Migration Narrative Study
Study: How does the media on both sides of the Mediterranean report on Migration?
Is the media underequipped to cover migration? This was the question investigated in the study on 17 countries in the Euro-Mediterranean region. It identifies major challenges to migration reporting and finds that media in many countries on both sides of the Mediterranean are under-resourced and unable to provide the time, money and appropriate level of expertise that is needed to tell the migration story in context.
EUROMED Migration IV, funded by the Directorate General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations of the EU and implemented by ICMPD, commissioned the Ethical Journalism Network to conduct this study for which journalists from 17 countries have examined the quality of migration media coverage in 2015/16 from a national perspective. The study covers nine EU countries and eight countries in the south of the Mediterranean.
It finds that journalists are often poorly informed about the complex nature of migration as a phenomenon. At the same time newsrooms are also vulnerable to pressure, manipulation and hate speech by some political elites or voices on social media networks. The study also highlights inspirational examples of journalism at its best –resourceful, painstaking, and marked by careful, sensitive and humanitarian reporting. In order to address the identified challenges it provides a series of detailed recommendations and calls for training, better funding of media action and other activities to support and foster more balanced and fact-based journalism on immigration, emigration, integration, asylum and other migration-related challenges.
Downloads
- Executive Summary with conclusions and recommendations
- Foreword by ICMPD DG Michael Spindelegger
- Media and migration from a Migration perspective: Observations by ICMPD
- Desktop study & review of available material
- Full study with 17 country chapters
Download chapter by country:
ALGERIA
Public Debate Needed to Confront Denial and Media Stereotypes
By Faten Hayed
AUSTRIA
Good and Bad, but a Lack of Accountability when Journalism Fails the Migration Test
By Katharine Sarikakis
EGYPT
Positive Stories but Questions Remain over Self-Censorship and Lack of In-Depth Coverage
By Sarah El-Shaarawi and Abdulrahman Elsamni
FRANCE
Politics, Distorted Images and why the Media Need to Frame the Migration Story
By Jean-Paul Marthoz
GERMANY
“We Can Do It”: A Test of Media Solidarity and Political Nerve over Migration
By Michaela Maria Müller
GREECE
Media’s Double Vision as Migrant Crisis Catches the World’s Imagination
By Nikos Megrelis
HUNGARY
How the Shock of the New Became a Polarising, Fearful and Toxic Story
By Balázs Weyer
ISRAEL
Political Division and Internal Fears Drive the Migration Agenda
By Shaike Komornik
ITALY
The Temperature is Down, but Media Coverage still Fails to Tell the full Migration Story
By Anna Masera
JORDAN
Lost Voices in a Land Built on Migration
By Daoud Kuttab
LEBANON
Mixed Messages as Media Cope with Internal Stress and External Pressure
By Magda Abu-Fadil
MALTA
The Challenge of Normalising the Media’s Migrant Crisis Machine
By Mark Micallef
MOROCCO
The Invisible People who Should Take their Place on the Media Stage
By Salaheddine Lemaizi
PALESTNE
Unforgettable History, Returning Money and Political Bias Shape the Migration News Agenda
By Bassam Ewaida
SPAIN
Desperation, Tragedy and Criminal Coverage that Distort the Media Image of Migration
By Jose Miguel Calatayud
SWEDEN
Journalism on the Spot as Europe’s Asylum Leader Takes a Change of Direction
By Arne Konig
TUNISIA
Single-minded Media Fail to Grasp Opportunities to Go Beyond Tales of Woe
By Sana Farhat