Sámi Media for Children and Youth: Minority Audiences as an Underrepresented and Problematic Research Field

Results presented in this article are extracted from a research project titled “Sámi media for children and youth” that I carried out in 20161 for a national Norwegian Expert group of Sámi statistics. The research showed an extensive production of Sámi media outlets for children and youths, both in traditional media and in new digital media, taking into account the low number of Sámi speakers. The number of media registered entirely or partly as reaching out to Sámi children and youth in 2016 was 15. Still, media outlets for these groups are somewhat arbitrary, and young Sámi children’s access to these media are dependent on their country of residence and knowledge of their Sámi language. This article will describe the media output available for Sámi children and youth, based on numbers available in 2016.... [T]he objectives of this descriptive overview are thus to capture structures that otherwise remain invisible, not least to the non-Sámi people, and to make suggestions concerning a better organization of the data collection in future. (Author, 88)

More research is neede on the quantitative aspects of Sámi media for children and youths, with focus on the actual use of media and the efects of this use as well as questions considering media and quality. Lack of statistical data is a challenge. Some players in the Sámi media industry lag behind in technological development. There is an "extensive production of Sámi media outlets for children and youths, both in traditional media and in new digital media, taking into account the low number of Sámi speakers. The number of media registered entirely or partly as reaching out to Sámi children and youth in 2016 was 15. Still, media outlets for these groups are somewhat arbitrary, and young Sámi children’s access to these media are dependent on their country of residence and knowledge of their Sámi language." (Author, 88, 100)