From Pity to Control: Regulated Humanitarianism in German Media Coverage of Refugees and Asylum
Research output: Contributions to collected editions/works › Contributions to collected editions/anthologies › Research › peer-review
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The Routledge Companion to Media and Humanitarian Action. ed. / Robin Andersen; Purnaka L. de Silva. New York: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, 2018. p. 90-101.
Research output: Contributions to collected editions/works › Contributions to collected editions/anthologies › Research › peer-review
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RIS
TY - CHAP
T1 - From Pity to Control
T2 - Regulated Humanitarianism in German Media Coverage of Refugees and Asylum
AU - Grittmann, Elke
PY - 2018
Y1 - 2018
N2 - This article explores the German media coverage and humanitarian framing of the conditions of Syrian refugees in 2014. Since the onset of Syria’s uprising in March 2011, which turned into a civil war in July 2011, it is estimated that a total of 4.8 million Syrians havefled ongoing violence in their country, and more than one million have sought asylum in Europe and Germany (UNHCR 2016). In mid 2014, the scale of the humanitarian crisis became obvious when the UNHCR recognized that Syrian refugees constitute the largest number of refugees worldwide.This study analyzes coverage of the humanitarian crisis in its transnational, national, and local dimensions, using a qualitative discourse analysis by applying Lilie Chouliaraki’s concept (2013,3) of solidarity of salvation and revolution in post-humanitarian communication to explore the humanitarian perspective in news coverage.Drawing on the results, the article shows that although frames of solidarity of salvation and revolution are strongly present, coverage is mainly dominated by control, regulation, and migration-managementframes. These are the dominant frames on the transnational and national as well as on the local level. Finally, the findings will be discussed with the aim of making sense of their implications for humanitarianism from a theoretical perspective.
AB - This article explores the German media coverage and humanitarian framing of the conditions of Syrian refugees in 2014. Since the onset of Syria’s uprising in March 2011, which turned into a civil war in July 2011, it is estimated that a total of 4.8 million Syrians havefled ongoing violence in their country, and more than one million have sought asylum in Europe and Germany (UNHCR 2016). In mid 2014, the scale of the humanitarian crisis became obvious when the UNHCR recognized that Syrian refugees constitute the largest number of refugees worldwide.This study analyzes coverage of the humanitarian crisis in its transnational, national, and local dimensions, using a qualitative discourse analysis by applying Lilie Chouliaraki’s concept (2013,3) of solidarity of salvation and revolution in post-humanitarian communication to explore the humanitarian perspective in news coverage.Drawing on the results, the article shows that although frames of solidarity of salvation and revolution are strongly present, coverage is mainly dominated by control, regulation, and migration-managementframes. These are the dominant frames on the transnational and national as well as on the local level. Finally, the findings will be discussed with the aim of making sense of their implications for humanitarianism from a theoretical perspective.
KW - Media and communication studies
KW - Refugee
KW - Asylum
KW - Media Coverage
KW - Mediatheory
UR - https://www.routledge.com/Routledge-Companion-to-Media-and-Humanitarian-Action/Andersen-de-Silva/p/book/9781138688575
U2 - 10.4324/9781315538129
DO - 10.4324/9781315538129
M3 - Contributions to collected editions/anthologies
SN - 978-1-1386-8857-5
SP - 90
EP - 101
BT - The Routledge Companion to Media and Humanitarian Action
A2 - Andersen, Robin
A2 - de Silva, Purnaka L.
PB - Routledge Taylor & Francis Group
CY - New York
ER -