therefore consists of four radio spaces and two large units of analysis with their corresponding modalities, as shown in the following table: Table 1: Modalities of participation according to purpose and topic Classification criteria Depending on the purpose Depending on the theme Modalities of participation a) To express an opinion b) To narrate a case (own or somebody else’s) c) To report an event or situation d) To request information and advice e) To compete f) To send greetings and musical dedications a) Politics b) Social Themes Source: Own elaboration based on Susana Herrera’s classification. The time frame of the longitudinal analysis comprises from 2007 to 2009, with three programmes analyzed in each of the four proposed spaces, and selected (in the case of non-ethnic programmes) based on the inclusion of the Romanian issues as prominent part of the programme’s content. Finally, the image created of Romanians and by Romanians through these media will be established based on content analysis of the modes of participation, as well as interviews with those responsible for the programmes, and Spanish and Romanian journalists who have worked on radio spots about immigration. 3. Romanians’ Media consumption habits For the Romanian citizens submitted for decades to the control of information by the communist dictatorship in which any criticism was considered a manifestation of dissension, with its corresponding consequences, one of the great achievements has been being able to participate and freely express opinions through the media. With a high content of propaganda, one can say that entertainment programming on radio and television hardly existed in Romania, where the radio was for a long time the most important propaganda tool. The need for radio broadcasts, including musicals, to meet the standards of censorship, however, did not stop infractions like the fact that some broadcasters took advantage that Ceausescu did not used to listen to the radio after eight o'clock in the evening to play foreign music with invented translations of the lyrics. Attacks on emissions from Munich to Bucharest of Radio Free Europe (RFE) during the Cold War turned the Romanian secret services, the Securitate, into the most hostile agency in Eastern Europe towards this radio. It was funded by the CIA to fight through the waves communism in countries under the Soviet orbit. In the 1980s three directors of Romanian secret services died prematurely under suspicious circumstances. Dissidents like Doina Cornea conducted their critical activity of the regime through the RFE. After 1989, the era of disinformation continued and the media continued to be the propaganda tool of the "new" leaders. The Broadcasting Act of April 1992 marked the partial abolition of censorship and monopoly, and the opening towards the free enterprise. !!! " ## $%&'( $( $ ) * For Anamaria Damian correspondent in Spain of the National Radio of Romania: “The Romanians do not have this culture of listening to the radio for information but for distraction, they prefer music radio, which is used eparticularly in the car” [3]. This brief background of the radio in Romania suffices to understand the media consumption habits of Romanians. In April 2008 the Agency for Governmental Strategies of the Romanian Government commissioned a survey of the Romanian community in Spain concerning social conditions, values and hopes. Unlike to the period before 1989, where the political motivation was the cause of migration in Romania, from the 1990s the economic motivation becomes the main feature of these flows. And since January 2002, when Romanians are exempted from visa to enter the Schengen area, there is an increase in Romanian immigration. According to the survey previously mentioned, 2006 saw the largest influx of Romanians to Spain (17%), falling to 2% from 2008, which helps to explain the lower prevalence of Romanian issues in the radio programmes analyzed from 2009. For the ambassador of Romania in Spain, María Ligor, in the next few years Romania will pass from being a nation sender of immigrants to a host of immigration: “Romania's GDP will grow by 6.5% in 2008 and, on average, about 6% in the coming years, gradually the flow of Romanian labour to the more developed countries of the EU will decrease significantly, and as a normal process of the global economy, Romania will be destination country for immigrants from several world regions. As it has been the case in Spain, the arrival of immigrants will support economic growth and will bring cultural richness”. Regarding the consumption of radio, the survey asked “how often do you...?” and then listed diverse options like ‘go to church’, ‘go to a concert’, ‘go to a restaurant’, ‘read a book’, ‘take a walk’... and in the last three rows: ‘watch TV’, 'listen to the radio’, ‘read newspapers’. In comparison to the 84% of Romanians who watch TV daily or almost daily, only 35% listen to radio and more worryingly 34% admitted never listening to the radio. The lightest part of the Graph 1 corresponds to the answer 'never' and the darkest corresponds to 'daily or almost daily'. There are other in-between options like, 'several times a week', 'several times a month', 'once or less a month', 'only on special occasions, parties'. Graph 1: 'How often ...?' Romanians’ consumption habits Source: Studies of Agen ia pentru Strategii Guvernamentale. Guvernul României (2008) !!! " ## $%&'( $( $ ) * Social contents seem to have more impact, and 30% and 52% of Romanians consider politics are of little importance or not importance at all, which also reflected in their references in radio. Only 1% uses the radio as an information source to find out what happens in Romania and 4% to find out what happens in Spain. 