Media Coverage Of The Refugee Crisis A powerful tool in shaping public opinion, the mainstream press has been a leading agent in influencing general attitudes towards refugees. Besides garnering sympathy for asylum seekers, news coverage also has the power, through misrepresentation and propaganda, to stimulate hostility towards refugees.
Full Answer
Why is the media making the refugee crisis worse?
The problem is made worse by those media outlets that have an active desire to stoke hostility and misunderstanding. O ne of the first people I met in the course of my reporting was Azad, a young Kurdish man from northern Syria, in a hastily constructed refugee camp in Bulgaria at the end of 2013.
How does the media influence the lives of asylum seekers?
Cultural, economic and social conditions play a key role in determining a refugee’s sense of belonging in a new country. A thriving economy and high standards of living may help asylum seekers build a new life, but their integration in society is sometimes impeded by other factors, the media being one of them.
How do media outlets influence refugee politics?
Media outlets are able to influence refugee politics through their use of language and images, but how do they do it and what impact does it have? Mainstream media — print, broadcast and internet — has the power to shape public opinion both positively and negatively. This can influence public attitudes and responses towards refugee politics.
How is language used to misrepresent refugees in the media?
Language is an extremely important tool for media outlets as it can be used to create a specific image of refugees that the public then assumes to be fact. The most significant misrepresentation of refugees in language is derived from the terminology used to segregate refugees from migrants and asylum seekers.
How does social media impact migration?
First, they enhance the possibilities of maintaining strong ties with family and friends. Second, they address weak ties that are relevant to organizing the process of migration and integration. Third, they establish a new infrastructure consisting of latent ties.
How can social media help refugees?
Abstract Social media platforms allow refugees separated by distance to share information, provide support and exchange resources across borders. This connection has the potential to transform resettlement experiences as people maintain significant and ongoing relationships with transnational networks.
What are the 3 major factors that contribute to a refugee crisis?
Causes for the crisis of the refugees can include war and civil war, human rights violations, environment and climate issues, and economic hardship.
What are the biggest challenges for refugees?
Resettlement StressFinancial stressors.Difficulties finding adequate housing.Difficulties finding employment.Loss of community support.Lack of access to resources.Transportation difficulties.
How does technology affect migration?
Technology – particularly the digital connectivity offered by mobile phones – affects every aspect of migration: it provides access to information pre-migration, during journeys and in destination countries; facilities remittances; and helps migrants stay connected to families.
How smartphones and social media have revolutionized refugee migration?
Not only do smartphones and social media websites help refugees to keep in touch with family and friends, they also connect users to underground networks which often make this international travel possible in the first place. “In order to make that journey, you have to find an agent,” Gillespie said.
What are the main causes of refugee movements?
Listed below are the biggest causes of a refugee crisis and how they affect millions of people worldwide.Persecution. There are various types of persecution which lead to a refugee crisis. ... War. ... Climate Change. ... Violation Of Human Rights. ... Financial Hardships. ... Hunger. ... Gender and Sexual Orientation. ... Conclusion.
What are the solutions to refugee problems?
Refugee problems can only be solved in three different ways: - through voluntary repatriation, through resettlement overseas and through integration either in the country of present residence or in combination with intra-European migration.
What are 5 facts about refugees?
10 Eye-Opening Facts To Share On World Refugee DayThere are 79.5 million people around the world who have been forcibly displaced—the highest figure ever recorded. ... About 1% of the world's population is displaced. ... 50% of the world's refugees are children. ... Developing countries host more than 85% of the world's refugees.More items...•
What barriers do refugees face?
Challenges faced by the refugeesConditions in refugee camps are poor.Conflict with the local people.Many refugees live in fear of being sent home as their documentation or status is questioned.No obvious end to the conflict in Syria. ... Difficult for refugees to find employment.More items...
What are some problems immigrants face today?
The 8 Biggest Challenges Facing ImmigrantsLanguage Barriers. The language barrier is the main challenge as it affects the ability to communicate with others. ... Lack of Employment Opportunities. ... Housing. ... Access to Medical Services. ... Transportation Issues. ... Cultural Differences. ... Raising Children. ... Prejudice.
How refugee youth use social media what does this mean for improving their health and welfare?
Review findings reveal that refugee youth commonly use ICTs for social networking, presentation of self, health information consumption, and political rights. Studies suggest that uptake of social media through personal mobile devices, such as smartphones, positively enhanced interactions of newly arrived refugees.
What is media and migration?
It redraws emotional landscapes and reshapes social networks, with traditional and digital media enabling, representing, and shaping the processes, relationships and people on the move. The deep entanglement of media and migration expands across the fields of political, cultural and social life.
