Austria has six ethnic minority groups, recognised by law, whose languages have official status: Croatian, Romani, Slovak, Slovene, Czech, and Hungarian. Furthermore, Austrian sign language is recognised as a minority language. Particularly in the 1960s, and again in the 1990s, the number of Turkish speakers and of the languages of the former Republic of Yugoslavia surged. However, their languages do not have official status as minority languages in Austria. For this reason, media initiatives in these languages are either private or non-commercial projects.
ORF is obliged by law to provide programmes in the official minority languages (ORF-Gesetz, 2021: para. 5). Some regional ORF studios have special newsrooms that exclusively produce content in minority languages. On television, one weekly nationwide broadcast format (Heimat, fremde Heimat) is dedicated to minority issues such as integration, cultural diversity, and so forth. Furthermore, weekly television magazines in the main minority languages are broadcasted in the eastern (Burgenland) and southern provinces (Styria, Carinthia). ORF also organises offline events for minority groups in Austria and has extended its services during the decade since 2009.
In addition, the Slovenian minority in southern Austria is addressed by a 24-hour radio programme, jointly operated by the community-operated radio station Radio Agora and the regional ORF studios. Broadcast time is shared among the two broadcasters since 2011 (ORF 2020: 158).
As a service for hearing-impaired persons, some 70.1 per cent of all television broadcasts are complemented by subtitles, including all main news programmes, and ORF’s online platform TVthek contains specific programme sections for these persons. Furthermore, selected programmes are transmitted in Austrian sign language, among them news broadcasts, live-broadcasts from parliament, and service-oriented programmes (ORF, 2020: 173f.). The overall number of features for people with disabilities has significantly increased since 2009.
Content analysis of representation of disabled persons in Austrian newspapers, ORF television, and selected Facebook pages identified considerable deficits. Disabled persons are strongly misrepresented in the media, stereotyped, and marginalised, and coverage is mostly focused on disabled celebrities from sports and politics (Pernegger, 2017).
As in 2009, Austria had 14 non-commercial radio projects in 2019, all of them limited to specific regions, with the largest in Vienna (Orange 94.0), Klagenfurt (Radio Agora), and Graz (Radio Helsinki) (VFRÖ, 2018: 19). These community-based radios put their focus not only on minorities, but also on disadvantaged people, such as migrants. Furthermore, a non-commercial television channel with significant amounts of foreign-language content is located in Vienna (Okto TV).
Since 2009, community radios and television providers are eligible for public funding under the non-commercial media fund. In 2019, some EUR 2.9 million were distributed among community broadcasters, of which EUR 1.96 million went to radio and EUR 0.91 million to television (KommAustria/RTR, 2019).
Finally, a wide variety of alternative and minority magazines and online media complement the Austrian media landscape. However, their finances are often in critical condition, and many depend on (limited) public subsidies. Again, KommAustria and RTR is in charge of the public funds established by law (KommAustria-Gesetz, 2021: para. 9i; Publizistikförderungsgesetz, 2021: para. 7). In 2019, some 73 journals and magazines were subsidised by a total of EUR 340,000 (2008: 93; EUR 361,000). Not all of these publications represent alternative or minority media.
Compared to 2009, progress has been made to institutionalise and fund alternative and minority media in Austria. There is a vibrant scene of small and medium-sized media, both online and offline, representing the cultural diversity in Austria. Nonetheless, deficits remain with regard to representation of disadvantaged people.