42% recognizes watching TV for 1 to 2 hours a day but only 18% listens to radio more than an hour. The stations from which Romanians obtain information about Romania or Spain are radio formulas like Europa FM, Kiss FM, 40 Principales, etc. Parallel to the previous study, the Agency for Governmental Strategies of the Romanian Government commissioned another study on 'The image of Romanians in Spain', which also reflected media consumption habits. As shown in Figure 2, the Radio networks Romanians trust the most (and mentioned spontaneously) were Ser with 24%, Onda Cero with 8%, and Cope with 7%. Graph 2: Most credible radio station Source: Study 'Imaginea României în Spania. Raport de cercetare' Agen ia pentru Strategii Guvernamentale. Guvernul României (2008) Regarding the image of this group, this research of May 2008 states that the first words that come to Spanish people’s mind when thinking of the immigration are: 'misery', 'poverty', 'work', or 'crime'. And concerning particularly to Romania, 21% of Spaniards associate it with 'poverty and misery' and 9% with 'crime'. As noted by Patricia Gonzalez, an expert on Romania, the Spanish media often portray what may be labelled as 'the worst side of immigration'. 12% of respondents claimed they had been attacked by immigrants, 32% blamed Africans, 32% Romanians and 26% romis (Romanian Gypsies). This fact is surprising and we wonder how can Spanish people differentiate between Romanian and Romis? Do they know Romi or Romanian, or are they based on stereotypes? 51% of the Spanish recognizes know little or nothing about Romania and 50% they are 'very little or not at all interested "in following through the news media about Romanian immigration. In 2007 the Association for the Knowledge of the Immigrant Population (ACPI) was created and it promoted the first Study of Media for Immigrants (EMI), with the technical backing of the Association for Mass Media Research (AIMC), and the support of the Association of Media Agencies. The EMI is the first study of media audience carried out among the immigrant population, given its growing importance for the advertising market. The AIMC’s newsletter Open Line of October 2004 presented a first survey about the behaviour of immigrants in the consumption of media. The results indicated that while immigrants listen to less radio as a whole, the radio music content achieves greater penetration. The ACNielsen 2007 study on immigrants and media consumption anticipated the results obtained in 2008 by the Romanian Governmental Strategies Agency: "immigrants mostly tend to listen to music stations: 40 Principales (25%), Kiss FM (17%), Cadena Dial (10%), Cadena Ser (7%), Cadena 100 (7%), Locales (6%), Latina (5%), Onda Cero (5%), M80 (4%), Radio Nacional (4%), Cope (3%), and other stations 12%". !!! " ## $%&'( $( $ ) * Graph 3: Radio consumption by immigrants in 2006 Source: Nielsen, 'Immigrants and media consumption'. (January 2007) In addition, according to the Nielsen study "Eastern Europeans mostly listen to 40 Principales (Top 40), with 28% of mentions, which is up four points over the previous Nielsen’s 2005 study. In contrast, the second most popular station, Kiss FM, went down seven points from 24% to 17%. And the ratings of M80 and Onda Cero among the Romanian group also decreased significantly, in both cases from 8 to 3%, while the preference for other stations doubled from 6 to 12%". Another invaluable source of knowledge about media consumption among immigrants is the latest Annual Report of the communication of the immigrant in Spain 2008/2009, the third (the fourth, 2009/2010, is about to be published) created by Ethnicity Communication. As Minority Media researcher Laura Cristina Navarro (2007: 144) has documented in her article, Romanians are the most active community in the media within the community of Eastern Europeans, with 10% of the total of ethnic media: "after the Latin Americans, Eastern Europeans are the immigrants who have more media and are also the second with more regional media [...] within this group Romanian citizens are who have created more media, followed by Russians and Ukrainians and finally Bulgarians. Moreover, much of the Romanian media are written and broadcast in two languages, like Romanian and Castilian, or Catalan and Castilian, as a way to address the whole society and to combat stereotypes, as well as a means to express their own culture. 4. Content analysis: areas of participation in radio and media image For the content analysis and forms of participation in radio we have chosen four programmes. Therefore the aim is not to present a directory or a comprehensive analysis of all ethnic, migrant or multicultural media with the Romanians as a target audience. It is about establishing trends: first, about the general perception of the Romanian immigrant through radio programmes and their different modes of participation/representation, and second, to emphasize the identitary role of the so-called ethnic media. Table 2: Modalities of participation of the Romanians according to purpose in the diverse programmes Express an Narrate a opinion case Nuevos Ciudadanos Otros Acentos Român în lume Buenas tardes Rumania X X X Denounce Request Compete an event or information situation or advise X X X X X Source: Personal creation Table 3: Channels of participation in the diverse programmes available !!! " X X ## $%&'( $( $ ) * Send greetings and music dedications X X X X X X + Nuevos Ciudadanos Otros Acentos Român în lume Buenas tardes Rumania DTelephone VoiceMail X X X X X Email X X X X X X X Facebook X Website X X X X Source: Personal creation 4.1. ‘Nuevos Ciudadanos’ (‘New Citizens’) The program presented by Sara Infante in Punto Radio is an hour long and its presented weekly on Saturdays from 15:00 to 16:00 hrs, with an audience of 20,000-30,000 listeners. Among the contributors there is mixture of accents, like the Argentinean broadcaster Adrian Cragnolini, the Ecuadorian journalist Jessica Maridueña, or the foreign affairs expert lawyer Ana Maria Dorismond. Since two years ago, the show is on the Internet for comments, e-mail, Facebook (97 fans), or the photo album ‘Nuevos Ciudadanos’, which has expanded the ways of participation in the program. Its website lists the ways of intervening in the program: by phone, voicemail, e-mail: nuevos@puntoradio.com, or web