Research shows that the journalistic coverage of Syrian refugees may be contributing to fear of and lack of sympathy for them by emphasizing their status as outsiders. Dr. Emel Özdora Akşak (Department of Communication and Design) has been working with a team of researchers as part of the Arthur W. Page Center’s Refugee Communication Project to understand the media framing of Syrian refugees, who number over 4 million and whose plight is considered by some to be the worst humanitarian crisis in recent history.
The goal of the research project is to understand how refugees are being covered by news organizations in countries impacted by the crisis, because news framing influences citizens’ perceptions of and attitudes toward events that impact society. The research examined patterns and trends in media coverage in two countries, Turkey and Bulgaria, through content analysis of two leading newspapers from each country. Results of the study were presented at the (US-based) National Communication Association’s annual convention in 2015 and the International Association for Media and Communication Research conference in 2016, and will be published in a special issue of the journal American Behavioral Scientist.
Preliminary results indicate that there are indeed significant differences in the news coverage in the two countries, with the Turkish coverage being generally more positive toward the refugees than was the Bulgarian coverage. The Turkish press was also more likely to emphasize the victimization of the refugees. At the same time, Turkish coverage was also far more likely to dehumanize them, talking about them as a group rather than as individuals, and emphasizing their Syrian—and therefore foreign—identity. Bulgarian coverage, on the other hand, was far more likely to focus on the refugees as a threat to the country, and on their “illegal” status. It presented the refugees from a predominantly administrative perspective, focusing on logistics and local bureaucracy rather than the human aspects of their journey.
In the coming months, coverage from Spain and Germany will be examined to see if coverage patterns are consistent throughout the European Union. The researchers hope that this research will serve as a reminder to journalists that the manner in which they discuss refugees can have far-reaching implications as to how the latter are treated and whether or not they are accepted by the citizenry of the host countries.