Was Lampedusa a key Event for Immigration News? An Analysis of the Effects of the Lampedusa Disaster on Immigration Coverage in Germany, Belgium, and Italy

ABSTRACT

In the current paper, we investigate how the Lampedusa shipwreck disaster in October 2013 affected newspaper coverage in three European countries (Belgium, Germany, and Italy). Based on data from a quantitative comparative content analysis, we conclude that Lampedusa can be regarded a key event for immigration coverage, but only in Italy, where journalists devoted a considerable amount of attention to the disaster. We also find that the structure and the general tone of immigration coverage changed after the event. However, those changes were only short-termed and immigration coverage quickly returned to its routine level.

KEYWORDS:

• International comparison
• content analysis
• news coverage
• key events
• immigration
• refugees

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 There is a discussion whether to use the terms “migrant” or “immigrant”, because they conceal the more complex backgrounds behind each individual refugee case. When we use the terms in the paper, we do not intent this, but simply do so to follow the established scientific terminology and understanding.

2 The original country sample also included the UK, which had to be excluded due to low intercoder reliability.

3 Gopress in Belgium and LexisNexis in Germany, newspapers’ digital archives in Italy. The search string we used (adapted to the specific requirements of the database and language) read: Immigr* OR migr* OR (immigr! OR migr!) w/10 (foreign* OR reunificat* OR illegal* OR irregul*OR undocumented OR smuggl* OR traffic* OR detainee OR expel* OR expulsion OR slumlord) OR diaspora OR refoulement OR (sham AND marriage) OR repatriate* OR resettle* OR asylum OR refugee OR (reception center) OR (processing centre)