ECREA16-Abstract

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Thursday, November 10

1 6 : 3 0 – 1 8 : 0 0

DMM01 The Border Crisis: Reporting, Representing, Contesting

PP 257

Geographic Imaginations in the European Refugee Crisis

K. Nikunen

University of Tampere, School of Communication- Media and Theatre, Tampere, Finland

The paper discusses the relevance of geographic imagination by David Harvey (1973) in the context of the European refugee crisis in 2015. The notion

of geographic imagination, introduced first as a response to C. Wright Mills’concept of sociological imagination, strives to capture the connection between

social processes, spatial forms and social justice.The ways in which geographies are imagined have become increasingly multiple and complex due to the ef‑

fects of globalisation, mobility and digitalisation. Geographic imagination, it is argued, shapes our understanding of ourselves and others, possibilities to

imagine alternative futures and the ways in which these may be pursued. The paper examines how understanding of European refugee crisis is constructed

through different sources of knowledge and what forms of moralities these imaginations carry. The empirical material includes media coverage of refugee

crises in Finland, Germany and UK from March to November 2015. The paper depicts the shift in imaginations from hospitable Europe to representations

of chaos and fear. It examines how the imaginations of suffering and need of help are visualized in media imageries with connections to various social

media campaigns. Second, it depicts the ways in which the cartographic mapping and statistics are used to confine and manage the sense of crisis. Finally

it examines the ways in which imaginations of Europe under a threat are constructed through the digital engagements and mobility of the refugees and

the ways in which the sense of chaos serves the increased security and surveillance of European borders. The paper discusses the moralities and emotions

connected with these constructions of spaces of hope and hostility, and their impact of the assumed political action and sense of agency. The paper ends

with reflection of the theoretical framework and its usefulness in critical media studies. Harvey argues for geographic imagination that seeks alternative

visions and cosmopolitanismwith sound and rooted understanding of the world. The paper asks how such alternatives visions and realist utopianismmight

be achieved through media in the context of crisis. Harvey, D. (1973) Social Justice and the City. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.

PP 258

The Broken Frames of Migration Crisis News: Comparing the National Press of Five EU Member States in 2014–5

K. Moore

, I. Garcia-Blanco

, M. Berry

Cardiff University, JOMEC, Cardiff, United Kingdom

Migration from the Middle East and Africa to Europe increasingly hit the headlines as the unprecedented scale of deaths at sea gradually became recognised

as a newsworthy and politically important story and EU countries and institutions faltered in the face of this escalating challenge. This paper presents selec‑

tive findings from a large-scale research project commissioned by UNHCR to measure how the issue of migration to Europe is currently framed in the news

media across the EU. We draw upon post-Marxist discourse theory and the literature on mediatized crisis in our evaluation of content analysis findings

comparing the 2014–15 national press coverage of 5 member states: UK, Sweden, Germany, Spain and Italy. We examine, in particular the main themes

of news coverage and the discontinuities and contradictions in discourses surrounding the reasons for and responses to migration. Our argument centres on

the notion that whilst what we call the‘broken frames’of migration coverage present a problem in terms of locating a meaningful context for understanding

or explaining the stories of the current migration and refugee crisis, in its very dislocation it also may offer opportunities to challenge what has been a rather

fixed and stigmatising discourse surrounding migrant groups, especially in some European countries.

PP 259

Journalists on the Frontline of Migration Debates in Malta

C. Sammut

University of Malta, International Relations, Msida, Malta

Migration has always been a way of life for islands. Since Malta prepared to join the European Union in 2004, it became a destination for thousands of ref‑

ugees that reached its shores first from Sub-Sahara and more recently from Syria and Libya. In my research I look at the evolution of Maltese journalists’

perceptions on immigration since the arrival of the first boat people. Empirical research is based on in-depth interviews with scores of journalists that were

conducted in the past twelve years. In this paper news workers are seen as affective agenda-setters who frame events and issues. Journalists also perform

the role of public intellectuals having an important interpretative role in spite of ample popular resentment. Data have shown that ownership matters

because the media owned by political or religious institutions mirrored the position of their parent organization. Professional preparation, the journalists

own political orientation and personal life experiences are also valid variables. Some journalists and columnists, namely those writing for the English-lan‑

guage outlets and blogs, immediately formed a front that emphasized the immigrants’rights and Malta’s international obligations. In spite of the growing

commercialization of the media system, the migration issue revealed a sound advocacy tradition where readers and audiences are still addressed as citizens.

However, journalists walk a fine line vis-à-vis their audiences. News workers cannot afford to snub public sentiment because in the recent past they suffered

a backlash whenever they ignored it. Xenophobic reaction tends to intensify and it overwhelms online facilities where public comments tend to be far more

xenophobic than journalistic texts. Racist and Islamophobic speakers migrated to the social media where they inhabit a virtual echo-chamber that has not

yet turned into a significant voting constituency. Research reveals that journalists held a variety of views on what constitutes national interest. Some were

prone to accept orthodox perspectives employed by states and the political elite i.e. that borders should be secure to keep the‘wrong people out’. Others are

moving beyond this perception and advocate a humanitarian notion of security that emphasizes justice and the protection of migrants’rights. While some

Diaspora, Migration and the Media

(DMM01–DMM07)