Journalists may influence the perception of and attitudes towards migrants and refugees, be it in the countries of origin, transit, or destination. Even if the media do not or only rarely report about migration and forced displacement, this might have an impact on audiences and decision-makers. A striking example is the picture of the drowned refugee boy Alan Shenu, often referred to as “Aylan Kurdi”, in news coverage. His image made the headlines worldwide in September 2015. A 2018 research paper demonstrated that the image of Alan Shenu had contextual effects on the political preferences of news audiences. While the picture initially reinforced support for liberal refugee policies across political lines, over time it was, however, instrumentalized by opponents of such policies. Another study concluded that the iconic image impacted audiences much more than statistics about hundreds of thousands of deaths. People largely unaffected by the rising death toll in Syria suddenly showed much more interest in the fate of refugees after seeing the picture.
Research has shown that increased media coverage of migration influences the knowledge and perceived importance of the topic among the public. While some studies conclude that increased media attention towards migration and forced displacement (also termed media salience) has rather negative effects on the perception of the issue in the eyes of the public, others have found evidence for positive effects, such as the fostering of more positive attitudes towards migrants and refugees. Still others have found only limited effects, such as a recent examination of how news framing influences people’s attitudes towards free movement within the European Union. Yet, effects may vary considerably according to the news genres studied, consumption patterns on the part of the audience, or countries studied. In general, studies have pointed out that media coverage typically focuses on only a few aspects of migration and groups of migrants, such as undocumented immigrants, asylum seekers and refugees, whereas labour immigration, for example, receives much less attention. In this way, the media shape the public images of migration issues, emphasizing some while neglecting others. Also, a focus on negativity within media coverage about the topic has been detected; immigration frequently seems to be framed as a cultural, criminal or economic threat. Several studies point to a connection of migration coverage to security concerns, such as terrorism. Such a framing may in turn be reproduced in attitudes towards and opinions about migration. However, claims of direct effects of the frequency and tone of media coverage on people’s opinions or behaviour usually remain contested. Measuring immediate effects of news media coverage is difficult, and it is hard to establish causal links between media coverage and, for example, voter turnout for anti-migrant parties. Besides the mass media, many other factors may influence how people see the world.