Why does the media misrepresent the refugee crisis?
Power of the Media. However, the media misrepresents the refugee crisis due to (oftentimes) inadequate coverage. There is a strong correlation between media portrayal and the reception that ‘media bias’ can have on various audiences. This occurrence, as well as photographic evidence, can give rise to negative perceptions ...
What is the benefit of having a positive media image of the refugee crisis?
Positivity in the media could ensure greater ease in the provision of humanitarian and development aid and packages.
What is the misrepresentation of the refugee crisis?
The media misrepresents the refugee crisis also largely in reference to the growing skepticism associated with new immigrants crossing international borders. A number of media forums are often pervaded by hate speech and campaigns against refugees; such portrayals can give rise to increased hysteria ...
What is the European refugee crisis?
The European Refugee Crisis has become one of the most discussed and debated conflicts in international discourse and current affairs in the world today. Given its ubiquitous presence, the media also plays a crucial role in transcending awareness to the international community about key underlying global issues.
What are sustainable news sources?
Sustainable news sources — objective and advocacy journalism and community media, for instance — can help counteract associations of overly negative images when the media misrepresents the refugee crisis.
How can journalists maintain integrity?
Moreover, journalistic integrity must be maintained through free press. With more accurate representation in the media, immigrants and refugees can become more humanized and realistic in media coverage, and thereby demonstrate the more optimistic and “good news” side of reality.
Is human rights for refugees politicized?
As a result, humanitarian concerns and concerns about human rights for refugees can also be quite politicized in nature and impact interpretations. With the prominence and importance of these topics, though, media coverage should aim to not only cover these topics, but also shed light on positive stories associated with the refugee crisis.
How does the mainstream media influence refugees?
A powerful tool in shaping public opinion, the mainstream press has been a leading agent in influencing general attitudes towards refugees. Besides garnering sympathy for asylum seekers, news coverage also has the power, through misrepresentation and propaganda, to stimulate hostility towards refugees. In light of this, refugees’ ability to establish a new identity and integrate in a host society partly hinges on their portrayal in the media.
Why is the media negative about refugees?
Negative portrayal of refugees in the mainstream press exacerbates stigma and hostility, and sensational reports often present asylum seekers as economic opportunists, potential criminals and a threat to national security. In Europe, the media’s continuous reportage on criminal activity by refugees has sparked anti-refugee protests across the continent and led to an increase in violence against asylum seekers.
What are humanitarian themes?
Humanitarian themes, such as insights into the ordeals of asylum seekers and success stories of refugees, are mostly prevalent in left-wing newspapers, but their presence in the press remains eclipsed by statistics of refugee arrivals and population growth. A refugee camp on the Turkish-Syrian border.
What is the impact of the media on asylum seekers?
The media’s choice of words when reporting on asylum seekers has a significant impact on refugees’ identity. The terms migrant and refugee have been used interchangeably by some media outlets, blurring the distinction between people who have left their country in search of work and better prospects, and those who flee their homes ...
What are the factors that affect asylum seekers?
Cultural, economic and social conditions play a key role in determining a refugee’s sense of belonging in a new country. A thriving economy and high standards of living may help asylum seekers build a new life, but their integration in society is sometimes impeded by other factors, the media being one of them.
What countries have closed their borders?
The ever-increasing influx of refugees from Africa and the Middle East has prompted some European countries to close down their borders and introduce stricter immigration policies. In Southeast Asia, thousands of Rohingya Muslims fleeing religious persecution in Myanmar are also facing tough asylum policies upon arriving in Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia . As a result, many refugees enter foreign territories under a cloud of uncertainty, having no clue what life will be like in their adopted country, or what to expect.
Is Karina a refugee?
Twenty-five years after being granted asyl um in Canada, Karina doesn’t see herself as a refugee anymore, but identifies herself as a Canadian. Her integration process was largely unaffected by the media’s portrayal of asylum seekers, but today refugee issues get more news coverage than they did two decades ago.
How many refugees are there in the EU?
In global terms this was a relatively small number of refugees: the EU has a population of over 500 million, while most of the world’s 68.5 million forcibly displaced people are hosted in poorer parts of the world.
How did the EU affect asylum seekers?
This, cumulatively, had the effect of forcing desperate people to take narrower and more dangerous routes by land and sea, while the prioritising of border control over safe and dignified reception conditions compounded the disaster. How well, really, did media organisations explain all this to their audiences?
What was the E Urope crisis?
E urope’s refugee crisis, or more properly, a disaster partly caused by European border policies, rather than simply the movement of refugees towards Europe, was one of the most heavily mediated world events of the past decade.
Where is the boat that overloaded refugees?