www.puntoradio.com. As highlighted in its website, “Nuevos Ciudadanos will continue to emphasize the interaction with its listeners, choosing the Internet as a tool of communication and participation. In this way, a protagonist role is granted to e-mails, forums, surveys, and special contests, which seek to engage also those who follow the program through the web”. Some sections like ‘Rights and Obligations’, with questions through the mailbox or mail which are answered by attorney Ana Maria Dorismond program, contribute to the useful and practical information and service, while others like 'A true story' serve to understand why immigrants choose to come to Spain, or the reason for Spaniards to emigrate: "immigration from all points of view". In this regard, we believe that this is a multicultural, but no migrant program, as it is classified in the media directory of Minority Media. Another section and another modality of participation is the competitions, through e-mail or mailbox. Telling 'the story of your life', dedicate a compliment in your language, choose your favourite word in Castilian... have a prize: two airline tickets a month, one with destination to Europe, and the next to Latin America. Other times, as on 14 February, Valentine's Day, in exchange for telling their story of love contestants take home a gift. The weekly surveys through the web are another way of intervening in the program by expressing an opinion. An example: “Do you usually spend your vacation travelling?” is the question and the presenter discusses the results on air: “66.7% answered no, I cannot afford it; while 33.3% said yes, I enjoy visiting other countries and cities; and 0% said yes, I take my vacation to travel to my country”. In the beginning the programmes were more monographic. The presence in radio of immigrants from Eastern Europe had its moment until the expiration of the two-year moratorium imposed after the entry of Romania and Bulgaria into the EU in January 2007, and thus 2007 and 2008 were the years of more active participation. The dates chosen for the analysis are: 3 November 2007, 12 July 2008, 17 January 2009, and two references to the programmes of 14 February 2009, and 4 June 2009. On 3 November 2007 part of the program (one of the first ones uploaded on Internet) is dedicated to making a radiograph of Romania: population, art, culture, traditions... with the telephone testimonies of two Romanians, one about the history of housewife Laura Elena Mari, from the Moldova region, with a seven-year-old son and husband who works as carrier in Spain; and the other testimony of Gelu Vlasin, a Romanian journalist and writer who recently got married and has brought his wife to Spain. Helena narrates her ordinary life in Spain: “I get up, tidy up the room, take a bath, prepare the food, do the ironing. I'm very happy because I earn money that could not win there and I send it to my husband back home. I talk to them once a week. I'm going back in September next year”. Bernabé Tierno who participated in the program that day stresses the importance of these testimonials: “I think that what you're doing here in Punto Radio this afternoon, and every day you do it, is very important. I congratulate you for sensitizing the Spaniards that welcome others. The story of this woman is essential, to know where she comes from, what she is going through, is crucial for people to like them, to embrace them with the soul, and to accept them”. Another true story comes from Gelu Vlasin, a man who has brought her partner Cristina to Spain to marry here, but without her Romanian family being able to come. Cristina Cornea is a singer and sang Romanian songs live on the program. Cristina’s mother spoke by telephone from Romania that day to surprise her: “Ce surpriza... si n-am stiut nimic...va pup, va pup... si vorbim acasa” (What a surprise ... I knew nothing ... a kiss, a kiss ... and we speak from home) said the surprised bride, while her mother Florica thanked the program. !!! " ## $%&'( $( $ ) * # On 12 July 2008, the program was called “Let’s talk about the Romanian community”, with the live participation of Daniel Tecu and the Romanian businesswoman Veronica Radoslav. Daniel Tecu is a journalist and president of the Association of Romanians in Europe and Veronia Radoslav has set up her salon business in Madrid. These entrepreneurs transmit positive messages about their community. Tecu denounces the stereotype image conveyed by the media: “when they do a one-hour documentary about Romanians, 55 minutes they talke about Romanian Gypsies, slums, and people who sells marihuana. There are gypsies who work as everybody else does, the Spanish people has welcome us but not the Italians ... Criminals should be punish according to law no matter if they are Romanians or Spaniards”. Veronica Radsolav came to Spain 9 years ago and her whole family is here except from her mother. After three years she managed to be reunited with her children, and later married a Spanish man. She tells his story as an entrepreneur: “I had a dream but unrelated to hairdressing, I wanted to do something different. The spark was given to me by my daughter, who was working as an apprentice in a hairdressing salon. She wanted to do that job, but years passed by and with no money or support that seemed impossible, so I thought that I could start my dream with her. I started reading magazines for entrepreneurs and about franchises; I liked the stories of people who have succeeded. I inquired about what I could do as a foreigner. I called an organization for women entrepreneurs called OMEGA and found all the information. I asked for a loan to Madrid, they first asked me a project, and then I got the loan. I had no idea about hairdressing, I even did not like it, and with 44 years of age I started to learn and now I realize that it is an art that can be done with the hands”. One of the messages on the Internet about the program notes: “I am Spanish and for me, just like for the presenter, it is a discovery. Not everyone knows of the Romanian