Successful Integration Process: What Significance Do the Functions of the Media Have in Relation to the Portrayal of Migration and Flight?
Blog by Bernadett S.
Migration and refugees are topics with enormous global significance. Although the causes are diverse, such as for example economic reasons, wars, environmental problems, etc., there is a common desire for a better life. As more and more people flee and migrate, it becomes more important to find a responsible way to dealing with migration. Media plays an important role here. It fulfills valuable social functions in socialization which decisively shapes the norms and values of a society. In the media, migration groups are mentioned specifically on a case-by-case basis and often in a problem-oriented context.
Media is referred to as the fourth estate due to its essential political function. Through their content, different medias serve as an indirect experience and thus significantly contribute to the formation of prejudices, values, and norms. Consequently, they wield enormous influence in dealing with people who flee and migrate. This work aims to raise awareness about scrutinizing and questioning media content concerning migration and flight more attentively.
Media Representation of Migration and Flight
Media representation of migration and flight is a heated topic in societal and political discourses. It is an emotional and significant field of politics characterized by dissenting opinions. Media holds crucial roles in shaping opinions and judgments,
exerting a significant influence on our society and politics.
Unfortunately, when it comes to the subject of an immigrant society, media representation scarcely utilizes a rational consensus-building approach but rather fosters and solidifies conflicts in the public sphere. Increasingly, they focus on symbols such as the headscarf and mosque, and emotionally charged integration debates like terrorism and refugee crises. Concerningly, these public and media portrayals reach a state of permanence and almost institutionalize. (Arslan, 2019, p. 172.)
Media steers the perception of migration processes. Besides numerous other functions, media serve an integration function. However, in practice, the opposite is observed. Instead of integration, they foster conflict lines and segregation. Scientific inquiry reveals that reporting on certain migrant groups, such as those of the Muslim faith or refugees, is generally specific and issue-oriented, dominated by a problem-oriented approach.
Escaping these negatively shaped symbols and classifications is challenging because the affected migrant groups themselves have few spaces for articulation. Instead, they constantly grapple with ascriptions and discourses in politics. The lack of meaningful participation rights increasingly results in a political and media power asymmetry.
This means that individuals do not possess the same opportunities for action. The affected individuals are classified based on attributed characteristics, thus differentiated from the rest of society. Through this power asymmetry, refugees, and migrant groups experience homogenization. In colloquial terms, this would be termed “stereotyping” (Arslan, 2019, p. 173).
It is crucial to emphasize that media plays a decisive role in constructing reality. Media information significantly shapes people’s worldviews. Therefore, the manner in which media portray their content is extremely relevant.
Practice demonstrates that reporting on foreigners and refugees typically occurs when the topics are as dramatic and sensational as possible. Consequently, the coverage is filled with violence, chaos, brutality, and disorder. Through this, the media construct a reality where migrants and refugees are depicted as “dangerous,” “pitiful,” or “useless.” Terms such as “Islamization” or “flood of asylum seekers” are coined and employed. These terms reproduce and spread stereotypes and fears (Arslan, 2019, p. 174).
The repercussions manifest both within the receiving society, exhibiting resentments towards refugees and migrants, and within the migrant population experiencing feelings of exclusion. Since media reporting on this topic is perceived
as indirect experience, it shapes and structures the perceptions the receiving society has about the immigrant society. The population feels validated in their prejudices, reinforcing and forming cognitive stereotypes. Consequently, discriminatory behavior emerges.
As mentioned earlier, these negatively dominated representations strongly impact a society’s integration processes. Migrants are seen as a “problem.” Socio-economic crises are thus transformed into ethnic ones. This means that social problems are distorted through culturalization and ethnicization.
Media often interprets conflicts as religious and ethnic issues. This biased approach not only simplifies matters for the dominant population system but also depoliticizes them. By highlighting origins in reporting, actions and events are associated with nationality.
Minorities are created, strengthened by the privileged majority. This phenomenon not only stigmatizes the “foreigners” but constructs a “national identity.” The negative classification of migrants serves the purpose of highlighting oneself and “one’s community.” Racist tendencies are thus promoted and solidified. Media plays a central role in intellectual, institutional, and everyday racism (Arslan, 2019, p. 174ff).
Conclusion and Personal Opinion
In my immediate environment, I can observe the enormous influence media has on prejudices regarding migration. Personally, it saddens me to hear people speak negatively about migration, especially when it comes from individuals who have no direct experience or contact with this issue. They are unaware of the challenges people face when building a new life in a foreign land. I find one-sided reporting to be dangerous and conducive to fostering racism. Therefore, I believe it is crucial to utilize multiple diverse sources of information and critically question content.
Sources
Arslan, E. (Hrsg.), 2019. Symbolische Ordnung und Flüchtlingsbewegungen in der
Einwanderungsgesellschaft. Wiesbaden: Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden.
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