Did the European Migrant Crisis Change News Coverage of Immigration? A Longitudinal Analysis of Immigration Television News and the Actors Speaking in It

Abstract

Although immigration always has been an issue of political debate, the 2015 European migrant crisis led to an enormous increase in attention from policymakers and news media. Many studies already focused on the representation of the crisis in the news, but no systematic longitudinal research existed comparing coverage in crisis and non-crisis times. This study analyzes all television news items on immigration in Flanders (Belgium) from the two main broadcasters from the period 2003–2017. By doing so, we are able to study whether there are changes in immigration coverage before and during the crisis years. We focus specifically on the actors that get the opportunity to voice their point of view on immigration and on the issues related to immigration. Our results show that before the crisis, immigration news coverage on the commercial and public service broadcaster was relatively similar. However, during the crisis their approach changes. The commercial broadcaster criminalizes immigration more and focuses on political actors. The public broadcaster opts for a broader issue approach and gives the word more to citizens and immigrants during the crisis. We elaborate in the conclusion on how crises can change the nature of reporting.

Notes

¹ In 2015 and 2016, respectively 1,322,825 and 1,259,955 first time asylum applicants arrived in the EU28 countries, more than double compared to the years before. In 2017, the number decreased again until 712,235 (Eurostat, 2018).

² The full codebook can be accessed through http://www.steunpuntmedia.be/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Codeboek-TV-Nieuwsarchief.pdf.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek [12Q2919N, S008817N].

Notes on contributors

Kathleen Beckers

Kathleen Beckers (Ph.D., University of Antwerp, 2017) is a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Political Science at the University of Antwerp, Belgium. Her research interests include journalism studies and public opinion research.

Peter Van Aelst

Peter Van Aelst (Ph.D., University of Antwerp, 2006) is a research professor and member of the research group Media, Movements and Politics (M2P) in the Department of Political Science at the University of Antwerp. His research interests include political communication, election campaigns, and journalism studies.