ABSTRACT
How and why specific languages are chosen and presented in the media, while others are seldom used, tells us a great deal about cultural diversity, power roles in society, and fairness in participation access. This chapter begins with a definition of minority languages and minority language media within the framework of media in minority contexts (Section 22.2) and a brief review of some of the disciplinary perspectives involved in their study (22.3). Transnational networks and geolinguistic regions will be highlighted as two ways scholars are currently studying minority languages in the media (22.4). The potential and pitfalls of electronic media (22.5) and questions for future research are presented (22.6) to signal the issues that remain to be addressed (22.7). The chapter concludes by making a case for studying minority language media as potential drivers of the North–South (hemisphere) dialogue, in one instance, and Africa, in another.