culture. Congratulations for the work of Nuevos Ciudadanos. Last week I heard it for the first time and I was hooked. Regards, Eduardo” (16/072008, 06:05 pm). The moratorium became the subject of discussion on another emission of Nuevos Ciudadanos on 17 January 2008. In the section the Theme of the Day, the show presented an interview to the Romanian Damian Catalin and to the Spanish Julián Martín; and a personal case with a complaint included. Damián, manager of the masonry company Romtectabi, is on a hunger strike outside the offices of the construction company Obrum because they owe him more than 700,000 euros for the work they have done in housing construction in the Madrid region. And Julián Martín is Director of Romtectabi. Damian “these are payments that have expired, we do not ask any help just to be paid what is ours. We ask them to honour their commitment; they do not have to anticipate anything. Our money cannot be negotiated, they can negotiate with the banks; we cannot continue financing the construction companies”. Julian: “We are directly responsible for the 50 families of the staff and of 150 more subcontracted staff which include both Spanish and immigrants... we've called them here because they needed labour force and now they are the rubble, debris, or waste from the welfare state, now we give them a kick in the ass, we steal their money or potential benefits, either we steal from them or they steal from us, they should go back to their home, to the third world countries where they should have never left”. Regarding the issue of the moratorium, Damián (after 10 years in Spain) cannot be any clearer: “Now that the moratorium has been lifted, what a paradox: when they wanted to work they were not able to do it and now that they can there is no place to work... I'm fighting not only for my money, I’m also trying to fight to end my business career in Spain in an honourable way, I don't want to be one thief more, a failure, or being told that I have cheated, or lied... I am one more of the victims”. Among the comments about the moratorium posted on the website stands out this reflection of Silvia Marcu, researcher at the Centre for Higher Scientific Research (CSIC): "The hopes of the Romanian, Bulgarian and Spanish organizations to return immigrants home, is currently not coherent with the decision of the people interested on the matter. Let's remember they ran out of their countries, due to the lack of livelihood, their governments did not get involved at all in their migration projects – their immigration has not been "successful" as stated in some reports but instead has been immigration led by the search of better opportunities in life (...). In any case we must applaud the progressive and inclusive decision the Spanish government, who takes care of the immigrants since 2004. Despite being submerged in a fragile economic environment, the government has made the decision to lift the moratorium... Congratulations! Silvia Marcu "(14/01/2009, 19:45 pm). Another comment on the website states: "very good news, we still have to see the other side of the coin, but well... us Romanians and also Bulgarians, I believe, are very optimistic, we will see what happens. Thanks for nothing, it has taken two years to get our right as members of the same European family but well, better late than never. Laurian Bercea" (14/01/2009, 12:45 pm). The European elections of June 2009, became another opportunity for Romanian presence in ‘Nuevos Ciudadanos’. The Romanian Marius Loan was contending for the PP (Popular Party), while Mohamed Azahar, of Moroccan family, represented the PSOE (Spanish Socialist Labour Party). It was a step forward in the normalization of the integration process of these groups. Marius, a doctoral student in political science, acknowledges that he is not in a "starting position in the lists of the Popular Party (No. 46) but "the important thing is that the participation of immigrants is being noticed. There is another !!! " ## $%&'( $( $ ) * , Romanian reserve candidate in the list of the PSOE and another Paraguayan; I'm the only immigrant in the application of the PP. The message is important, to make them feel integrated, politicians have taken a step in this direction and expect foreigners to participate in political and social life of the country”. The comments on the web are less optimistic: "Do you really believe that these 2 candidates are going to change the situation of immigrants in Europe? Not me. They will merely fulfill the instructions of their party. Who will take them seriously at the elections? Will their proposals transcend if elected? No. And the arguments advanced during the interview will not convince me. Marcos" (04/06/2009, 09:47 pm). Although the programme has been broadcast, this listener seems to have a clear vision and is not planning to change it. "Inviting candidates to the election seems like a waste of time, they believe that by putting a Moroccan immigrant on the lists is going to gain the immigrants’ sympathy. They are only stuffing material, because there are always naive people who believe in politicians, the only beneficiary if the candidates get elected will be the candidates themselves as they will fill their pockets with the outrageous wages they charge, and if you saw you I do not remember you. This is more of the same. That is why the absenteeism of the electorate will be immense, but then they (politicians) will come out to justify the unjustifiable, that is that people are disenchanted with all parties. Ivan” (03/06/2009, 09:42 pm). In the office of Anne Marie Dorismond the most discussed issues are related to regroupings, voluntary return... she generally provides information and answers to all sorts of legal issues pertaining to foreigners. The instrumental function of this space is very valuable. In 2009 Nuevos Ciudadanos was awarded the Andalusia de las Migraciones 2009 and the Premio Fundación Intererconomía 2009 (Intereconomy Foundation Prize). The multicultural character, awareness-raising and integration are the