Media Portrayal of Displaced Persons

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Introduction

The mass media is central for setting the political agenda, for framing debates and for turning the publics focus on specific happenings or tasks. Mass media provide the information we use to make sense of the world and our place within it. During 2014 and 2015, more than 200,000 refugees and migrants fled for safety across the Mediterranean Sea. Throughout this period, UNHCR and other humanitarian organisations, tried to convince European countries to do more to help. During this time, they experienced that the media was far from united in its response. Some joined the call for more assistance, others were unsympathetic, arguing against increasing rescue operations. To understand why this happened, UNHCR commissioned a report by the Cardiff School of Journalism to explore what was driving media coverage across five different European countries: Spain, Italy, Germany, the UK and Sweden. Thy found that there are several reasons why EU leaders did not take the responsibility that UNHCR was seeking, one key reason was a high level of public anxiety about immigration and asylum seekers. It became clear from their work that the role of the mass media in influencing public and political attitudes can not be ignored and they found clear national difference in how the media contextualised and described refugees.

Dehumanisation

Research now demonstrates that media representation of displaced persons tends to dehumanise them, which is to deprive (someone or something) of human qualities, personality, or dignity, that can significantly impact on the publi view of displaced persons. Wilmott , Blieker and Batziou found that the photography used in online newspaper publications in the UK, Australia, Spain and Greece generally focused on men, in large groups, that typically were shot at a distance and often included interactions with the military, police or coast guard, rather than the local public. These types of photographs can dehumanise and promote categorisation of displaced persons; with long-distance shots creating separation or a 'them and us' scenario, large groups of men appear threatening or posing a security risk, further reinforced when photographs or videos create association with law enforcement or military organisations.

Stereotyping

It is not uncommon, and not so strange that we end up describing stereotypes. We can all think of stereotypic description of people from the country where we live. This can be funny, and we can laugh from it, but in very many cases it can be a burden and it can do damage. If media pushes a stereotypic view of populations, groups or individuals it can have a significant impact. The media contextualises refugees and asylum seekers into stereotypes. It has been shown that established narratives of security threat and economisation are prominent and that humanitarian frames and background information on refugee situations are provided to a lesser extent.

Xenophobia and Racism

According to the UNESCO Glossary of Migration Terms, xenophobia comes from the Greek words 'xénos', meaning 'the stranger' and 'the guest' and 'phóbos, meaning 'fear', and is recognised as a fear or even hatred of the stranger that includes attitudes, prejudices and behaviour that reject, exclude and often vilify persons, based on the perception that they are outsiders or foreigners to the community, society or national identity. Racism on the other hand, is focused more on “a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race,” which can “assign a certain race and/or ethnic group to a position of power over others purely on the basis of physical and cultural attributes, as well as economic wealth, involving hierarchical relations where the “superior” race exercises domination and control over others”. In many cases globally, political or social systems in some countries have been founded on racism and racist policies.

While xenophobia and racism are often seen to overlap and often difficult to separate from each other, they each are distinct phenomenon that can exist in isolation or combined. Generally xenophobia leads to civic exclusion of others based on cultural or national identity as foreign from that of the host country, whereas racism concerns differences in appearance and skin colour, related to power and privilege. Anti-migrant rhetoric, often founded on racism and xenophobia, is occurring more frequently at a global level. This is reflected within what we see in mainstream media outlets, but more evident within social media platforms where there is the ability for anonymity, and sharing of information that can very quickly become viral.

Resources

Media Coverage of the “Refugee Crisis”: A Cross-European Perspective - Council of Europe Support 2017