A boat dangerously overloaded with refugees lands near Molyvos on the Greek island of Lesbos, July 2015. Photograph: Jillian Edelstein
What is the role of Europe in the world?
First, Europe has played a key role, historically, in the shaping of a world where power and wealth are unequally distributed, and European powers continue to pursue military and arms trading policies that have caused or contributed to the conflicts and instability from which many people flee.
What is the job of the news media in emergencies?
In all of these situations the news media were able to do their basic job in emergency situations, which is to communicate what’s happening, who’s affected, what’s needed the most. But this is usually more than a matter of relaying dry facts and figures. “Human stories” have the greatest currency among journalists, although it’s an odd term if you think about it.
Who was the fixer I was introduced to in Bulgaria?
There was the fixer I was introduced to in Bulgaria, a refugee himself, who was offering TV news crews a “menu” of stories of suffering, with a price range that corresponded with the value the media placed on them.
How has social media helped refugees?
A few of the most notable ways that social media has been used by and on behalf of refugees include the Humans of New York series on Syrian refugees. Thousands of dollars were donated during this campaign and moved people to direct action. Gissu Simonarson shared an image of Syrian refugee, Abdul Halim al-Attar selling pens on a street in Beirut. The hashtag #BuyPens gained attention and $200,000 was raised for al-Attar to open a business.
Why do refugees use social media?
Overall, refugees, asylum seekers and migrants are mostly using social media platforms for informational purposes. Asylum seekers and other migrants may be emigrating from war-zones with a tight hand on news, it is vital for them to have access to unbiased news and information, especially prior to and during the move.
What percentage of refugees have cellphones?
At the Syrian refugee camp in Jordan, a study from 2016 found that 86 percent of the refugees had cellphones with sim cards. These phones and WhatsApp were used to stay in contact with family left in the war zone and family members who successfully fled.
Why are smartphones important for refugees?
Smartphones can serve as information machines and/or the vehicle for refugees to contact and coordinate with the underground network of smugglers/traffickers.
Why do refugees use Facebook groups?
Because of the sensitive nature and secrecy of moving people across international borders, refugees use Facebook groups to share experiences and challenge the mass of misinformation and rumor mills. Phones and sim cards have also become a “ticket” of sorts for refugees to “prove” that they do indeed need asylum.
How many people have been forcibly displaced?
As political unrest rises, the number of displaced peoples and refugees are reaching record highs. The UN Refugee Agency estimates there are 68.5 million people who have been forcibly displaced from home countries.
What can organizations use to help refugees?
Organizations, NGO’s and other agencies can use refugee-related and original social media activity to discern what is going on on the ground, where aid needs to be sent and gives a real-life look at what is really going on.
Abstract
A large literature suggests that the presence of refugees is associated with greater risk of conflict. We argue that the positive effects of hosting refugees on local conditions have been overlooked.
Theorizing Refugees as Security Risks or Development Opportunities
First, we define recurring concepts for clarity.
Data and Methods
Our unit of analysis is the province-year from 1990 to 2018.
Results
How does the presence of refugee sites affect conflict? Table 1 shows that across the model specifications, there are no effects of refugee presence on any conflict outcomes—onset and incidence (1990–2008), violent events and battle deaths (1990–2018), confirming our expectations for H1.
Conclusion
This study challenges and extends existing research on conflict and conflict-affected migration. We provide quantitative global analysis at a subnational level using georeferenced data on displacement sites covering the past three decades. This period has been marked by unprecedented levels of displacement.
DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT
Replication files, including R code and data, are openly available at the American Political Science Review Dataverse: https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/1CNMHF. Limitations on certain data availability are discussed in the SI and replication files.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We are indebted to experts from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR): Jason Hepps, Ewen Macleod, Raouf Mazou, Brett Moore, Petra Nahmias, Htun Zaw Oo, Yvon Orand, Kimberly Roberson, Karl Steinacker, Tayyar Sukru Cansizoglu, Vicky Tennant, Alex Tyler, and staff members of the Field Information and Coordination Support Section (FICSS) for providing data and guidance.
Power of The Media
The Misrepresentation of The Refugee Crisis
- The media misrepresents the refugee crisis also largely in reference to the growing skepticism associated with new immigrants crossing international borders. A number of media forums are often pervaded by hate speech and campaigns against refugees; such portrayals can give rise to increased hysteria and the spreading of misinformation. The deficiencies in media coverageof t…
Quest to Ensure Journalistic Integrity
- Moreover, journalistic integrity must be maintained through free press. With more accurate representation in the media, immigrants and refugees can become more humanized and realistic in media coverage, and thereby demonstrate the more optimistic and “good news” side of reality. Such accurate depictions will also benefit various key stakeholder groups involved in the refuge…