values highlighted by Sara Infante as the main objectives: "the program wants to have a broader approach, not to make the Spanish feel excluded, to eliminate the stereotypes, to search for topics of interest to both the immigrants and Spanish. Raising awareness about the culture of others who live in the country, because migration flows is a reality for all. The world moves”[4]. Table 4: Channels of participation most frequently used according to the different purposes of intervention in ‘Nuevos Ciudadanos’ Telephone VoiceMail To express an opinion To narrate a case To denounce an event or situation To request information or advise To compete To send greetings and music dedications Email Facebook X Website X X X X X X X Source: Personal creation 4.2. ‘Otros Acentos’ (‘Other Accents’) Maria Alvarez de Eulate, the current director of the program ‘Travesias’ (Crossings), broadcast daily by Radio Exterior (and in summer also daily through Radio 5 and on Saturdays a summary on Radio 1), during 2007/2008 was also director of ‘Otros Acentos’ (Other accents), a one-hour-long programme broadcast on weekdays at midnights. The programmes analyzed correspond to 2008. Among their section stood out the news with “social useful information, not focused on events, or images of open boats [used by immigrants]” [5] ], says Maria Alvarez. The idea was therefore to present another reality, a positive approach against the usual content of news. In fact, radio programmes tend to focus less on the problems attributed to minorities (like crimes), and more on the problems suffered by them (like labour abuse and legal issues). On Tuesday there was a section called "Spanish Lessons" with many telephone consultations and participation of the listeners (both Spanish and immigrants) through the answer machine. On Friday these messages were read out and !!! " ## $%&'( $( $ ) * addressed. The free voicemail, the email (otrosacentos@rtve.es), and the telephone are the channels mostly offered to engage listeners. The multicultural focus of the programme –with world music as soundtracks– made other sections to get more participation from Spanish, like “Trotamundos” (Wanderer), which was about the experiences of Spanish outside Spain. In the advice section, a lawyer expert on immigration law, Sonia Castillo, dealt with listeners’ queries and even provided an emergency phone in case of detentions, all of which strengthened the service character of the programme. In the mailbox we can find everything from legal queries, to suggestions or greetings request, as illustrated in the following examples. A Romanian listener who had spent five years in Spain wondered if she could ask for family reunification for her mother who had a tourist visa: "We have to see if she has been here less than three years ago or right now. The Romanian and Bulgarian citizens must request a certificate of registration for EU citizens for the residence card and if they want to apply for work they have to request it at the home office, call 010 in Madrid, and there is another phone for the rest of the country, 902 565701, the 010 is also to request an appointment for your mother’s card, she does not have to request reunification. She has to request the appointment for registration herself”. So we have responded, noted the lawyer to the Romanian listener, “so that you don’t have to queue at so many different places”. In answering machine one can hear the suggestion of a Spanish man, Cesar Jara from Valencia, who married a Cuban woman and proposed the show to deal with the issue of mixed marriages: like legal aspects and cultural adaptation. The listeners also participate by sending greetings, like César Jara: "I send my greetings to all my relatives and friends in Guantanamo, Cuba, where my wife is from”; or an Ecuadorian woman who did not leave her name: “I send a greeting to all my family in Ecuador and to my son, cousins, everyone, thank you”. In section of complaints we could categorize this other intervention. A Spanish listener denounces an issue of coexistence in the neighbourhood: “This call is a request to all the families of Latino immigrants who are playing many afternoons at the sports area between the streets of Antonio Lopez and Glorieta de Cádiz. Please use the bins, it's a shame the state of the ground: beverage cans, paper, plastic bags, cardboard trays, and food scraps that litter the benches. I urge you to collaborate to make Madrid a little cleaner”. Another unidentified listener addresses the immigrant community and invites them to be grateful when coming to Spain: “I'm calling to tell all foreigners to seek small towns in Spain, to repopulate them, to help their elderly residents, to cooperate with the less fortunate people, to endure living in a country that gives us so much hospitality and kindness, not only to squeeze all the good Spain has and to return to their lands. This is not right, people must be grateful, good with the people that has given us so much”. From Houston, USA, a Spanish man congratulates RNE: “I want to thank for the programmes of Radio Exterior. My daughters are from Texas and they have learned Spanish thanks to RNE”. The programmes read e-mails in which listeners report events and situations. Migration-related issues appear in the section of society, or chronics of events, but rarely in culture. As the journalist Maria Alvarez de Eulate stated at Summer Course at the University of Cantabria: Immigration and Communication, this "gives an image of the poor immigrant who comes to make a living and is abused, or the opposite image of a criminal who takes advantage of the assistance available, and is not integrated.” After ‘Otros Acentos’, the programme ‘Travesias’ has continued addressing social and immigration issues in the Spanish National Public Radio. It is broadcast daily from 18:00 to 19:00 on Radio Exterior, and offers phone lines, email: travesias@rtve.es, and free voicemail to listeners. You can also follow through the Internet and in its declaration of intent on the website, states: “we are