ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses racial/ethnic minorities' representation in two different Danish media cases. It explains how racial/ethnic minorities' representation in the Danish media often functions as a tool for national inclusion or exclusion. The chapter examines the news media representations of a Danish Muslim woman, Asmaa Abdol-Hamid, who ran for Parliament in 2007; the other is the television programme The X Factor, an entertainment programme with high viewer ratings and a substantial representation of minorities of colour. During the national parliamentary election campaign of 2007, Denmark had its first political candidate with a hijab headscarf. The social liberal newspaper Politiken carried a longer interview with Cekic, which clearly illustrated prejudiced attitudes towards Muslim women in general and Abdol-Hamid in particular. The X Factor programme represents a new way of portraying racial/ethnic minorities in Danish media, and allows a new visibility in Danish public service television.
