Migrants in Hungary : Right-wing news media's representation of the European Refugee Crisis.
(2016) MKVM13 20161Media and Communication Studies
Department of Communication and Media
- Abstract
- In the year of 2015, Hungary was greatly affected by the European Migrant Crisis, having received the highest number of asylum applications in proportion to its population within Europe. At the end of August 2015, after Germany had announced its position regarding not putting limits to accepting Syrian refugees, the crisis in Hungary peaked, owing to several hundreds of migrants arriving to the country with the intention to proceed further to their final destination in Germany. Migration being a relevant and contemporary issue, news media organizations in the country regularly reported on the crisis, playing a crucial role in the way how refugees and the crisis were depicted for their audiences. In Hungary there is a low level of personal... (More)
- In the year of 2015, Hungary was greatly affected by the European Migrant Crisis, having received the highest number of asylum applications in proportion to its population within Europe. At the end of August 2015, after Germany had announced its position regarding not putting limits to accepting Syrian refugees, the crisis in Hungary peaked, owing to several hundreds of migrants arriving to the country with the intention to proceed further to their final destination in Germany. Migration being a relevant and contemporary issue, news media organizations in the country regularly reported on the crisis, playing a crucial role in the way how refugees and the crisis were depicted for their audiences. In Hungary there is a low level of personal and social interactions with migrants, therefore the media’s role is important in relation to how social issues and others are communicated for citizens.
Therefore, for this study news articles produced by two online Hungarian right-wing newspapers were analyzed, examining how migrants and the crisis were depicted within the news. The research, applying the method of qualitative content analysis, reviewed and analyzed 217 articles published within the course of a week in September 2015. To understand the case better, the study used theoretical perspectives such as media power; the morality of media; the concept of the stranger; vagabonds; the concept of the political; the other; collective identity; the us and them distinction; risk; and finally the concepts of cosmopolitanism and hospitality. The use of these theoretical perspectives guided the discussions on how the issue, depicted within the right-wing news media, can be understood in terms of their premises.
Finally, the study arrived to the overall conclusion that the portrayal of migrants and migration by the right-wing news outlets can be considered antagonistic and negative. The migrants in the articles were represented as the other, depicted as aggressive / unknown strangers, categorized as bogus / economic refugees and were generally portrayed risky to Hungarian people and society. It was also concluded that the way migration was portrayed by the examined news media outlets cannot be considered cosmopolitan. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/8872522
- author
- Paulik, Dora LU
- supervisor
-
- Tobias Linné LU
- organization
- course
- MKVM13 20161
- year
- 2016
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- Hungary, refugee crisis, migration, right-wing news media
- language
- English
- id
- 8872522
- date added to LUP
- 2016-06-27 10:22:02
- date last changed
- 2016-06-27 10:22:02
@misc{8872522,
abstract = {{In the year of 2015, Hungary was greatly affected by the European Migrant Crisis, having received the highest number of asylum applications in proportion to its population within Europe. At the end of August 2015, after Germany had announced its position regarding not putting limits to accepting Syrian refugees, the crisis in Hungary peaked, owing to several hundreds of migrants arriving to the country with the intention to proceed further to their final destination in Germany. Migration being a relevant and contemporary issue, news media organizations in the country regularly reported on the crisis, playing a crucial role in the way how refugees and the crisis were depicted for their audiences. In Hungary there is a low level of personal and social interactions with migrants, therefore the media’s role is important in relation to how social issues and others are communicated for citizens.
Therefore, for this study news articles produced by two online Hungarian right-wing newspapers were analyzed, examining how migrants and the crisis were depicted within the news. The research, applying the method of qualitative content analysis, reviewed and analyzed 217 articles published within the course of a week in September 2015. To understand the case better, the study used theoretical perspectives such as media power; the morality of media; the concept of the stranger; vagabonds; the concept of the political; the other; collective identity; the us and them distinction; risk; and finally the concepts of cosmopolitanism and hospitality. The use of these theoretical perspectives guided the discussions on how the issue, depicted within the right-wing news media, can be understood in terms of their premises.
Finally, the study arrived to the overall conclusion that the portrayal of migrants and migration by the right-wing news outlets can be considered antagonistic and negative. The migrants in the articles were represented as the other, depicted as aggressive / unknown strangers, categorized as bogus / economic refugees and were generally portrayed risky to Hungarian people and society. It was also concluded that the way migration was portrayed by the examined news media outlets cannot be considered cosmopolitan.}},
author = {{Paulik, Dora}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Migrants in Hungary : Right-wing news media's representation of the European Refugee Crisis.}},
year = {{2016}},
}