interested in culture, music, understand how companies in other countries, their ethnicity ... we also call attention to the movements, eparticularly creative, born as a result of migration. Mixture because the more the better”. Table 5: Channels of participation most frequently used according to the different purposes of intervention in ‘Otros Acentos’ To express an opinion To narrate a case To denounce an event or situation To request information or !!! " Telephone VoiceMail X Email Facebook X X X X ## $%&'( $( $ ) * Website advise To compete To send greetings and music dedications X Source: Personal creation 4.3. ‘Român în lume’ (‘Romanian in the world’) This programme could be classified among the so-called ethnic media. It was first broadcast by RK 20, the municipal station of Villalvilla, which is 10 km from Alcalá de Henares, and is now also broadcast on Radio Tentación 91.4 for the entire community of Madrid. It is currently broadcast on weekdays with one-hour duration: from 15:00 to 16:00 hrs. It information spaces of the programme are made with the collaboration of Radio Romania International. In this programme the presenter and collaborators are Romanians, and their presence truly makes them protagonist media players, which is not yet a reality for the multicultural programmes. As RNE journalist Julia Murga (former presenter of the immigration programme on Radio 3, ‘Viento Sur’) indicates, “Immigration will not be normalized until they are actors in the media, immigrant journalists start to appear, but they have always been objects and not subjects” [6]. Alin Mercas is the programme’s producer since 2003, when the programme was broadcast on Sundays from 16:00 to 19:00, in Spanish and Romanian. For Myria Georgiou, author of a study on minorities and the media in Britain, the hybrid nature of the media corresponds to their audiences “and in this sense, minority media are increasingly bilingual, like their audience”. The programmes analyzed belong to this stage of Sundays-broadcasting: 4 March, 1 July, 26 November, and 2 December 2007. News, poems, humour, dedications, contests, interviews and a lot of contemporary music (Romanian and international) are the main contents of the programme. Among the indicators of the programme stand out: "Let’s dance Romanian style all Sundays from four in the afternoon", or "The Romanian voice in Spain." The programme’s participation www.radiotentacion.rk20.com. formulas are both telephone and messages in the website Music is the main protagonist of the three-hour programme, with news of contemporary music in Romania, underlining the identitary character, along with international bands. At 16:30 hours there was a Romanian News section, first in Romanian and then in Spanish, and there was also a connection with a Romanian collaborator with news about the Romanians living in Catalonia. In the second hour, Romanian literature and culture were alternated with messages with music dedications which were read by a presenter: Lonut de Alcalá made a dedicatory via e-mail (the message is read in Romanian and Spanish) to all women in the day 8 March, eparticularly for her mother who is in Romania, and asks her to take care of herself, and also greets all her friends from work. At 17:30 hrs, the information section returns. And later more Romanian culture and customs, like the ‘Martisor’, the symbol of spring, a red and white thread (duality of the cosmos: female and male) that men give to women to mark the arrival of spring. To end the hour, the programme presents the news from a freely-distributed Romanian newspaper that shares the name with the radio programme ‘Român în Lume’[7] and was established in 2001. The third hour presents news from Radio Romania International from Bucharest. Romanian traditional music of Florina Muresan is played, and live phone calls are received. The purpose of these is usually to express an opinion and to congratulate the programme. To end the programme, there is an 8-minutes long religious section called ‘Orthodoxy’. Most Romanians are Orthodox, and thus this is another prominent identitary feature of the radio programme. In contrast to other groups, such as Latin Americans, whose meeting point rotates around the telephone booths, the Romanians have their meeting place in the church. The persecution of religious cult during the Communist period and the systematic destruction of churches made the religiosity and spirituality of the Romanian people to come out to the new public space again after 1989. Table 6: Channels of participation most frequently used according to the different purposes of intervention in ‘Român în lume’ !!! " ## $%&'( $( $ ) * To express an opinion To narrate a case To denounce an event or situation To request information or advise To compete To send greetings and music dedications Telephone VoiceMail X Email X X Facebook X X Website X Source: Personal creation 4.4. ‘Buenas Tardes Rumania’ (‘Good evening Romania’) In the Community of Andalusia, from Sevilla and through five radio frequencies Integración Radio was born primarily as a Latino station, led by Walter Ecuadorian Vivanco. Since March 2009, the station incorporated within its programming the space ‘La hora de los Rumanos’ (‘Romanians’ hour’), renamed ‘Buenas Tardes Rumania’ (‘Good evening Romania’), which is broadcast in Spanish and Romanian on Mondays at 82.2. FM, from 18:00 to 20:00 pm since November when the duration was lengthened to two hours – just like the space ‘Good afternoon Morocco’ which is broadcast every Thursday from 18:00 to 20:00 hrs. However, most content from the station are directed to Latin Americans. The programme is presented by the Romanian Veronica Opritoiu, who also collaborates for the newspaper ‘Români în Spania’ (‘Romanians in Spain’). This is the first Romanian radio programme in Andalusia (only in Seville live about 15,000 Romanians), although the coverage only reaches certain areas. That is because, as Luis Arboleadas has pointed out, there is a dominance of the national networks and “the local and independent