What Role Does the Media Play in Driving Xenophobia?

Abstract

The media’s coverage of the 2015 European refugee crisis stood in stark contrast to its xenophobic stereotyping of the early 1990s. Back then, following German reunification, the country saw heightened nationalism, a rise in the number of refugees, a series of racist riots and murders, and constitutional reforms that severely restricted political freedoms. Newspapers published articles about the criminality of foreigners, often using derogatory terms. Until the number of asylum-seekers sharply declined during the mid1990s and the topic of refugees largely vanished, a media-constructed anti-migrant discourse penetrated society. The issue came back into focus in 2013 when refugees began to protest their living conditions. By 2015, the arrival of about 1 million asylum-seekers started to affect everything from personal lives to global politics. Initially, journalists seemed to proceed with care, cognizant of the mistakes of the 1990s. A study by the Hamburg Media School counted 19,000 articles on refugees that year—4,000 more than in the previous six years combined. Four out of five articles took a positive view of refugees, which, the report suggests, helped to reduce negative perceptions in the public overall. Major media outlets, such as Hamburger Abendblatt, had reporters dedicated exclusively to migration issues, allowing for in-depth reporting and research. In tandem with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s assertion, “We will manage,” the major conservative tabloid, Bild, started a campaign, called