radio has become a marginal experience within the Andalusian radio system”. For Veronica Opritoiu the programme's goal is “to spread the Romanian culture, the real Romanian culture, which is not the one associated with other minority groups, and to provide information to Romanians” [8]. The programmes analyzed correspond to the four first Mondays in November 2009. Participation occurs particularly through live calls-in requesting legal advice, and songs and messages over the Internet: "Greetings are sent by a friend who has been in Seville and is connected to the Internet from Novi Sad, and Dragan sends another message via internet from Belgrade to tell us he is waiting for the holidays to return to Seville. The programme begins with a salute to the audience and a song of Romanian and Latin rhythm, “because the Romanians are Latinos, of Europe”, says Veronica. In fact the slogan of the station, which is also included in the programme, is “Radio Integration. The voice of the Latino people in Andalusia”. There is an informative section with news about the Romanian community living in the region. It is followed by music and another news section, now dealing with issues of Romania, like the presidential elections that are settling the outcome in a runoff to be held in December. Every week there is a guest, from politicians, singers, and writers to journalists, and groups of musicians from both Romania and other countries that like Romanian music and are friends of the Romanians. The General Consul of Romania in Seville, Monica Mihaela Stirbu, was one of the guests. There is a weekly competition with the direct participation of listeners. And there are dedications via e-mail from Romania, Serbia, and even New York, Miami or Los Angeles, and Romanians who had been living in Seville in the past but do not forget the programme. They listen to the programme through Internet. The identitary character of the Romanian music is very strong in this programme and contributes to extend the participation (eparticularly through the Internet) throughout the world where there is presence of Romanians. Table 7: Channels of participation most frequently used according to the different purposes of intervention in ‘Buenas Tardes Rumania’ Telephone VoiceMail E-mail Facebook To express an !!! " ## $%&'( $( $ ) * Website ' opinion To narrate a case To denounce an event or situation To request information or advise To compete To send greetings and music dedications X X X X X Source: Personal creation 5. Discussion and conclusions Being the radio a "hot medium" (McLuhan), where the participation from listeners not only transmits spoken words, but also emotions and accents through the sounds, allows a more accurate radiography of the immigrant. Similarly, the magazine format of these radio spaces analyzed, compared to the usual news format, also allows a longer duration, variety of genres and eparticularly contents that encourage more positive and less stereotyped images. The programmes analyzed do not highlight so much the negative, but the positive, which is far more predominant and most often unknown, for the sake of integration and coexistence. The presence and participation of Romanians in radio spaces has been passing from primarily organized civil societies –associations like the Federation of Romanian Associations in Spain (FEDROM) and governmental groups like the Romanian Cultural Institute– to the individuals themselves, the unorganized civil society as actors and voices of the multicultural programmes. Knowing the real testimonies of the problems faced by Romanians in their daily lives –through opinions, consultations, complaints, etc.– contributes to generate a flow of empathy towards these citizens: the examples of entrepreneurs serve as stimulus to other immigrants, and consultations made by some serve to resolve the doubts of many others in the same situation. The e-mails (and to a lesser degree letters) and phone calls (messages to the mailbox or answering machine) are the most common modes of participation; while new tools such as forums or presence on Facebook are still virtually nonexistent in most programmes studied. The presence of ethnic media has made possible the transformation of immigrants, of Romanians in this case, from consumers of information into producers of information. From objects of information, to subject of the same. Two of the four programmes analyzed have Romanians in their staff (both ethnic media); while the other two (Radio Exterior and Punto Radio) have Latin American collaborators. The identitary function of ethnic programmes is made clear through the presence of Romanian music, news about Romania, connections with its national media, as well as diverse stories relating to their culture, and customs… with the objective of improving the understanding of its reality in the society host. But unfortunately, the discourse of fear and crime linked to the Romanian collective – despite the predominantly sympathetic radio approach aforementioned and campaigns that seek to improve the image of Romanians in Spain, like "Hi, I'm Romanian" –continues to have a significant presence in Spanish conceptions of Romanians as noted by the study of the Agency for Governmental Strategies of the Romanian Government in May 2008. It is also remarkable and worrying in Romanians’ media consumption habits, the limited role of radio in general (even when according to the study cited above 81% of them claim to know well or very well the Spanish language), and the preference for only music stations. Thus, Romanians miss out on the advantages of this "hot medium" when it comes to convey a more accurate picture of reality through participatory formulas. However, ethnic radio programmes by and for Romanians are increasingly emerging all over the Spanish geography, where the more commercial approach, capitalizing on the lucrative niche for the advertising sector of this group, coexists with an identitary approach, of entertainment (music, dedications) and participation schemes linked to demands for useful information. After the end of the moratorium in January 2009, Romanians’ consultations on legal issues, like immigration law, have decreased, and –as it has been confirmed by the presenters from the radio programmes analyzed and experts interviewed– there has also been a general decline in the participation of these citizens in these radio programmes, as well as in the thematic sections dedicated to these issues within these programmes, because they understand that as !!! " ## $%&'( $( $ ) * full European citizens their participation in the social space and public life should be presented in a more normalized way. 6. Bibliography Agen ia pentru Strategii Guvernamentale. Guvernul României (2008): Comunitatea româneasca în Spania. Conditii sociale, valori, asteptari. Retrieved on 15/10/09 from: http://www.publicinfo.ro/library/sc/comunitatea_romaneasca_in_spania.pdf Agen ia pentru Strategii Guvernamentale. Guvernul României (2008): Imaginea României în Spania. Raport de cercenare. Retrieved on 15/10/09 from:http://www.publicinfo.ro/library/sc/studiu_spania.pdf AIMC (2004): “Los inmigrantes en el EGM” (Immigrants in the EGM) en Línea Abierta 41. Retrieved on 25/10/09 from: http://download.aimc.es/aimc/07informacion/lineabierta_41.pdf Unican ( 2009 ): “RNE no tiene una política clara para tratar informaciones sobre inmigración” (RNE does not have a clear policy on how to treat information on immigration). Retrieved on 05/11/09 from: http://www.unican.es/WebUC/cverano/noticias/20090723g.htm Arboledas, Luis (2009): “Clientelismo y concentración en la radio española. Comparación entre cuatro comunidades autónomas” (Clientelism and concentration on Spanish radio. Comparison of four autonomous communities), in Revista Latina de Comunicación Social, 64, pp. 909 - 925. La Laguna (Tenerife): Universidad de La Laguna. Retrieved on 18/12/2009 from: http://www.revistalatinacs.org/09/art/870_UGR/71_107_Luis_Arboledas.html DOI: 10.4185/RLCS-64-2009-870-909-925 Georgiou Myria (2002): Mapping minorities and their Media: The National Context- The UK Report. London: London School of Economics. Retrieved on 12/11/2009 from: http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/EMTEL/Minorities/papers/ukreport.pdf González Aldea, Patricia (2006): “The Romanians in the Spanish Media: The worst face of the immigration”. Revue de Sciences Politiques 9-10, Craiova. González Cortés, María Eugenia (2009): "La consolidación de las publicaciones para extranjeros en España" (The consolidation of foreign publications in Spain), in RLCS, Revista Latina de Comunicación Social, 64, pp. 708 - 724. La Laguna (Tenerife): Universidad de La Laguna. Retrieved on 18/12/2009 from: http://www.revistalatinacs.org/09/art/856_UMA/57_91_Maria_Eugenia_Gonzalez_Cortes.html DOI: 10.4185/RLCS-64-2009-856-708-724 Herrera Damas, Susana (2003): “Tipología de la participación de los oyentes en programas de radio” (Typology of listeners’ participation in radio programmes). Anàlisi: Quaderns de Comunicació i Cultura 30, Barcelona. Lario Bastida, Manuel (2008): “Medios para minorías y minorías en los medios” (Media for minorities and minorities in the media), en Martínez Lirola, María (ed.) Inmigración, discurso y medios de comunicación. Alicante: Instituto Alicantino de Cultura Juan Gil Albert. Ligor, Maria (2007): “La presencia de los rumanos en España contribuye a un mejor conocimiento entre ambos países” (The presence of Romanians in Spain contributes to a better understanding between both countries). 3 Anuario de la Comunicación del Inmigrante en España 2008/2009. Madrid: Etnia Comunicación. Navarro, Laura Cristina (2007): “Los medios de comunicación nacidos de las nuevas migraciones en España” (The media emerged from the new immigrations to Spain). 3 Anuario de la Comunicación del Inmigrante en España 2008/2009. Madrid: Etnia Comunicación. Nielsen (2007): “Los inmigrantes prefieren los diarios gratuitos, las radios musicales y la televisión generalista” (Immigrants prefer free newspapers, music radio and mainstream television). Retrieved on 15/11/2009 from: http://es.nielsen.com/news/20070306.shtml Retis, Jéssica (2006): Espacios mediáticos de la inmigración en Madrid: Génesis y evolución (Media spaces of immigration in Madrid: Genesis and evolution). Madrid: Publicaciones del Observatorio de las Migraciones y de la Convivencia Intercultural de la ciudad de Madrid. Retrieved on 15/10/09 from: (here) 7. Notes [1] Interview by the author to Anamaria Damián on 30 October 2009. [2] Among them Berta Gaya (2003) in the chapter of the work ‘Diasporic Minorities and their Media in the EU: a Mapping Media@LSE’, coordinated by Myria Georgiou. All three editions of the ‘Anuario de la comunicación del inmigranteen España’ (Annual Report of immigrant communication in Spain) by Étnia Comunicación, Estudios de audiencias de los medios para inmigrantes (Studies of media audiences for Immigrants) (EMI), developed since 2007 and promoted by the Asociación para el Conocimiento de la Población Inmigrante(ACPI) (Association for Knowledge of !!! " ## $%&'( $( $ ) * the Immigrant Population). [3] Interview by the author to Anamaria Damián on 30 October 2009. [4] Interview by the author to Sara Infante on 13 November 2009. [5] Interview by the author to María Álvarez de Eulate on 3 November 2009. [6] Telephone interview by the author to Julia Murga on 16 November 2009. [7] Controlled by OJD: 30,000 copies for dissemination. [8] Interview by the author to Veronia Opritoiu on 23 November 2009. HOW TO CITE THIS ARTICLE IN BIBLIOGRAHIES / REFERENCES: González Aldea, Patricia (2010): Participation in radio programmes and immigration. The Romanian case. Revista Latina de Comunicación Social, 65, pages 45 to 60. La Laguna (Tenerife, Canary Islands): La Laguna University, retrieved on ___th of ____ of 2_______, from http://www.revistalatinacs.org/10/art/882_UC3M/04_MG_AldeaEng.html DOI: 10.4185/RLCS-65-2010-882-045-060-Eng Note: the DOI number is part of the bibliographic references and it must be cited if you cited this article. !!! " ## $%&'( $( $ ) *